Amidst some controversy, Chummers outbattles Caroline St. Beat to win the Violette
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Ray Handal readily admitted he was hoping somebody had dropped a claim slip for Chummers when he ran the 3-year-old New York-bred under a $55,000 claiming tag last month at Aqueduct.
Fortunately for Handal nobody did, a fortuitous turn of events considering Chummers is now a stakes winner after gamely fending off Caroline St. Beat for a well-deserved neck victory Friday at Saratoga in the $200,000 Rick Violette Stakes. The Violette is a 1 1/16-mile turf race for 3-year-old New York-breds.
“I’m not going to lie, I was kind of praying somebody would claim him last time," Handal said. "I own him, we paid only $6,000 for him, and if he won and got claimed for $55,000 that’s a pretty good turnaround. But thank God he didn’t." "Funny how life works out. He won that race, got the confidence he needed, just keeps getting better and better every time he runs and has definitely changed my opinion about him.
“He showed a lot of grit and took a big step forward today.”
As expected, Chummers raced near the rear of the seven-horse Rick Violette field, about a half-dozen lengths off the lively pace set by Voodoo Doll and attended by Spirit of New York.
Chummers advanced strongly outside horses commencing his bid around the second turn, continued well wide into the stretch, gained a short advantage near the furlong grounds then reasserted himself after briefly relinquishing the lead to Caroline St. Beat to prove narrowly best.
Caroline St. Beat trailed early and was still last midway around the second bend, circled widest of all rallying into the stretch, appeared to stick his nose in front briefly near midstretch but hung late while second best. It was another two lengths further back to A Little At First, the tepid 2-1 favorite, who finished third.
An attempt by jockey Manny Franco, who rode Caroline St. Beat, to claim foul was not recognized due to what he felt was a miscommunication between the outrider and the stewards in the aftermath of the race. Franco said the outrider claimed he had only asked to put a hold on the race, not claim a foul.
“Let’s pretend that I said ‘hold the race.’ So that doesn’t mean anything?” Franco said. “You guys [the stewards] should at least put the inquiry on the board and then wait for me to come back. But I’m sure that I told the outrider that I want to claim foul against the winner. I’m sure and they don’t put nothing on the board.”
There was a bumping incident between the top two finishers in the final sixteenth of a mile, with Chummers coming out under a left-hand stick to jostle Caroline St. Beat.
Caroline St. Beat returned the favor following the initial contact under Flavien Prat while under a right-hand whip as the pair approached the wire.
According to a release put out by NYRA officials, the stewards said Franco asked to hold the race and subsequently spoke with them on the phone. No objection was lodged and the stewards, in their usual process of reviewing the race, found no reason to hang the inquiry sign as the minimal contact was mutual.
Chummers, a son of Combatant, completed the mile and a sixteenth over a firm course in 1:45.16 seconds and paid $16.40.
“He had a monster work last week, it was awesome, and I guess he showed up with it today,” Handal said. “And what a great ride by Flavien. I was a little worried he was going to get caught wide into that final turn but he [Prat] did all the right things and had enough punch at the end. Although to be honest, at the three-sixteenths pole, I thought I was going to run second.”
Prat guided Fully Subscribed to victory in the Grade 2 Shuvee about 30 minutes prior to the Violette.
– additional reporting by David Grening
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