The Sweetest Chant (Grade 3)- $100.000 Purse
GP- For Fillies Three Years Old
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Turf
February 5, 2022
On the surface, The Sweetest Chant would appear to be a smaller Grade 3 event for turf fillies. It might be in regards to its purse, but the race is seeing four horses that ran three months ago in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf. Not just the also-rans there, either, as the second and third place finishers from that race are here at GP to run for $100.000. The options are slim for horses in this division this time of year, so you have to take what you can get. The race last year was won by Chances Are, for Mb Stables, and it would be the last win of her career though she had a few solid runner ups before her eventual retirement. Chances are we will have a great race this year, so let’s look at the field!
#1- Hoodoo Chase (Alydar Stables, ridden by J Alvarado)- Moved to the grass for her fourth career start, and made an immediate statement in taking a $100.000 SAR Maiden. Had no problems going long thereafter, running second in the Miss Grillo, sending her to the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf, where she was fifth. Also, J Alvarado is very familiar with her. Hopefully, we can throw out her last start, but it could cause some concern in picking her.
#2- Swam Pass (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by G Saez)- A couple days after Christmas she made her racing debut, and won at a mile at TUP. She has not raced since, but plenty has been going right for her behind the scenes for her to be here. Worked great at TAM in anticipation of this, so the main question will be whether she can handle this crowd already.
#3- Exclusive Native W9 (Williams9, ridden by J C Ferrer)- After five terrible races, she broke through in her sixth to finally break her maiden, doing so at FE. Whatever happened between August and October was apparently a game changer for her, but just as she started showing promise, she reverted back to her old ways in the $100.000 Ginger Brew. It’s important for her to rebound well here.
#4- Drive In (Greeko Holden, ridden by P Lopez)- In four starts, she has one victory, breaking her maiden against ON-breds at WO. After that, she ran in the $75.000 Wait A While right here, a race that appears on a few of the horses past performances here. Drive In was second in the race, better than any of the others she sees here again. She went to the main track for her last start, did not fare well, so is hoping to get back to positive ways on the grass.
#5- Mon Dieu (Mo Mentum Farm, ridden by C J Lanerie)- Once this filly was moved to the grass, she has been getting some great results. She’d start by breaking her maiden at FE, and a couple starts later was second in a strong KEE allowance. On New Years Day, she ran here in the Ginger Brew and really finished strongly to win while pulling away. She sees a tougher crowd here, but you have to like how she ran that one, and especially how she finished it off. Don’t think that those BC runners here are necessarily the favorites.
#6- Molecule (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by D Davis)- She has proven to be a great claim, as the trainer picked her up for $50.000, and promptly got results when he started running her long. After a maiden win, she was sent to the highly challenging Grade 2 Jessamine, and she would win that as well. That meant the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf, and the results kept coming as she was third there. Off of that, the trainer tried the main track and that we might not see again, at least for a while. Back on the grass, there is much to like about her.
#7- Confederate Warrior (Paradise Stable, ridden by R J Albarado)- Still a lightly raced horse with just two starts made thus far. She destroyed a PEN field on debut, and after that ran in a $60.000 stake at TUP, on the main track, and was a non factor. This will be her turf debut, and there is some tough company here to be doing that against, and it is her first time running long as well. Maybe she will excel in this condition, but right now, I can’t pick her.
#8- Zola (Royalty Stables, ridden by T Gaffalione)- Here is another one of our horses that ran in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf. Of them, Zola had the best finish, placing second. To get there, she finished third in the Jessamine, but does have just one career win to this point. Her last race saw her go to SA and run third in the $100.000 Blue Norther Stakes on New Years Eve. Has never finished out of the money for her career.
#9- Stayinschoolrene (Rock Creek, ridden by R Gutierrez)- This filly has one win in five career starts, and is looking to make a bigger impact at the track. Just one stake appearance for her so far, and that was the Wait A While that saw several in here run in. She was only fifth in the race, and saw some improvement in her SRF when being dropped into an optional claimer here last month.
#10- Perfect Class (Sccj Stables, ridden by Mario Gutierrez)- There is much to like about this Asset Class filly, and it starts with the fact that she has won three of her four career starts up to this point. None of them were in the BC, but I did like her effort in the Grade 3 Durant at DMR in late November. We have not seen her since then, but she especially ran well late in that race, so that bodes well for her. Has some of the best work times in this field, and with all of that, I think she goes 4-for-5.
#11- Dont Drink The Water (Angelos Stable, ridden by J J Castellano)- Started her career a perfect three-for-three, but prior trainer Big Guns Stable did not have the same aspirations for her, and the third race of that was a $40.000 claimer. Angelos picked her up, and two weeks later ran her in an optional claimer at SA. That did not go as well, but with a little more time together, look for Dont Drink The Water to bounce back here.
#12- Ode To My Family (Arindel, ridden by Ru Gonzlez)- This is the fourth horse in the field that ran in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf, but unfortunately for Arindel, her finish there matches her saddlecloth number in this race. To get there, she won the $500.000 KD Juvenile Fillie, and she has run better in two allowances since the BC to earn the chance to run at this level again. She shows some early signs of inconsistency, so hopefully that is starting to work itself out now.
Prediction: 10-8-5-6
— NS
Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES
