The Bed o’ Roses Stakes in 2025 has a $300,000 total prize purse at the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival this year. As part of a fillies and mares only card on Friday, June 6, the 1,400m Grade II contest for older females has in recent years been dominated by a local barn.
Chad Brown’s excellent Saratoga record is well-documented, but he now goes for a fifth win in this race since 2018. Run last year at Aqueduct, it now moves Upstate as a one-off before returning to Belmont Park in 2026. Flying the flag for the barn alone in this edition is Ways And Means.
This four-year-old Practical Joke filly returns to Saratoga Springs where she has such an excellent track record. Ways And Means landed the Grade I Test Stakes over course and distance last summer for a third career win at this venue.
She made the show in the Derby City Distaff during the Kentucky Derby meet on her return from a winter break. As Ways And Means reversed Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint form with re-opposing rival Scylla then, she has nothing to fear from Bill Mott’s older opponent.
Brown has the hot favorite, according to the Morning Line odds from Belmont Stakes betting sites, for the Bed o’ Roses Stakes in 2025 as a result. Ways And Means has wins on all types of going, so looks a worthy market leader on her track record. She also showed speed in the Gallant Bloom at Aqueduct in the fall.
Improving Irish Maxima Also in the Mix
Three of the seven runners in the race are by Triple Crown heroes American Pharoah or Justify. That breeding suggests all of Jody’s Pride, Justique and Miss Justify will be better over further. That latter pair are longshots here. Jody’s Pride won her track debut at Saratoga, however, and posted her best speed figure last time.
She scored in this grade when landing the Ruffian Stakes at Aqueduct over a mile. The 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies second could be blooming later on in her career for Jorge Abreu. Jody’s Pride has a jockey in Irad Ortiz, who boasts a fine record in this race, steering the last two winners and four in total (all since 2014).
Also demonstrating improvement on the track is Irish Maxima. John Servis’s four-year-old filly has won all of her three most recent runs and six of her last seven. This daughter of Maximus Mischief has also progressed through the grades, developing into something of a seven-furlong specialist.
Much like the Bed o’ Roses Stakes 2025 favorite, Irish Maxima seems pretty versatile as regards ground. She gave 2lb and a beating to re-opposing rival St Benedict’s Prep in Aqueduct’s Grade III Distaff Stakes over this trip last time. While Irish Maxima concedes more weight to that one now, her past speed figures prove she’s a quick filly.
With Scylla and a number of others in the line-up seemingly wanting greater stamina tests, course form and fast in-form females look the best way of approaching this. If Ways And Means comes on for her reappearance as anticipated, then everything will be smelling of roses in the Brown barn yet again.
Bed o’ Roses Stakes 2025 Post Positions & Morning Line Odds
- Irish Maxima (124lbs) – 6-1
- Scylla (124lbs) – 5-2
- Ways And Means (124lbs) – 6-5 fav
- Jody’s Pride (124lbs) – 9-2
- Justique (122lbs) – 12-1
- Miss Justify (118lbs) – 12-1
- St Benedict’s Prep (118lbs) – 20-1
Our Handicapper’s Win Place Show Bets for Bed o’ Roses Stakes 2025
Win: Ways And Means
Place: Jody’s Pride
Show: Irish Maxima (ATB)
WATCH: Ways And Mean Win a Saratoga Grade I
