The Sweetest Chant (Grade 3)- $100.000 Purse
GP- For Fillies Three Years Old
One Mile on the Inner Turf
January 30, 2021
The 13th running of the Sweetest Chant will take place at GP on Saturday. The race will send three year old fillies a mile around the inner turf course as it runs as a graded stake for the sixth time. Unlike its counterpart for males, the Sweetest Chant has been consistent with its distance and purse since inception. Last year, Too Scared To Party won the race for Martyparty, which was just the start of a very successful campaign for her as she began to take on more and more distance. It is a lead that our field of twelve would love to follow. Here are our runners!
#1- Youcantcatchme (Fractious, ridden by T Gaffalione)- So far in her career, no one has caught her, but she has only had the one start, a win on New Year’s Day. She was near the front there and never looked back, and that was at a mile at SA. Works are good, so the trainer will give her a good test right away here.
#2- Casting Couch Cutie (Arindel, ridden by E Jaramillo)- Picked up in a maiden claiming race for $50.000, and she has completely exceeded her expectations. After breaking her maiden, she went to WO for the Grade 1 Natalma and got the win. That brought her to the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf, and she was the runner up. Still seems to have plenty of upside and is one to watch this year, not just in this race.
#3- Daratoga G (Aer Stables, ridden by R Bejarano)- Acquired by the trainer in the September 2020 auction for $54.550, and six days afterwards, she made a positive first impression by winning an allowance at MTH. This brought her to the Grade 2 Miss Grillo, a race that she would also win. Was last seen in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf, where she finished in the middle of the field. We’ll see how much she liked almost three months of rest.
#4- Recession (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by S X Bridgmohan)- Here is another that was last seen in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf, but this was not one of the race’s better runners, as she finished near the back. Winning the $100.000 Surfer Girl Stakes is what got her to the race, and now like the one next to her, she has had nearly three months to rest.
#5- Hardly Real (RNP Stables, ridden by M A Vasquez)- This one will enter the graded ranks for the first time, thanks to a third place finish at the $100.000 Cash Run right here. That is a very similar race to this one, despite not having the graded distinction. As such, though, it did not get the kind of crowd that she takes on here on Saturday.
#6- Concoction (John Henry, ridden by G Franco)- The filly by Theory joins her fourth barn despite seemingly running well every time she has been out the track, a perfect 8-for-8 in hitting the board. John Henry paid $100.000 to pick her up, and this is a trainer that tends to hold on to his better runners, so it is good to see she can be somewhere stable now. He has high hopes for her, as this is her stake debut.
#7- Down In The Gulley (Luz International, ridden by I Ortiz Jr)- Here is another that comes out of the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf and will have almost the full three months of rest since that race. Down In The Gulley was not that successful there, though, placing 8th. She has plenty of stake experience, and has won one of them, the AP Washington Lassie in late August. Also ran second in the Jessamine.
#8- Rose Petals (Mb Stables, ridden by D Davis)- The No Doubt About It filly has won twice in her five starts, and that includes winning her last, the $100.000 Tepin at AQU in late November. That was a good recovery from a disappointing eighth place finish in the Miss Grillo, although she was still within a length of the winner in that race.
#9- Painville (Mb Stables, ridden by A Beschizza)- Here is the second of the three entries for Mb Stables, and it is the only one of them that ran in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf. That’s about all there is to say about it, though, as Painville only did better than one other on that day. Had a great summer with three wins, but now needs to show she can run in the cold weather months, too. Though, that’s not a problem at GP, is it?
#10- Molly Cat (First Street Stables, ridden by S Ryan)- This one has rotated wins and non-wins over her seven race career, so based on that, she is due to win the Sweetest Chant. She has mostly been a sprinter, but did go long once before, an allowance in which she placed third. Third was also the finish in her lone stake attempt, the Sandpiper Stakes at TAM. Best part for her chances is that pattern.
#11- Break From Holly (Nakamura Stables, ridden by J R Velazquez)- I recall being quite impressed with how this one ran in the $250.000 Princess Elizabeth, for ON breds, on Halloween. That of course, came too late for her to use it to get in the BC. She would follow that up well, placing third in the Demoiselle, a Grade 2. Now, as you may be thinking, those are run on the main track. Well, recent works show she might be even better on the grass. I’m making her my pick.
#12- Chances Are (Mb Stables, ridden by C J Lanerie)- Taking up the final spot in the starting gate is this Coin Flip filly that has two wins in seven starts. On New Years Eve, she got a win in the $75.000 Blue Norther Stakes, so it looking to build off of that here. The trainer believes in her, as evidenced by her being placed in a stake before she broke her maiden, something that you don’t usually see from Mb. She took out not winning that stake on a maiden field in her next race, and won by eight.
Prediction: 11-2-6-1
— NS
Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES
