Katy Now, Rapport Head Victory Ride

Katy Now and Rapport will try to resume their winning ways Saturday and earn their first stakes victories as they head a field of nine 3-year-old fillies in the Grade 3, $100,000 Victory Ride at Saratoga Race Course.

Katy Now showed promise last summer finishing second to stablemate Devil May Care in a maiden special weight race at Saratoga. The Tiznow filly broke her maiden in her next start and completed her 2-year-old season with an emphatic allowance victory in late November. The Mill House colorbearer stretched her winning streak to three against allowance company at Belmont Park in May, then set the pace to finish fourth, 7 ¼ lengths behind winner Devil May Care, in the Grade 1 Mother Goose on June 26.

“She was a little bit headstrong in the Mother Goose,” Pletcher said of Katy Now. “I thought she stayed on pretty well considering that she was a bit keen early, but I feel like based on the win that she had at six furlongs for us that this is back to the right distance.”

The 7-2 morning-line second choice, Katy Now will be ridden by John Velazquez from the outside.

Rapport, the 3-1 favorite trained by Bob Baffert for Thoroughbred Legends Racing Stable, was winless in her three starts as a 2-year-old, won two in a row this year and was fourth in her last start, the Grade 3 Azalea.

With Martin Garcia up, Rapport drew post position 3.

Beyondallboundarys goes after her third consecutive victory for trainer Tom Amoss in the Victory Ride. Ronnie Lamarque’s homebred Saint Liam filly won her first-level allowance condition on June 18 at Churchill Downs and followed up with a victory in the $100,000 Dearly Precious at Monmouth on July 23. At 4-1, she leaves from post position 7 under Calvin Borel.

My Jen will make her first start since January, when she absorbed her first career defeat in the Grade 3 Old Hat Stakes at Gulfstream Park. She ran off three straight wins before the Old Hat, where she was bumped at the start on a sloppy track. The Fusaichi Pegasus filly, owned by Windmill Manor Farm, came out of that race with an ankle chip, which required attention and time off.

“She had a good 2-year-old year last year,” trainer Eddie Kenneally said. “She was 3-for-3, and got some black type as a stakes winner. We gave her some time off after the Old Hat. She’s come back well, she’s trained well and she’s ready to go.”

Julien Leparoux rides My Jen, 15-1 on the morning line, from post position 2.

Sister Dawn has had a good year in California under the direction of trainer John Sadler, compiling a 2-1-2 record as the favorite in all of her six starts. She will be making her first start on dirt, leaving from post position 4 under Rajiv Maragh at 6-1 on the morning line.

Touching Beauty, who drew post position 8 under Javier Castellano, hasn’t raced since winning the Grade 3 Comely at Aqueduct in April. She was knocked out of training by a leg infection, but since returning has turned in a series of sharp works for trainer Jimmy Jerkens, and is listed at 8-1 on the morning line.

Rounding out the field are Kid Kate, Worstcasescenario, and Simply Spiteful.

The field for the Grade 3, $100,000 Victory Ride: