Klaravich Stables’ Grade 1 winner Ways and Means looms large as the 3-5 morning-line favorite in Sunday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Gallant Bloom Stakes, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint
for fillies and mares at Belmont at the Big A. 

Trained by four-time Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown, the
sophomore Practical Joke bay earned her first top-level score last out in the
seven-furlong Test (G1) on Aug. 3 at Saratoga. There she pressed the pace
through early fractions of 22.43 and 44.54 seconds before kicking clear near
the quarter-pole to a 2 1/2-length victory in a final time of 1:22.28.

Click here for Belmont at Aqueduct entries and results.

Brown said Ways and Means has trained well since toward a
goal of competing in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint on Nov. 2 at Del
Mar, including a bullet 48.22-second half-mile last Saturday over the Oklahoma
dirt training track at the Spa, fastest of 89 workers at the distance. 

“She had a great work at Saratoga. She worked really solid,”
Brown said. “I think she could use one prep for the Breeders’ Cup.”

Ways and Means made a pair of two-turn attempts to start her
current campaign, finishing second to eventual Alabama (G1) winner Power
Squeeze in the 1 1/16-mile Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) in March and fourth in the
1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks (G1) won by Thorpedo Anna in May at Churchill
Downs. 

After that, Ways and Means cut back to one mile from the
Wilson chute in a Saratoga allowance June 6 during the Belmont Stakes racing festival.
She romped by 8 1/4 lengths despite an awkward break. In the victory she earned
a career- and field-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure, according to Daily Racing
Form, ahead of the Test.

“She’s doing great and seems to be holding her form good,”
Brown said. “She’s in the best shape I’ve ever seen her. She’s really good
right now.”

This summer’s success at the Spa wasn’t a first for Ways and
Means, who graduated on debut there by an eye-catching 12 3/4 lengths in August
2023 before a troubled half-length defeat to Brightwork in the Spinaway (G1) last
September. 

A Kentucky homebred, Ways and Means is out of Ontario-bred
stakes winner Strong Incentive, who also produced Brown-trained and
Klaravich-owned Grade 1 victor and multiple graded-stakes winner Surge Capacity
along with graded-stakes winner Highly Motivated.

Flavien Prat will be aboard from post 3. 

Hall of Famer Bill Mott will send out an up-and-coming
challenger in Stephen Rousseau’s Nic’s Style in post 2 with Júnior Alvarado and
Mark Anderson’s seasoned veteran Sterling Silver in post 1 with Irad Ortiz Jr.

Florida-bred Nic’s Style is 3-for-3, all in front-running
fashion, romping in her first two starts at Gulfstream Park for trainer Ralph
Nicks, including a 10 1/4-length, state-bred, optional-claiming score at
Sunday’s distance in December. That effort came off a layoff since a 4
1/2-furlong debut win in May 2022. 

After the strong gate-to-wire showing at 6 1/2 furlongs, the
4-year-old Uncaptured bay did not return until Aug. 17 at Saratoga, where she
made a successful debut for Mott winning a six-furlong allowance by 5 3/4
lengths. The pacesetting performance earned a career-best 98 Beyer. 

Nic’s Style, a $25,000 purchase at the 2021 Ocala Breeders’
Sales October yearling auction, is out of Street Sense mare Sense When, a
half-sister to stakes-winner Holding Aces. Her second dam is Grade 1-placed
Will O Way. 

Multiple graded-stakes-placed New York-bred Sterling Silver
has made three starts for Mott, registering her first win in the barn last out
in the state-bred Johnstone Mile Handicap on Aug. 7 at the Spa. There the
5-year-old Cupid gray stalked in third position before surging to a 9
3/4-length victory. 

In last year’s Gallant Bloom, Sterling Silver was conditioned
by Tom Albertrani. She crossed the wire four lengths in front but was
disqualified and placed second. For Albertrani she won a trio of state-bred
stakes including the local 2022 Franklin Square and 2023 Iroquois as well as the
2022 Bouwerie at Belmont Park. 

Bred by Mallory Mort and Karen Mort, Sterling Silver is out
of unraced Distorted Humor mare Sheet Humor. She was a $13,000 purchase at the
2020 Fasig-Tipton select yearling sale and has banked $837,301 through a 25: 8-3-4
record.

KEM Stables’ multiple graded stakes-placed Hot Fudge, in post
5 with José Lezcano, is 6-for-10 at the Big A and looks to build on that record
for trainer Linda Rice. 

The 5-year-old Liam’s Map dark bay won five straight races
from June 2023 to March, tallying the local six-furlong Garland of Roses in
December, the seven-furlong listed Interborough in January and the six-furlong
Correction in March. 

The win streak came to an end with a fifth in the
seven-furlong Distaff (G3) on April 6 at Aqueduct. That preceded a pair of
thirds in the Vagrancy (G3) and the Bed o’ Roses (G2).

Most recently, Hot Fudge was a distant third as the favorite
of four horses in the off-the-turf, restricted De La Rose going one mile from
the Wilson chute on July 31 at Saratoga. 

“It was a debacle at Saratoga for her,” Rice said. “We’ll
get her back on a track that she’s won several stakes races on and at a
distance that works best for her. Hopefully we can just draw a line through the
Saratoga race.”

The Kentucky-bred mare out of winning Into Mischief dam Noelle’s
Mischief has banked $562,105 through a 17: 8-1-4 record.

Pacific Rose, in post 4 with Ricardo Santana Jr. rounds out the
field. Owned by California Racing Partners, Ciaglia Racing and Domenic Savides,
she looks to make the grade in her fourth attempt. Trained by Jorge Delgado,
the sophomore Not This Time dark bay enters from a 1 1/4-length,
optional-claiming victory, sprinting six furlongs Sept. 1 at Monmouth
Park. 

Pacific Rose’s last-out victory earned a career-best 81
Beyer, marking her best performance to date in her third start for Delgado
after making her first seven starts on the West Coast for trainer Doug
O’Neill. 

For O’Neill, Pacific Rose made three graded attempts going 1
1/16 miles, finishing off the board in the Chandelier (G2) in October and the Santa
Ysabel (G3) in March at Santa Anita. She had a fifth-place effort in the Starlet
(G2) in December at Los Alamitos in between.

The Gallant Bloom at 1:34 p.m. EDT is the second race on
Sunday’s card. It was reduced to eight races with the one-week postponement of
the Miss Grillo (G2) because of the waterlogged turf. The first post Sunday is
at 1:05 p.m.

Post	Silks	Horse / Sire	Rating	Trainer / Jockey	Last Start / Next Start	Morn. Line
1		Sterling Silver Cupid	5.67	Bill Mott Irad Ortiz, Jr.	1st, 2024 Johnstone Mile RS	5-1
Last Race		1st, 2024 Johnstone Mile RS
2		Nic’s Style Uncaptured	4.45	William I. Mott Junior Alvarado	1st, Sar Allow (8/17/24-R3)	8-5
Last Race		1st, Sar Allow (8/17/24-R3)
3		Ways and Means Practical Joke	7.53	Chad C. Brown Flavien Prat	1st, 2024 Test G1	3-5
Last Race		1st, 2024 Test G1
4		Pacific Rose Not This Time	0.00	Jorge Delgado Ricardo Santana, Jr.	1st, MTH AOC (09/01/2024-R4)	20-1
Last Race		1st, MTH AOC (09/01/2024-R4)
5		Hot Fudge Liam’s Map	5.92	Linda Rice Jose Lezcano	3rd, 2024 De La Rose LS	15-1
Last Race		3rd, 2024 De La Rose LS