Bodacious Bay Announces Her Arrival With Grade 1 Cotillion Victory at Parx

Lightly raced daughter of Not This Time defeats Kentucky Oaks winner Always a Runner as connections consider a possible Breeders’ Cup Distaff bid

BENSALEM, Pa. — Bodacious Bay entered Saturday’s $1 million Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes at Parx Racing as one of the least experienced fillies in the field. She left it as a Grade 1 winner — and potentially one of the most intriguing new names in the 3-year-old filly division.

With Micah Husbands aboard for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., Bodacious Bay delivered a decisive 3 1/4-length victory, completing 1 1/16 miles over the fast main track in 1:43.60.

The victory came in only the fifth start of her career and marked her first attempt at the Grade 1 level.

Sent off as the 5-1 second choice, the Kentucky-bred daughter of Not This Time settled comfortably in second behind stablemate My Miss Mo, who established controlled fractions of :23.81 for the opening quarter and :47.99 for the half-mile.

Husbands appeared to have plenty of horse beneath him throughout the backstretch, and when Bodacious Bay began asking to move approaching the far turn, he allowed her to gradually advance rather than restraining her momentum.

After three-quarters in 1:11.94, the complexion of the race began to change.

My Miss Mo started to weaken, while Always a Runner, the Kentucky Oaks winner and 4-5 favorite, began advancing from mid-pack under Jose Ortiz. Measure, ridden by Manny Franco, was also attempting to rally after encountering traffic approaching the three-eighths pole.

But none could match Bodacious Bay.

Once Husbands gave her clear running room, she accelerated away from the field and established a commanding advantage through the stretch.

“I was loaded the whole way,” Husbands said. “I was just sitting there on a lot of horse. By the half-mile pole, she wanted to go a little earlier than I thought, and I didn’t want to get in her way, so I just let her cruise up and tried to bide my time. She finished it off like a monster.”

Always a Runner continued strongly to secure second, finishing a neck ahead of Measure in third.

Ortiz offered no excuses afterward.

“I had a very good trip,” Ortiz said. “The winner was the best today. She sat in a good spot in second and kept going. She gave me a good run and finished well, just couldn’t catch the winner.”

Franco similarly felt Measure gave her best despite encountering some traffic.

“At the three-eighths pole I had to wait a little because I had two horses in front of me tiring,” Franco said. “I cut in, and she was just third best. She always tries.”

From promising prospect to Grade 1 winner

Bodacious Bay’s rapid rise is particularly notable considering how little racing experience she brought into the Cotillion.

Unraced at 2, she made her first three starts over off tracks and broke her maiden by four lengths at Churchill Downs in July. She then stepped directly into graded company in the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks, where she finished a determined second behind My Miss Mo.

That performance gave Joseph confidence that Bodacious Bay belonged at this level.

“She ran second to My Miss Mo and we know My Miss Mo is good,” Joseph said. “We love the sire. Congrats to all the connections for buying this filly for us. She is next level. We knew she could win this.”

Her ownership changed in late July when a partnership led by C2 Racing Stable LLC acquired the filly, adding another talented sophomore to Joseph’s increasingly deep stable.

At Parx, she provided considerably more than potential.

She provided a Grade 1 victory.

A new factor in the 3-year-old filly division

The timing of Bodacious Bay’s breakthrough creates an interesting question as the championship season approaches.

The Cotillion is the final Grade 1 race restricted to 3-year-old fillies, meaning Bodacious Bay has arrived at the top level relatively late in the campaign.

Joseph acknowledged that reality while also making clear how highly he regards the filly.

“This was a huge win, and I think next year we could have the best filly in the country,” Joseph said. “A lot of good fillies are going to retire, and our filly is just now getting good.”

A potential appearance in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff could provide Bodacious Bay with another opportunity against the elite of the division — and against older fillies and mares — but Joseph stopped short of committing to the race.

He specifically acknowledged the challenge presented by Nitrogen, while suggesting the broader picture remains open.

“I don’t know. Nitrogen is super. After that you would say it’s wide open,” Joseph said. “We will enjoy this and give it a couple of weeks and then decide.”

Bodacious Bay is scheduled to return to Saratoga, where Joseph indicated she could remain through the Breeders’ Cup period while her connections evaluate their next move.

Another milestone for Joseph and Husbands

The Cotillion victory also represented another important chapter in the partnership between Joseph and Husbands.

For Husbands, it was his fourth Grade 1 victory with Joseph, and the jockey credited the trainer with playing an important role in his development.

“He’s been a big supporter,” Husbands said. “He keeps teaching me a lot because no rider is perfect, and the amount that he taught me is unbelievable. Saffie believed a lot in me, and he guided me. I’m just thankful. It’s just a lot of dreams coming true when these things happen.”

For Joseph, the afternoon provided an opportunity to reflect on just how much his stable has changed since Math Wizard captured the Pennsylvania Derby in 2019.

That victory came at a very different point in his career.

“In 2019 I was in tears — and when I think of it now, it almost brings me to tears,” Joseph said. “You are fighting for survival and trying to get people to give you chances and we needed a horse like Math Wizard.”

Seven years later, Joseph returned to the Parx winner’s circle with a much larger operation and another Grade 1 trophy.

“It helped my career because it proved I could train more than a claimer,” Joseph said of Math Wizard. “Here we are seven years later, and we are blessed. We know we get a lot of opportunity. We have a great team and we are hard on ourselves when we get things wrong and we try to get better every day.”

A filly whose best racing may still be ahead

Perhaps the most significant takeaway from the Cotillion is not simply that Bodacious Bay won a Grade 1 race.

It is how quickly she has reached this level.

Five starts into her career, she has never finished worse than second. She has progressed from maiden winner to graded-stakes runner-up to Grade 1 winner in a matter of months, and her performance at Parx suggested there could still be considerable upside.

Whether that progression takes her next to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff remains undecided.

But Bodacious Bay has already accomplished something much more certain: she has established herself as a new major player in the American filly division — and one whose story may only be beginning.

Always a Runner finished second, followed by Measure, Ms Sophistication, My Miss Mo, Zany, Iron Orchard and Savor It.

Bodacious Bay returned $12.20 to win as the 5-1 second choice.

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