SARATOGA SPRINGS — Not much went right for Wait a While in her first start back from a stress fracture in her front left leg.

The situation looks sunnier for her today in the Grade II Ballston Spa at Saratoga Race Course, particularly because the sun itself act­ually decided to hang around for more than an hour or so this week.

After finishing seventh in the Grade I Diana in her first start back from a broken leg, the 2006 Eclipse Award winner is the 8-5 morning-line favorite in the Grade II Ballston Spa. She should benefit from a Mellon turf course that has finally had a chance to dry out for a change.

“We’ve got a nice day today, hopefully the turf course will firm up a little bit, and I don’t see a whole lot of speed in there, so she might find herself on the lead,” trainer Todd Pletcher said on Wednesday.

Wait a While, a grey/roan daughter of Maria’s Mon who was the champion 3-year-old two years ago, started her 5-year-old season off with a win in the Grade II San Gorgonio at Santa Anita Park in January.

She was discovered to have a slight crack in her leg in March and was shut down for a month to mend.

In her comeback race on the first weekend of the Saratoga meet, she broke from the No. 4 post in a 10-horse field, failed to get inside position around the turn, and was still wide around the grandstand turn.

On a course labeled “Good”, she was unable to find enough kick in the stretch to catch Forever Together.

Wait a While had never run on a turf course that was anything but firm in compiling a 7-2-1 record from 11 starts, including the Grade II Lake Placid as a 3-year-old and the Ballston Spa last year, when she was bumped at the start, had a wide trip and beat Vacare by 21⁄4 lengths.

“I thought it was a better race than it looks on paper,” Pletcher said. “She was put four wide on both turns, and it was a very fastly run race on a turf course that’s maybe a little softer than she prefers.”

Wait a While, who will be ridden by John Velazquez for the first time since they won the Grade III Honey Fox Handicap at Gulfstream Park in March of last year, shouldn’t have any difficulty getting an inside trip in the Ballston Spa.

She’ll break from the No. 1 post with just four horses to her outside, the same scenario she faced in the San Gorgonio.

The competition, though, will be stiffer, as the Ballston Spa has drawn Grade I winner Rutherienne and Sharp Susan, who won the Lake Placid last year and appears to be improving over four starts this year as a 4-year-old.

Rutherienne has never lost in six starts at a mile and a sixteenth on the grass.

Third in the Diana, she has raced at eight different tracks in her last nine starts, winning the Grade III Lake George at Saratoga and Grade I Del Mar Oaks last year as a 3-year-old.

“I’m not sure if she’s better at the mile and sixteenth or mile and an eighth or a mile,” trainer Christophe Clement said. “I think she’s just a very good filly no matter what distance she runs.”

Rutherienne opened 2008 with a neck victory over Stormy West in the Grade II Jenny Wiley at Keeneland, but has finished third in three straight.

“The filly is doing well,” Clement said. “It’s a very competitive race, but she’s never run a bad race, so I’m sure she will try very hard.

“She’s a strong girl, she didn’t grow much, but she’s a strong girl, and she’s one of the best in her division.”

Sharp Susan, trained by Bill Mott, is coming off a win in the mile-and-a-sixteenth Dr. James Penny Memorial at Philadelphia Park on July 7. She finished 23⁄4 lengths ahead of Valbenny, who is also in the Ballston Spa field and was second to Rutherienne in the Grade I Del Mar Oaks last year.