Gallant Bloom (G2) Picks

The Gallant Bloom (G2) is a short field with a heavy favorite at super talented filly #3 Ways and Means (3/5) takes on older stakes company for the first time. She has already beaten older fillies and mares in an allowance race two back and after her easy victory in the Test (G1) last time out, this is the logical progression for the top 3-year-old female sprinter. What makes her so dominant is her versatility. She has the patience to sit just off the pace and the foundation to handle any distance between six furlongs and a mile. Trainer Chad Brown had an elite female sprinter with Goodnight Olive and this daughter of Practical Joke feels like yet another top runner for a loaded barn. She has been working out great since the Test (G1) and I expect jockey Flavien Prat to have her very close to the early leader. Speaking of the early leader, there is little doubt that will be #2 Nic’s Style (8/5) who is a perfect 3-3 but has huge gaps in her running lines. The daughter of Uncaptured debuted for Ralph Nicks barn at Gulfstream Park in May 22 and blew out the competition. She wasn’t seen again for 19 months when she beat Florida-bred optional claiming company by over 10 lengths in December 2023. She did not race again for another nine months after being transferred to Bill Mott’s barn where she easily dispatched of allowance N1X competition in Saratoga this summer. However, this will be a test for her. She’s never run back-to-back races without a layoff and she’s switching off Lasix in her first stakes try, though she did run without Lasix in her debut over two years ago. She has outstanding early speed and the way the main track has played at Aqueduct, you want to be up close, but she has never faced this level of competition before. Additionally, trainer Bill Mott is 1-35 (3%) with a $0.23 ROI over the last month at NYRA. Mott’s other runner, #1 Sterling Silver (5/1), gets jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. up on the mount and is coming off a dominant NY-bred stakes victory last time out where she leveled the competition by nearly 10 lengths. She has run in some big spots before coming in fourth in the Madison (G1) and fifth in the Derby City Distaff (G1). She also crossed the finish line first in last year’s renewal of this race but was disqualified to second. Her last three starts are not fast enough to compete with the top two choices, but if she can get back to the form, she showed earlier this year or last fall, then she has a chance to make some noise from the inside rail. She will be running against the flow of the track bias though as she is a runner with a strong late kick.