Ways and Means answered the only serious question left on her résumé Saturday at Keeneland. The 5-year-old Klaravich Stables homebred carried her Saratoga form to a neutral track, swept through an inside opening and drew off by 6 1/4 lengths in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.
Ridden by Flavien Prat and trained by Chad Brown, Ways and Means stopped the timer for seven furlongs in 1:21.76. Foie Gras finished second, a half-length ahead of Explora, while Kilwin was fourth. The $4.14 winner's share was $520,000, lifting her career record to 14 starts, eight wins, three seconds and one third.
The race was won by patience as much as raw speed. Kerry's Kiss and R Disaster disputed the early lead through fractions of :22.14 and :44.75, leaving Ways and Means in a stalking position. Prat kept her covered along the rail, then angled around the weakening Kerry's Kiss entering the stretch. The move came earlier than planned, but the mare accelerated immediately.
“She jumped well, and I was in a good position,” Prat said in the official Breeders' Cup recap. “I was forced to stay inside a bit, so I had to engage her a bit earlier than I wanted to. But, she really responded well.” The performance also delivered Brown his 20th Breeders' Cup victory, according to the championship's account of the race.
Ways and Means arrived off a repeat victory in Saratoga's Bed o' Roses Stakes and a dominant Ballerina Stakes score, both races that reinforced her status as a premier seven-furlong specialist. Her earlier Breeders' Cup fifth-place finish had left her with something to prove away from Saratoga, a concern Brown acknowledged before the race in Daily Racing Form.
That question is now settled. Brown credited a large support team, including veterinarians at Rood & Riddle and foot specialist Ian McKinlay, for helping the mare overcome illness, lung infections and foot problems during her career. “It hasn't been easy,” Brown said in the Breeders' Cup report, but Ways and Means finished with her strongest possible evidence that her ability traveled beyond her preferred training base.
The victory may also mark the close of her racing career. Klaravich principal Seth Klarman said she was scheduled to sell at Fasig-Tipton's November Sale as a racing or broodmare prospect, adding that she had done everything a race mare could do. If Saturday was her finale, Ways and Means leaves not merely as a Saratoga standout, but as a Grade 1 winner who ended her career by overwhelming the best fillies and mares in the division.