Chicago Stakes (Grade 3)- $225.000 Purse
CD- For Fillies and Mares Four Years Old and Upward
Seven Furlongs on the Dirt
June 24, 2023

This Saturday at CD, we will have ten older horses going to post for the Grade 3 Chicago Stakes. It is the 14th time that the race has been run, but the third time that it will be held at CD. In 2005, it was contested at AP, and remained there until 2016. For 2017, it was run here at CD, but then was not part of the schedule again until last year. The $225.000 that it will run for in 2023 is its highest point, and an increase of $25.000 from last year. The 2022 race was won by Zombie Storm, a six-year-old mare that is just a couple bucks shy of $1,300.000 for her career. She will be running on Saturday, but in an $8.000 open allowance at FP where I will be rooting for the horse next to her in the starting gate. Let’s take a look at those who will be running!

#1- Lassitude (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by J Graham)- She had a great moment on this track last year, winning the Grade 2 Eight Belles, but has not won a race since then. In fact, she has only hit the board two times afterward. This appears to simply be one of those wildly inconsistent horses, where when she is on top of her game, she is as good as anyone, but just does not show that nearly as much as the trainer would like. Last ran here about months ago and was mediocre in an optional claimer. That said, she is due for one of her big runs.

#2- Stinky Rene (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by G Corrales)- If I had to pick a TwinTowers horse for this race, Stinky Rene would be my pick, but I can’t get that excited about her, either. She had a couple strong runs at much longer distances last fall, including a win in the Grade 3 Red Carpet Handicap at DMR, but then had several flat outings in a row. Now, her last start was different, as she was moved to the main track for a dirt sprint, the Grade 3 Whimsical Stakes at WO, and ran a sharp looking fourth. Off that, I’d have optimism for her, and find her intriguing here. Tough to pick in a big field, but if I saw her at big odds (which she may be), I’d put some money on it.

#3- Longclaws Maggie (Big Jd Racing, ridden by B J Hernandez Jr)- She has won three of fourteen starts, but is still looking for her first stake victory. That was oh so close to happening in her last race, the Grade 3 Vagrancy Handicap at BEL, where she just edged out in a photo finish at the wire and had to settle for second. Longclaws Maggie has had a few of these near misses, and you can even go a little further back to March, the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie at GP, where was beaten by a neck. I like that her speed figures are increasing in most of starts, and she may just need a little more luck at the wire.

#4- Lucky Insist (Rock Creek, ridden by M Murrill)- This one comes into the race with two wins in her last three starts, which were a pair of open allowances down at GP. That got her the chance to start here in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff last month, but she would be a non-factor, beating only one other horse. You can look back much further in her 31-start career and find better stake performances, but her recent record at this level leaves a lot to be desired. I would not rule her out entirely, but there are better options in the field.

#5- Curlina (Arindel, ridden by C J Hernandez)- You may remember this one running here last here in the KYO, though there was nothing memorable about her performance. Curlina would run in several top races last year, even including the BC Distaff, where she was badly defeated. As a four-year-old, she is still looking for her first win, but has hit the board twice. Last month, she ran here in the Grade 1 La Troienne, and after running well for a while, faded to a sixth-place finish. It would be logical to think that cutting back on her distance will be very beneficial, which has happened here, so we’ll see if she gets a better finish at the end.

#6- Lady Sammyantha (The Sidley Stud, ridden by A Beschizza)- The Sidley Stud has a couple of very good contenders for the Chicago Stakes. This seems to be a very good spot for Lady Sammyantha, who has won seven times over her 31 starts. Hasn’t seen the winner’s circle since a rain-soaked day at WO last November in the Bessarabian Stakes, but she narrowly missed out in the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes at the end of April. In 2021, she won a race at AP known as the Chicago Stakes, but it is not included here as part of our stake history. Weird, and I imagine that it probably should be. Regardless, I expect Lady Sammyantha to be one of the top contenders here, as she seems to like this seven-furlong distance.

#7- Queen Mother (Wood Duck Stables, ridden by Mar Garcia)- The Chai Bay filly has hit the board in eleven of fourteen starts, with five victories along the way. Her biggest win to this point is the Grade 3 ONT Fashion Stakes last fall, and after a good clip at the graded level last year she has not been able to step up more this year in stakes. Last ran in late April at the Santa Maria Stakes but was not as competitive as Lady Sammyantha was in that one and lost ground late. A shorter distance could be better for her, and she has never had two subpar outings in a row.

#8- Commanding Jane (Night Rider Stables)- Finished off her five year old season by winning the Grade 3 Las Flores Stakes at SA on New Year’s Eve. That would not mean that better things were on the horizon for her after the new year, as she has failed to hit the board in all of her three starts this year. That said, she was not bad in her last outing, where she only missed by a length when placing fifth in the Grade 3 Whimsical Stakes at WO last month. If she can have that type of run and improve on it just a tad, then she will be a good contender here.

#9- Oceanus (Wood Duck Stables, ridden by F Geroux)- It looks like Oceanus is the one to beat in this field. The still lightly raced four-year-old has won six of ten career starts, but those weren’t small races, either. Last November, she became a BC Champion by winning the Fillies and Mares Sprint, and while she didn’t have to keep proving herself, if there were still any doubters out there, she would have made them look foolish in the Grade 1 La Brea, which she also won. She has had a quiet 2023, but only because she has only made two starts with one being an open allowance. Last month, she ran against a couple of these in the Whimsical Stakes and placed second. It’s time to get rolling on her four-year-old season, and that starts here. Not unbeatable but should be the favorite.

#10- Silver Jazzmin (The Sidley Stud, ridden by J Loveberry)- This six-year-old mare has twelve wins over her 36 starts, and rides a two-race winning streak into the Chicago Stakes. In March, she got the win in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie in a photo, but it has been a surprise that she has not been in a stake since then. Despite that nice victory, her next race was an open allowance at LS, and she got the win there, but I would have been worried if she didn’t. Good to see running against the kind of competition that she deserves to be running against.

Prediction: 9-6-10-2

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES