Ballerina 2025
For the first time since 2020, we’re back to calling this race the Ballerina Stakes, as it spent four years tabbed the Ballerina Handicap. Resorts World is the presenting sponsor of this year’s seven-furlong sprint featuring a field of nine fillies and mares. This G1 event is Race 11 in your program for Saturday with a post time scheduled for 4:59 p.m. ET.
This is a “win and in” qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 1, so there are some big stakes on the line, not to mention the $500,000 purse. One horse not in the field is Ways and Means, who would have been the favorite, but she is out sick.
Ballerina Stakes 2025 Entries, Horses, Jockeys, and Trainers:
| Post | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Odds |
| 1 | Mystic Lake | R. Santana Jr. | S. Joseph | 10-1 |
| 2 | Brightwork | J. Velazquez | J. Ortiz | 15-1 |
| 3 | Majestic Oops | K. Carmouche | D. Ward | 15-1 |
| 4 | Halina’s Forte | J. Rosario | P. Bauer | 10-1 |
| 5 | Claret Beret | I. Ortiz Jr. | S. Joseph | 6-1 |
| 6 | Zeitlos | J. Alvarado | S. Asmussen | 6-1 |
| 7 | Scylla | F. Prat | W. Mott | 5/2 |
| 8 | My Mane Squeeze | L. Saez | M. Maker | 5-1 |
| 9 | Hope Road | J. Ortiz | B. Baffert | 3-1 |
The four inside posts were all double-digit odds as of Tuesday’s morning lines, while the three favorites come from the far outside. Scylla (5/2) has the short price, followed by Hope Road (3-1). Without Ways and Means, this certainly looks to be a more wide-open sprint.
Here are some thoughts on each horse at the odds at time of publish:
1. Mystic Lake (10-1; Santana/Joseph): Mystic Lake is cross-entered in Friday’s Misty Bennett Pink Ribbon at Charles Town, a race that has a much easier field for her to handle. The Florida-bred daughter of Mo Town and Salty Soul has nine wins in 18 starts and over $1.1 million in earnings, but she’s never finished higher than fourth in a G1 race.
2. Brightwork (15-1; Velazquez/Ortiz): Wily veteran John Velazquez has the ride on Brightwork for John Ortiz and WSS Racing in this one. The 4-year-old filly has only run twice this season, finishing fourth and eighth at Churchill Downs in graded stakes events. She only ran twice as a 3-year-old last year as well. She started 4-for-4, but only has one win (Prioress Stakes) and one third to show for her last six starts. She is 3-for-3 at Saratoga and may be worth using in exotics, but she’s not in good form.
3. Majestic Oops (15-1; Carmouche/Ward): The California-bred daughter of Majestic Harbor and Miss Oops has finished win or place in six of her eight events this season. Her three-race winning streak was snapped last time out in the Molly Pitcher Stakes and that was actually her first graded stakes race. And it was her 31st career race! She’s 31-7-11-3 over those races and could very well fill out an exotic with a game effort, but she is mostly untested against this kind of field.
4. Halina’s Forte (10-1; Rosario/Bauer): Will horseplayers look to ride the hot hand here? Halina’s Forte had a breakout performance last time out, as she won the Honorable Miss Stakes at a 24/1 price tag. Scylla was third in that race. It was a sloppy track and maybe that had something to do with it, as she got off to a bit of a slow start, but liked the mud treatment at the Spa enough to charge to the front by a half-length at the finish line. It was easily the biggest cash of her career and a good follow-up to finishing second in the Prairie Rose Stakes in her first race as a 4-year-old.
She’s a good-looking long shot with two career wins at Saratoga in two starts and her best performance to date in her July 20 outing.
5. Claret Beret (6-1; I. Ortiz/Joseph): Saffie Joseph had two entries in the field early in the week, but we’ll see if it goes down to one with Mystic Lake’s status in the air as of Tuesday. As for Claret Beret, the daughter of Not This Time and Bessie M finished second in her stakes debut at Churchill Downs back in June. She’s already racked up over $171,000 in earnings this year after coming into the year with just over $100,000 in nine previous races.
Like Halina’s Forte, she, too, is coming off of a career-best effort. But, there’s definitely a bit of a price difference between the two, as she ran pretty much right with Vahva in the Chicago Stakes. Also, she gets a rider change here, as Irad Ortiz Jr., who won aboard Vahva, rides the runner-up here.
6. Zeitlos (6-1; Alvarado/Asmussen): The daughter of Curlin and Time For Roses rides for Stonestreet Stables here as the first of three horses with over $1 million in career earnings. She actually ran in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint and finished seventh after a win in the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes got her in. She’s actually run very well in three starts this year with Equibase Speed Figures over 100 in each effort.
She won the Skipat Stakes, finished third in the Chicago Stakes, and then ran second in the Caress Stakes, coming up a neck short against Future Is Now, who went off as the chalk and just won again last week. That was a turf race, but she did close exceptionally well with just five and a half furlongs and may very well have won it if the distance was the same as it is here with seven furlongs.
7. Scylla (5/2; Prat/Mott): The favorite has yet to bank a win this season, as the daughter of Tapit and Close Hatches has a second and a third in three starts as a 5-year-old. In fact, she’s now on a six-race skid, not having won since June 29. She has a lot more graded stakes experience than most of the field and ran second in this race last year to Society.
But, her two data points this year are not as strong as what she did as a 3-year-old and as a 4-year-old. However, Flavien Prat is a money rider and has a 24% Win rate this year. Interestingly, Mott and the connections moved away from Joel Rosario, who had each of this year’s previous rides.
8. My Mane Squeeze (5-1; Saez/Maker): The best name in the field – as we’re all suckers for horse puns, right – is My Mane Squeeze and she is a hard horse to handicap here. She has seven career wins in 17 starts, including a win last time out on this very track. She also went four starts without a win prior to that. Luis Saez gets his third straight ride atop the daughter of Audible.
That win for My Mane Squeeze came against a far lesser field, but she was never threatened and ran away from it as she should have done with a 100 Beyer. A similar effort would put her firmly in contention here.
9. Hope Road (3-1; J. Ortiz/Baffert): The most rested of the competitors is Hope Road, whose dam Marley’s Freedom won this race back in 2018. Her sire, Quality Road, was good at nearly every distance, finishing no worse than third in 12 races until finishing 12th in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in his final race. Regular rider Juan Hernandez ceded the mount to Florent Geroux last time out and he finished third in the Winning Colors Stakes over six furlongs. This time, Jose Ortiz gets the ride, as Hernandez is enjoying a 25% Win rate this season, mostly at Del Mar.
J. Ortiz is having a terrific year with a career-best 24% Win%, so he might be the right rider for the job. Bob Baffert seems confident in Hope Road, who has not won since leaving Del Mar after the Bayakoa Stakes during Breeders’ Cup weekend last year.
Ballerina Stakes Predictions
This is an extremely tough handicap. There are pros and cons for every horse in the field, especially those towards the outside of the starting gate. I really wanted to take a look at Halina’s Forte, but with a dry track expected, I need to see that it wasn’t just a case of her really enjoying the slop last time out.
For the win, I’m going to look at Claret Beret, who was the winner by 19 ¾ lengths in her first race for Saffie Joseph’s barn. Then she ran right with Vahva the last time out. She seems to be peaking, something we can’t say about all of the horses in this field.
I’ll go Hope Road second with J. Ortiz in the irons, followed by Scylla with Prat and then Halina’s Forte to have a game effort that will make me interested in betting on her in her next outing.
Prediction: 5-9-7-4
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