War Like Goddess proves best in G3 Robert Dick Memorial * The Racing Biz

War Like Goddess is now a seven-time, three-time Grade 1 winner with a bankroll of over $2.6 million. Time will tell if she is as good as ever.

Today’s answer, however, was that she is still incredibly good, good enough to keep her rivals at bay even in a jam-packed version of the $250,000 Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial.

Ridden by jockey Junior Alvarado, War Like Goddess, who started at 1-0, waited for the right moment at a dawdling pace in the grassy, ​​11-furlong race. Alvarado got her going on the turn and she charged up the outside of the stretch to enter the fray before overtaking Chop Chop to win by a length with Vergara still three lengths back.

The running time for 1 ⅜ miles on a fixed course was 2:16.60.

“If she had given us any indication that she no longer wanted to race at the highest level, we would have taken her out of the race,” said George Krikorian, War Like Goddess’ owner. “But she didn’t.”

War Like Goddess, despite some traffic problems, finished third in the Grade 1 race at New York on June 7, over a distance that was probably too short for her. The long distance of the Dick suited her well. After the field had dawdled through six furlongs in 1:17.40, they raced to the finish in less than a minute for the final five furlongs. War Like Goddess made up almost five lengths in that fast finishing time.

At the top of the lane, it looked like War Like Goddess might win for fun, but it became a tougher battle.

“You could say she was dawdling after that, but you know, they’re not going to get there like they were 49 and 113,” said winning trainer Bill Mott.

Chop Chop, ridden by Flavien Prat for trainer Brad Cox, ran a brave race to finish second. He set the pace at the start, took the lead on the home straight and stayed willingly until the end. Vergara, ridden by Jorge Ruiz for Graham Motion, finished a good third.

The Dick seemed a bit of a surprise venue for War Like Goddess. Similar options at her home base of Saratoga include the Grade 2 Glens Falls, which she runs in early August and has won each of the past two years, and the Grade 2 Flower Bowl, run in late August, where she finished second two years ago.

“Who knows? I might run both,” Mott joked of Dick and Glens Falls. “It’s 25 days away, right? Or I’ll wait for the Flower Bowl. You know, we only saw 11 furlongs, we had good conditions and we decided to just run and get her going again. She’s only run once this year. She’s run well, but it’s always nice to get in the winner’s circle.”

War Like Goddess was offered for sale as a weanling and achieved a winning bid of $1,200. She was offered again as a yearling and did not sell, and was finally purchased as a two-year-old for $30,000.

With today’s victory, the English Channel mare now has 12 wins and almost $2.8 million from 20 career starts.

Ideally, Mott and Krikorian said, War Like Goddess could follow a similar path to that of years past: a race at Saratoga leading to the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1) at Aqueduct, a race she has won twice, and then to the Breeders’ Cup. She has raced against the boys in the Breeders’ Cup Turf the past two years, but this year’s Filly and Mare Turf is 1 ⅜ miles, a distance that – obviously – suits her.

“As long as she’s doing well and she’s holding up well and doing things the way she’s been doing them and the way we’re used to doing them, we’re going to let her keep going for a while,” Mott said. “I mean, I’m sure we’re not going to make it through this year, but you know, if we can make it to the end of the year, that would be great.”

“She has brought us a lot of joy,” Krikorian added.

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