In order to fulfill Chad Brown's description of Ways and Means as one of those special horses who could "run through every pole" at the challenging 7-furlong distance of the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1), first she had to get back into the starting gate before Day 2 of the 43rd Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland could commence.
Brown and owner Seth Klarman watched from afar, understandably concerned, as first Ways and Means and then longshot Look Forward were loaded peacefully into the inside stalls and then backed out again.
"Obviously it's not what you want to see," Brown said. "Fortunately, now that the race is over my question about it to Flavien will not be a nervous one. Thankfully, it didn't affect the outcome."
As it turned out, the cautionary delay was prompted by Look Forward, who popped the doors of her stall in anticipation of the bell. For that matter, Ways and Means and Flavien Prat could have spotted the opposition a head start and still romped to a breathtaking victory in what was likely the final start for the 5-year-old daughter of Practical Joke .
At the end of her 1:21.76 work of art, it was 6 1/4 lengths back to Foie Gras and Joel Rosario, who were able to get past 3-year-old Explora in the final yards for second money. Ways and Means paid $4.14 to win.
"I'm delighted for her," said Prat, who rode Ways and Means in 11 of her 14 starts. "She deserved to be a Breeders' Cup winner. Two years ago at Del Mar she didn't run her race, then last year she had a fever."
And this year she was on fire. Bet down to a few pennies more than even money, Ways and Means settled along the rail 5 or so lengths off the pace set by the Saffie Joseph Jr. speedballs R Disaster and Kerry's Kiss, while Sweet Azteca hustled to keep up and Explora tracked close behind.
"I was a little concerned the first quarter-mile," Brown said. "She didn't break quite well enough to get into a pocket right behind the speed. I was afraid he might have had to use her a little more than we wanted and worried what she'd have left when it really counted in the stretch."
Good girl that she is, Ways and Means did not keep her people in suspense. By the time the field hit the top of the Keeneland stretch, Prat had tipped off the rail to find a generous gap to the right of R Disaster. In the meantime, Jose Ortiz and Explora were on the move five wide, but by the time they straightened away for the final run, Ways and Means was long gone.
"The winner is a monster," Ortiz said. "But my filly ran a big race and tried hard to beat her. She just got caught for second in the last jump."
Ways and Means heads into Fasig-Tipton's The November Sale off three straight wins during a four-race 2026 campaign, each race at 7 furlongs. In fact, nine of her 14 lifetime starts came at the Breeders' Cup distance.
Coming off an 11-month absence in May, she could not quite catch R Disaster in the Derby City Distaff Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs. Ways and Means made the subsequent Bed o' Roses Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course more dramatic than it should have been with a nose decision over Grand Job at level weights. After that, she was back to her dominating self to romp by 5 1/2 lengths in the Ballerina Stakes (G1), again at Saratoga, where she recorded six of her nine career wins.
"She was able to shake that label today of a Saratoga specialist on a neutral track against the best sprinters in the country," Brown said.
"This filly has been an incredible talent from the first time she stepped into the barn," the trainer continued. "The breaks in her form are due to illness and injury, including a minor surgery she had as a 2-year-old when we thought we were in real trouble. Time and again, our team was able to produce her 100%."
Klarman's Klaravich Stables bred Ways and Means, whose earnings topped $2.1 million with the Breeders' Cup score. With a divisional Eclipse Award assured, she is scheduled to go through the ring Nov. 2 as part of the ELiTE consignment to Fasig-Tipton's November sale.
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