G1-placed Dry Powder kicks off ’26 in Barbara Fritchie
Was near-miss second in ’25 Cotillion
Press Release
February 13, 2026
In a stretch of seven races over a little more than seven months, Gold Square LLC’s Dry Powder went from an unraced filly to a horse that had earned a berth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
“We had her up at Saratoga as a 2-year-old, and I loved her,” said trainer Chad Summers. “She was a big filly, and I thought she was too big for her own good. I didn’t want to push her. We sent her down, sound and healthy, and gave her 60 days off in Ocala after Saratoga. She rewarded us with a very nice campaign as a 3-year-old.”
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Dry Powder, a Gun Runner filly, finished a close second in the restricted Wilton Stakes at Aqueduct on June 22 and then was a well-beaten third in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga.
She broke through with a big effort in Parx’s Cathryn Sophia Stakes on August 19, winning by 4 ¼ lengths.
“That’s the race we like seeing from her,” Summers said. “In a stalking position. We don’t want her to be in front. It kept setting up that she had taken the lead, one way or another. For us, that was the trip we envisioned.”
Dry Powder proved the Cathryn Sophia effort was no fluke by finishing second, a neck behind, in Parx’s Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes on September 20.
“She shied for a second [from another rider’s whip], and that probably cost her the win,” said Summers.
Dry Powder concluded her 3-year-old campaign with an eighth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
While the horses in the Mid-Atlantic region have battled Old Man Winter during training, Dry Powder wintered at the Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida.
“We gave her 45 days off after the Breeders’ Cup,” Summers explained. “She got a little bigger and a little stronger. There was a purpose to looking at the Barbara Fritchie, given the weather. As a trainer, I know how important rhythms are for horses, especially stakes horses. You like to keep things in routine.”
Dry Powder is the 5-2 second choice on the Barbara Fritchie morning line.
Favored at 9-5 is Kasey K Racing Stable, Michael Day, and Final Turn Racing Stable’s Takethemoneyhoney, who has compiled a record of six wins and two seconds in eight starts for trainer Michael Moore.
Takethemoneyhoney, a 5-year-old Maryland-bred by Golden Lad, was an authoritative 6 ¼-length winner of the restricted Geisha Stakes, run at one mile at Laurel on January 17.
“I guess we’re running against a little tougher competition,” Moore admitted. “She probably looks like the favorite in there. Hopefully, she shows up with the same level of effort, and that makes her the horse to beat.”
Takethemoneyhoney is based at Parx, but Moore isn’t too concerned about a potential lack of fitness due to abbreviated training.
“Race-wise, she’s been on a pretty consistent schedule, which helps,” he said. “She’s the type of filly we don’t have to do much with between races. It’s been a little tough to train regularly, but it was good to get the breeze [five-eighths on February 4] into her. I think she should be good.”
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