McKulick goes back-to-back in the Glens Falls

Frankel mare McKulick posted her sixth Graded win, taking the Gr.2 Glens Falls Stakes at Saratoga for the second time yesterday (1st August).

Taken from the Thoroughbred Daily News, 2nd August 2024:

Although in its 30th rendition in 2024, the Gr.2 Glens Falls Stakes at Saratoga has been contested at the distance of a mile and a half for just the past four years. Only two mares have won those four renewals: War Like Goddess in 2021 and 2022 and now McKulick  in 2023 and 2024. Last year, McKulick denied War Like Goddess a three-peat in a neck victory. This year, McKulick circled six wide to best fellow late runners Parnac and Chop Chop by daylight down the lane.

Last seen finishing fifth in the Gr.1 New York Stakes on 7th June at the Spa, McKulick broke from the outside Thursday and settled nicely a few paths off the rail near the rear as stablemate and two-back G.3 Sheepshead Bay Stakes winner Royalty Interest showed the way through a :23.89 first quarter and :48.17 half. Favorite Eternal Hope, who was making her seasonal debut after closing 2023 with two Graded wins at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet, tracked the pacesetter as the field lined up single file for the backstretch run. Despite positions changing little as the fillies and mares passed the mile marker, the field compacted noticeably as they geared up for the stretch drive. McKulick, under Irad Ortiz, Jr., went widest of all around the final turn, charging down the middle of the course to briefly join battle with Eternal Hope, who had put away Royalty Interest, and last year's Gr.2 Flower Bowl Stakes winner Parnac, who had good momentum and the gameness to match. McKulick was too sharp for the pair, powering clear by two and a quarter lengths, but Parnac made a race of it under red-hot jockey Dylan Davis and bested this spring's Gr.3 Bewitch Stakes winner Chop Chop, who closed hard under Frankie Dettori, by a head.

McKulick covered the 12 furlongs in 2:27.89, slightly off her 2:27.05 time last year, but visibly, she did it with authority.

"Getting her back out to three turns and the mile and a half distance is really what she wants to do," said winning trainer Chad Brown. "She was in a couple races this year that weren't that good after a great five-year-old debut at Gulfstream and I was a little disappointed. The last race, I thought maybe the two turns got her. She really needs the three turns as a five-year-old. She trained super coming into this race. I was cautiously optimistic that we would see the real McKulick today with the way she trained."