Snow Chief Stakes

Purse $125.00 – For Three Year Olds Foaled In CA

1 1/8 Miles – Turf

Santa Anita Park – May 23, 2026

Strategic Charm made every pole a winning one in the 19th edition of the Snow Chief Stakes! Jockey Emisael Jaramillo had this gelding three lengths clear down the backstretch, and no one was able to catch him. The son of Tactical now has two career wins after taking on older horses in his last start. With another polished effort, he stopped the clock in 1:45.57 for the 1 1/8-mile trip, improving on last year’s winning time by a full second and increasing his career bankroll to $93.68 in the process. Mb Stables entered this year’s running tied with Australia Wide atop the owner standings with two victories apiece, but after adding another trophy to the collection with this win, the stable now takes sole possession of the lead in the race’s history. Strategic Charm is going to have a lot of options moving forward, especially with now proving he can go over a mile. The field was reduced by one after Shin Lim, owned by Riggins Racing, was scratched late. A big congratulations to the connections on this win:

Winner: Strategic Charm – (Mb Stables, E. Jaramillo) After drawing widest in the group, jockey Emisael Jaramillo wasted no time out of the gate and crossed over on the field, passing the finish line. Strategic Charm dictated things up front with fractions of: 47.06, 1:10.51, and 1:33.87. With a three-length lead rounding the far turn, horses behind needed to start closing in and there was no sign of anyone. However, as this gelding started to kick away in the stretch, Pennsville Farm’s Love Yourself was making up ground late. No one was able to catch the son of Tactical in an impressive one-length score. His two wins have come in wire-to-wire fashion, and he will definitely be one to watch. Congratulations!

Second Place: Love Yourself – (Pennsville Farm, K. Kimura) It was really a perfect trip for the morning line favorite, as he saved all the ground on the rail. Love Yourself sat in the second flight of horses down the backside about three lengths off the pace. Jockey Kazushi Kimura started to ask his horse around the ⅜ pole and had his sights on Strategic Charm around the far turn. There was a clear path to close down the stretch but Love Yourself wasn’t able to catch the eventual winner. This was still a great effort coming out of a two-length allowance victory. Pennsville Farm will have a fun summer campaign with his homebred, whether it’s other stakes or continuing to climb the allowance ranks.

Third Place: Final World Gullis – (Pan Farms, V. Del-Cid) This colt had no early speed from the gate and quickly found himself seven lengths off the pace. It’s clear that connections were hoping for a fast pace upfront, and unfortunately there wasn’t. Final World Gullis started to close the gap down the backstretch to about five lengths. Rounding the far turn, Vicente Del-Cid had to take this horse three-wide, which resulted in losing a bit of ground. He continued to close the margin down the lane and closed into third by three lengths. This was Final World Gullis’ first time on the turf, so finishing third was actually a productive outing. He will continue to have numerous options, both on the dirt and the grass.

Fourth Place: Perfect Doubt – (Bigchief Stables, U. Rispoli) Connections couldn’t have asked for a better setup, as the son of No Doubt About It was sitting in second just off the pace by three lengths. He had his sights on Strategic Charm down the backstretch and tried to get in a comfortable rhythm. The eventual winner started to pull away rounding the far turn, and it left jockey Umberto Rispoli and Perfect Doubt to start making up ground, but there wasn’t much of a response. Rivals behind started to close past this colt down the stretch, leaving him to spin his wheels. He wasn’t able to make up ground late and finished an even fourth. A cutback in distance looks to be needed after this effort.

– AJM

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded