Grade I Winner So Many Ways Heads Nine Fillies Entered in Dogwood

Sep 15, 2013 John Asher

Maggie Moss’s So Many Ways, winner of Saratoga’s Grade I Spinaway at two and Churchill Downs’ Eight Belles (Grade III) on Kentucky Derby Day, heads a competitive field of nine 3-year-old fillies entered to compete in the 38^th running of the $100,000-added Dogwood Stakes (GIII) for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday, Sept. 21 at Churchill Downs.

The one-mile Dogwood is scheduled as the ninth event on a 10-race program set for the next-to-last Saturday of Churchill Downs’ 12-day September Meet that continues through Sept. 29. Post time for the first race is 12:45 p.m. (all times EDT) and the Dogwood will go at 4:59 p.m.

So Many Ways, a 3-year-old Pennsylvania-bred daughter of Sightseeing trained by Tom Amoss, comes into the Dogwood off a strong fourth-place finish in Saratoga’s $500,000 Test (GI) won by Sweet Lulu. In her only previous start at Churchill Downs, So Many Ways rallied from seventh in deep stretch to edge Dogwood rivals Fusaichiswonderful and Irish Lute in the seven-furlong Eight Belles.

The Churchill Downs race is her only victory in six starts in 2013 and she brings a career record of 4-0-2 in nine races and earnings of $484,348 into the Dogwood. Miguel Mena will ride So Many Ways, who will break from post four and carries high weight of 120 pounds.

Fusaichiswonderful finished a half-length behind So Many Ways in the Eight Belles and comes into the Dogwood off a solid third-place run behind Baby J in Victory Ride (GIII) at Belmont Park. Owned by Unlimited Equine LLC, the daughter of 2000 Kentucky Derby (GI) winner Fusaichi Pegasus launched her career in Puerto Rico, where she was unbeaten in five starts before she moved to the U.S. in late 2012. Todd Pletcher trained the filly in her earlier U.S. starts, but she is now conditioned by Tevis McCauley.

Jon Court will ride Fusaichiswonderful, who will break from the outside post in search of a second U.S. win in her fifth race stateside. Her overall record is 6-1-1 in nine races with earnings of $212,397.

The Dogwood will be a third meeting with So Many Ways for Donarra Thoroughbreds LLC’s Irish Lute, who comes into Saturday’s race off a sixth-place finish in the Test. Their first meeting came in the Eight Belles, where the Dallas Stewart-trained filly rallied from eighth to finish third and was beaten by only a length at odds of 35-1.

Shaun Bridgmohan will ride Irish Lute, whose two wins in 10 lifetime races have both come at Churchill Downs.

Other stakes veterans in the Dogwood field include Daniel and Josh Kenny and Dan Robb’s Finding More, who defeated Dogwood rival Irish Lute in the Letellier Memorial at Fair Grounds; Ronny Werner, Rick Broth, Helen Burnett and Kenneth Posey’s Guadalupe High, seventh in the Eight Belles for owner-trainer Werner; Alpha Delta Stable’s Sky Girl, a daughter of Sky Mesa who finished third over a synthetic Polytrack surface in the Arlington Park Oaks (GIII) for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott; and G. Watts Humphrey Jr.’s Elusive Fate, fourth in her stakes debut in the Indiana Grand Stakes at Indiana Downs.

The Dogwood will be the stakes debut for two fillies: Blazing Meadow Farm’s Thetaloveandmine and Jerry Mauzy, Thomas Musselman Sr. and Mutual Fund Stable’s Don’t Tell Veda.

Thetaloveandmine brings a two-race winning streak into the race and trainer Timothy Hamm’s filly has yet to finish worse than third in six career races, all of which were run over the synthetic Tapeta surface at Pennsylvania’s Presque Isle Downs.

Don’t Tell Veda, a daughter of Yes It’s True trained by Vickie Foley, comes into the race off a four-length victory in a 6 ½ furlong allowance race at Ellis Park.

The field for the Dogwood (with jockey, weight) from the rail out includes Sky Girl (Corey Lanerie, 118), Thetaloveandmine (Pablo Morales, 118), Guadalupe High (Marlon St. Julien, 118), So Many Ways (Mena, 120), Irish Lute (Bridgmohan, 118), Finding More (Joseph Rocco Jr., 118), Don’t Tell Veda (Marcelino Pedroza Jr., 118), Elusive Fate (Brian Hernandez Jr., 118), and Fusaichiswonderful (Court, 118).