BloodHorse
October 8th 2022
By: Eric Mitchell
War Like Goddess made history in the $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1T) Oct. 8 at Aqueduct Racetrack and paved the way for her to potentially make more during the upcoming Breeders' Cup World Championships next month.
George Krikorian's 5-year-old daughter of English Channel, who is trained by Bill Mott, handily beat six male challengers in the 1 1/2-mile Turf Classic and will now be aimed for Nov. 5 Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) at the same distance at Keeneland.
Already a grade 1 winner at 1 3/8 miles and a two-time graded stakes winner at 12 furlongs, War Like Goddess was given a patient, stalking ride by Jose Lezcano. They tracked easily behind pacesetter Bye Bye Melvin and longshot Astronaut until the top of the stretch where she rolled easily to the lead to win by 2 3/4 lengths. Bye Bye Melvin hung on for second and 67-1 Astronaut was third by a nose over Rockemperor . The final time was 2:27.29.
War Like Goddess, the 4-5 favorite, improved her record to 5-for-5 at 1 1/2 miles. The last female to win the Joe Hirsch was the brilliant All Along, who prevailed in 1983 when the stakes was last contested at Aqueduct and was known as the Turf Classic.
