San Marcos Stakes (Grade 2)- $200.000 Purse
SA- For Four Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Quarter on the Turf
February 1, 2020

There is no denying that Chayse is capable of being one of the best horses in this division. However, his inconsistent history throughout his career makes him hard to throw a lot of support behind. He seemed due, and many people agreed as he went off at 7/2 odds. I was not one of them before, and probably still could not be after this. For ten furlongs at the San Marcos, Chayse was the best, but now we have to see if he can start showing this on a consistent basis. The winning trainer is Crocker Ggs, who’d also like to see that consistency, I’m sure. He gets his first win in the race, and so to does jockey G Franco. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 1:58.05, one of the better times in the history of the race. Let’s take a look!

(½ Mile- :47.36)- Call Me Spanish breaks sharply out of the starting gate, and opens up a lead of nearly two lengths for trainer Maxmillion Farm as we head down the frontstretch for the first time. Running together for second are Five Civil Nations, hoping to get another big win for Nakamura Stables, as well as Mb Stables’ Face Your Fears. Our eventual winner, Chayse, is in the fourth position for Crocker Ggs, and is running all by himself, four lengths out. It’s another length and a half to Magne Account (RNP Stables), and trailing is Chaos Itself (Gdp Inc), who seemed to break poorly from the gate.

(3/4 Mile- 1:10.64)- As it typically is in a ten furlong race, this portion of the race was pretty uneventful. They run in the same formation as they had been doing previously, with the exception being that Five Civil Nations is pulling ahead of Face Your Fears just a bit. Chayse still trails by four lengths.

(Top Of Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- Moving into the turn, it looked like Five Civil Nations was going to blow by Call Me Spanish and take the lead as the frontrunner was losing ground. Face Your Fears was also drawing closer, and further back, Chayse was looking like his good self, cutting the deficit down to two and a half lengths. Magne Account was starting to loom as a contender as well. At the top of the stretch, Five Civil Nations did not do as much as it looked like he would, and Chayse simply moved to the outside to take them all. Face Your Fears proved to be no match, but being heads apart for the lead here had to look good for Crocker Ggs. Call Me Spanish was trying to hang on, and Magne Account was now under three lengths back. Chaos Itself, though, still remained a non factor.

(Finish- 1:58.05)- Chayse takes the lead early in the stretch, but never completely put away Five Civil Nations. It almost seemed as though Five Civil Nations was only focused on Call Me Spanish, and didn’t recognize the threat of Chayse until it was too late. In the stretch, though, we saw the Chayse that could be a major threat in this division if he could just do this consistently. This is the beginning of his four year old season, so hopefully now is he a mature horse and his best days lie ahead. Five Civil Nations looked good as well, but that’s only good for second here. Magne Account ran well in the stretch to be third, over Call Me Spanish, who struggled late. Face Your Fears lacked stretch response and Chaos Itself lacked any response.

About The Winner- Chayse, trained by Crocker Ggs and ridden to victory by G Franco, is a four year old gelding by Perfect Command, and is out of Double Pink. He was bred in California as a second two year old by Crocker Ggs, the only trainer for which he has ever known. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his fourth in 10 starts, his third stake win, and second graded win. His career earnings are now $386.770.

Track: Firm
Time: :47¹  1:10³  1:34¹  1:58

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 5 – 1 Paid 15.60
$1 Trifecta: 5 – 1 – 2 Paid 1,709.30

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES