One week after a stellar performance by an odds-on choice, Jubawithatwist, in the $75,000 Robert Leavitt Memorial for West Virginia-bred three-year-olds, Saturday night’s $75,000 Sylvia Bishop Memorial for state-bred three-year-old fillies seemed likely to provide more of the same.

Most observers had all but conceded the Bishop to Direct the Cat. She arrived a 15-length winner of her previous start and riding a six-race win streak with an average margin of victory of nearly 10 lengths. Tabbed as the 1-5 morning line favorite, she went off at 1-9, and in a win pool of $158,361 – there was no place or show wagering offered – Direct the Cat attracted $138,427 in action.

But nobody told Overnight Pow Wow.

Overnight Pow Wow, Direct the Cat’s stablemate, was the distant 12-1 second choice, while What’shername was next at 21-1 followed by Churchill Downs invader Seven Natty Patty at 55-1 and Day Drama at 70-1.

Both Direct the Cat and Overnight Pow Wow are trained by Cynthia McKee for her own Beau Ridge Farm LLC operation. Both were bred by her late husband John McKee.

Overnight Pow Wow broke best of all in the Bishop and gained command passing the finish line the first time, with Direct the Cat and What’shername both opting to chase her. Overnight Pow Wow led the field by the opener in 23.44 seconds and by the half in 47.36. Direct the Cat loomed a length back and seemingly in a perfect spot.

What’shername began to weaken entering the far turn, and the Bishop evolved into a match race between the two McKee trainees.

At the top of the lane, both Overnight Pow Wow and Direct the Cat were under serious urging from their respective riders but the positions were hardly impacted. Overnight Pow Wow kept her illustrious stablemate at bay through the lane and was inching away for a 1 ¾-length victory while stopping the timer in 1:25.85 over the fast strip. What’shername was another 4 ¼ lengths back in third.

“My filly broke really sharp and I thought [Direct the Cat] was going to come after me,” jockey Marshall Mendez said. “I had a good hold on my filly through the first turn. She was going really easily. I thought [Direct the Cat[] was going to press me on the far turn, but I still had a lot left. When I started asking her she responded.”

“[Overnight] Pow Wow has done everything that we’ve asked of her,” McKee said. “She’s good going two turns and she’s got speed and she’s bred to be really good.”

Overnight Pow Wow, the full-sister to state-bred stars Muad’dib and Late Night Pow Wow, as well as recent stakes winner Duncan Idaho, recorded her third straight score and fifth win in seven career outings and pushed her lifetime earnings past $155,000. She returned $26.00 for a two-dollar win wager — more than the exacta, which paid $9.40 for a buck.

Direct the Cat suffered her first setback in three seasonal starts and saw her six-race win streak come to a halt, but McKee said she had an excuse.

“She’s been dealing with a little cut on her right hind leg since her last start,” McKee said of Direct the Cat. “It’s nothing serious but I guess it still bothers her a little.”

McKee’s two sophomore stars found themselves on a collision course in the Bishop. With Direct the Cat having made her debut last July, while Overnight Pow Wow did not reach the races until February, it was the first time the duo had met. It may not be the last.

The Grade 2, $750,000 Charles Town Oaks is coming up August 23.

“I’m going to nominate them both for the Oaks and see what happens,” McKee said. “Neither of them have any graded stakes earnings, so it will be tough to get in.”

Mendez, the rider of Overnight Pow Wow, likes the sound of that.

“I think she’s only getting better,” he said. “I think she could make some noise in the Oaks.”

NOTES Remy’s Hotshot (Larry Reynolds up) forged a very mild upset as the 2-1 second choice in a one-turn allowance dash for state-bred fillies and mares earlier on the card. A sophomore daughter of Fiber Sonde trained by Tim Grams and owned and bred by Grams Racing LLC, Remy’s Hotshot notched her second win from four seasonal outings and now owns three wins from seven lifetime tries after getting the 4 1/2 furlongs in 52.76… In the Saturday opener, four-year-old Cybertime (Arnaldo Bocachica) lived up to his billing as the 6-5 favorite in his belated career debut when he gained command soon after the break, led throughout and then eventually held safe stablemate Crown That Saint for a neck score. A son of Not This Time trained by Anthony Farrior for owner-breeder Steven Friedfertig and Shining Stables LLC, Cybertime prevailed at first asking in game by fashion by getting the seven furlongs in 1:27.77 as the solid choice…

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