Deep Satin Looks to Extend Winning Ways in Ballston Spa

The third race off the layoff angle worked out nicely for Deep Satin in her last start. Now the 4-year-old American Pharoah filly will receive a "litmus test" that should determine the rest of her campaign. After winning a division of the July 10 De La Rose Stakes in her last try, Deep Satin will try to register her first graded stakes win when she faces a highly competitive assortment of fillies and mares in the $300,000 Ballston Spa Stakes (G2T) Aug. 8 at Saratoga Race Course. The 9-horse main field for the 1 1/16-mile turf race includes grade 1 winner Be Your Best (IRE), but trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said she is likely to run Aug. 9 in the Beverly D. Stakes (G2T) at Colonial Downs unless the weather and turf are wet there and conditions are better at the Spa. "This is a big step up, so it's a litmus test to see where she's running the rest of the year," trainer Cherie DeVaux said about Deep Satin. "But she's a filly that is always developing and is coming into the race fine." Owned by John D. Gunther and breeder Eurowest Bloodstock Services, Deep Satin closed out her 3-year-old season with a promising dead heat for the win in the Sept. 7 Virginia Oaks on turf. She returned April 25 with a solid second in a Keeneland allowance race but then failed to fire in the June 1 Mint Julep Stakes (G3T) and finished an even fifth. The third start was the charm as she returned to winning form, moving up from third to take the restricted De La Rose at the Spa by a neck with a nice late kick. "She had a big race off the layoff and in retrospect she probably bounced in her second race but then came back with a big race third time off the layoff," DeVaux said about the daughter of the Chester House mare Take the Ribbon. "Hopefully she can move forward in the Ballston Spa and continue to progress from there." Ozara (IRE) won the other division of the De La Rose in considerably faster time and is also entered in the mile-and-a-sixteenth Ballston Spa. Owned by Cheyenne Stable and trained by Miguel Clement, the Lope de Vega (IRE) 4-year-old covered the mile of the De La Rose in 1:34.25 to win by a half-length compared to Deep Satin's 1:35.49, which was timed by video review. Ozara, who is also seeking her initial graded stakes win, was third two starts back in the Eatontown Stakes (G3T) at Monmouth Park. Trainer Chad Brown, who sent out seven of the last 10 Ballston Spa winners, will be represented by the duo of Whiskey Decision and Maggie Go (ARG), who finished first and second, respectively, ahead of Ozara in the Eatontown. Owned by Frederick Hertrich III and John Fielding, Whiskey Decision, a daughter of Into Mischief, prevailed in the Eatontown off a seven-month layoff for her first graded stakes win. Maggie Go, who started her career in Argentina, made her initial start for Brown in the Eatontown while racing for the first time in nearly a year and finished two lengths behind Whiskey Decision after pressing the early pace. Ozara was a half-length behind the Winning Prize (ARG) mare in third.