Wait a While back with tough assignment in Diana

Posted: Thursday, July 24, 2008 4:42 PM

Wait a While back with tough assignment in Diana

WAIT A WHILE

Bill Denver/Equi-Photo

Recovered from a tibia fracture that sidelined her for nearly seven months, Wait a While will immediately get a chance to show whether she is in peak form on Saturday in the $500,000 Diana Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course.

The Maria’s Mon mare will pursue her first Grade 1 victory since she took down the 2006 American Invitational Oaks at Hollywood Park and Yellow Ribbon Stakes at Santa Anita Park on the way to champion three-year-old filly honors.

Wait a While finished third in the Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes at Belmont Park and second in the Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood in her two Grade 1 appearances in 2007. She won the San Gorgonio Handicap (G2) on January 14 at Santa Anita Park in her only start this year.

“She has been training well,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “She prefers the courses at Hollywood Park and Saratoga, where she tends to perform extra well. At Belmont Park, even with firm turf, it’s not quite the same.”

Wait a While has easy wins in the 2006 Lake Placid Stakes (G2) and ’07 Ballston Spa Handicap (G2) to show for her two previous starts on the turf at Saratoga.

“She’s kind of an interesting [mare],” Pletcher said. “She has a few little quirks, for instance, she is loaded into the gate blindfolded. We tend to let her do things her way. She is a bit of a tough filly to train, which is one of the reasons we kept her at Churchill Downs, where Kevin Wiley does a good job with her.”

Grade 1 winners Rutherienne, Vacare, and Bit of Whimsy are among Wait a While’s nine opponents for the 1 1/8-mile Diana.

Christophe Clement trains both Rutherienne and Vacare.

Rutherienne finished third in the Gamely Stakes (G1) and All Along Stakes (G3) after beginning the year with a victory in the Jenny Wiley Stakes (G2).

Vacare will try to shake off the worst performance of her career, an eighth-place finish in the Just a Game Stakes (G2) on June 7 at Belmont Park in her first start since October.

“I think she has improved from that race,” Clement said. “She had a terrible trip in that. Since then, she has been doing very well, and I think she will be competitive.”

Bit of Whimsy finished sixth in the Jenny Wiley and Just a Game in her two starts this year.

“She hasn’t shown much this year. Hopefully, she’ll turn it around,” trainer Barclay Tagg said. “But this is one tough race.”

Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer

The field, in post-position order, with (sire), jockey, weight, and trainer

1. Bit of Whimsy (Distorted Humor), Eibar Coa, 120, Barclay Tagg;

2. Dynaforce (Dynaformer), Kent Desormeaux, 118, Bill Mott;

3. Bayou's Lassie (Outflanker), Robby Albarado, 118, Dale Romans;

4. Wait a While (Maria's Mon), Rafael Bejarano, 120, Todd Pletcher;

5. Vacare (Lear Fan), Edgar Prado, 118, Christophe Clement;

6. Criminologist (Maria's Mon), John Velazquez, 118, Shug McGaughey III;

7. Rutherienne (Pulpit), Garrett Gomez, 120, Christophe Clement;

8. Forever Together (Belong to Me), Julien Leparoux, 118, Jonathan Sheppard;