The Sweetest Chant (Grade 3)- $150.000 Purse
GP- For Fillies Three Years Old
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Turf
February 3, 2024

The running of the Sweetest Chant took place Saturday afternoon, and a filly that needed a good bounce back race after the BC certainly got it. That would be Wonderful World, the winner of the Grade 1 Natalma, who only finished in the middle of the field in the BC. She is still a lightly raced horse, so her story is just beginning to be written at this point, and part of that now will be that she brushed off the BC as well as she did. Running second would be Bella Latte, our pre-race pick who went off as the longest shot on the board. Remember that name as well, because nothing that happened here changed our mind that she has the ability here to become a great one in this division as a three-year-old. But back to Wonderful World, a Smokey Stover trained filly by Sinissippi Star. It’s the first win in the race for Smokey, but that is definitely not true for jockey J R Velazquez. He has now ridden five different winners of the race. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 1:40.20, the second quickest of the three races run at this distance. Let’s take a look at it!

(1/4 Mile- :23.10)- Schrodinger Con goes out to the lead for Big Guns Stable, and her advantage is a length as they go around the opening turn. Diablo Diablo’s Action Girl is right behind her, and it’s another length to a group of three who run side by side. Here, you’ll find our top two finishers, as Smokey Stover’s eventual winner, Wonderful World runs on the rail with the ultimate runner up, Bella Latte, from Fractious, right beside her. Also with them is Smokin Shimmer, from Mb Stables, who also cashed a check here. Running in the middle of the field behind them is Lazy Eye’s Repartee and Blazin D’s Extreme Metal. It’s further back to the rest of the field, who run close to one another. Iffy and stablemate Bottomless Mimosas (Mb Stables) are slightly ahead of Humidity Factor (Fractious), Playlist (Red Fox Farms), and Acqua (D J C Racing Stables).

(½ Mile- :46.70)- Early in the backstretch, the front five horses start to create some distance on the others in the field. Schrodinger Con is still the leader, and has the same length advantage on Action Girl, but the other stalkers are creeping a little closer. For now, Bella Latte seems to have the best lane of those three and is a half-length ahead of Wonderful World and Smokin Shimmer. The gap behind them gets larger, now becoming around three lengths to Repartee and Extreme Metal. Iffy and Bottomless Mimossas are a length and a half further back, and still trailing are Humidity Factor, Playlist, and Acqua.

(Top of Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- As the field moves around the turn, the three stalkers are clearly the better than Schrodinger Con and Action Girl and move to their outside to complete the pass. Towards the exit of the turn, Bella Latte and Wonderful World are both looking very strong and are prepared to fight this one out in the stretch. Smokin Shimmer was also passing the original two pacesetters, but not as quickly and began to lose touch with Bella Latte and Wonderful World. Further back, Extreme Metal was looking like she would get into the mix as well but needed to take a five wide run to make it happen. For now, Repartee was the best of the rest.

(Finish- 1:40.20)- In the stretch, our 36/1 pre-race pick, Bella Latte was neck and neck with Wonderful World and an exciting battle between the two of them took place. It would be with a little less than a furlong to go where Wonderful World gained a bit of an edge on Bella Latte and would use that all the way to the wire to go on to win by half a length. Bella Latte settles for second and should not be 36/1 ever again in a race like this. Extreme Metal’s late outside bid gets her third, but she never concerned the winner. A steady run for Smokin Shimmer gets her fourth over the too late running Bottomless Mimosas. Action Girl, Acqua, and Humidity Factor finished in close proximity, with Playlist, Iffy, Repartee, and Schrodinger Con rounding it out.

About The Winner- Wonderful World, trained by Smokey Stover and ridden to victory by J R Velazquez, is a three-year-old filly by Sinissippi Star and is out of Ocarina Of Time. She was bred in New York as a yearling by Smokey Stover, and they have been together throughout. Congratulations to the connections! She is now 3-for-5 in her career, with two stake wins. Her career earnings improve to $442.800.

Track: Firm
Time: :23  :46³  1:10³  1:40¹

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 2 – 3 Paid 170.00
$1 Trifecta: 2 – 3 – 8 Paid 629.40

Scratched: Neon Dragon

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES