Trainer Wesley Ward will send both Dragic and Fayette’s Warrior in the Futurity, giving the man with the well-earned reputation for dominating 2-year-old races a strong combination among the loaded field.
Steven Bell’s Dragic, the lone filly in the field, will make her fourth career start after debuting on grass last time out in the one-mile Kentucky Downs Juvenile on September 1. After setting the pace, she finished third after being forced to steady in the stretch. Breaking her maiden at Keeneland in her debut, the daughter of Broken Vow returned for a late summer start in the six-furlong Grade 2 Sorrento on August 5 at Del Mar, breaking slow before finishing fourth.
“Prior to going out to California, I breezed her on the grass at Keeneland and it was an eye-opening breeze,” Ward said. “Her pedigree suggests no turf at all, but if you watch her moving over the grass, she’s certainly taken to it. She had a very valid race in California. It turned out to be a really quality field. She was a little compromised at the break, she got away a step slow, and was down there on the inside, which is something that mine aren’t used to, and she still only got beat a length for second.
“She’s pretty quick, pretty handy, she’s got some nice racing experience and I think with the cut back in distance, she’s going to be tough anywhere she goes,” he added.
