Owner-trainer F. Hill Parker’s Get Ready Set Goes was more than ready for Thursday’s $75,000 Mrs. Ogden Phipps Handicap at Saratoga Race Course, went to the lead with slightly more than a furlong to run, and drew away to a 4 1/2-length victory under Richard Boucher.
Bred in Ohio by Frances Hill Myers, the four-year-old Run Away and Hide filly went off at 7.40-to-1 in a field of seven starters and paid $16.80 to win. She ran the Mrs. Phipps’ 2 1/16 miles in 3:55.48 on firm turf.
Beverly R. Steinman’s Secret Reward shadowed the early pace of Parx Racing Ratings Handicap winner Barbara’s Smile and held on for second under Ross Geraghty, 1 1/4 lengths clear of Check Mark Stables’ Willow U. Barbara’s Smile finished fourth.
Boucher allowed Get Ready Set Goes to lag behind the lead early and moved into a contending position on the outside in the first run down Saratoga’s backstretch. The filly gradually closed on the leaders around the final turn and accelerated to the lead under Boucher’s urging inside the three-sixteenths pole before quickly drawing clear and extending her lead to the finish line.