Arabella’s Muse, Chu and You set to duel in Ross McLeod

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The sensational Arabella’s Muse will get a real test when she makes her 2014 debut in the $50,000 Ross McLeod for 3-year-old fillies Saturday at Hastings. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint attracted six horses, including the champion 2-year-old filly in Washington last year, Chu and You.

Both fillies used their exceptional speed to dominate their opponents in 2013. Arabella’s Muse won her two races by a combined 18 3/4 lengths. She easily handled the local 2-year-old filly champion, Architecture, in the $100,000 Sadie Diamond Futurity in her only stakes appearance.

Chu and You was never threatened in her first four races at Emerald Downs before finishing fourth in the $48,465 Cahill Road, where she apparently didn’t handle the sloppy track.

According to trainer Toni Cloutier, Arabella’s Muse has grown and matured over the winter and is coming into the race in excellent shape.

“Everything is great,” Cloutier said. “She’s certainly filled out and grown a bit. She seems to have matured some as well. She couldn’t be training any better.”

Frank Fuentes retains the mount.

Owners Michael and Amy Feuerborn and trainer Robert Baze took a gamble when they debuted Chu and You in a $25,000 maiden-claiming race at Emerald Downs last July 13. Sent off as the favorite in the five-furlong dash, she ran off and won by 5 3/4 lengths. She easily won her next three races, including a seven-length romp in the $50,000 Northwest Farms for Washington-bred fillies, before her loss in the Cahill Road.

Sal Gonzalez Jr. will be riding Chu and You for the first time while making his Hastings debut.

Something will have to give if they hook up early, and the likely hot pace could set up the race for Architecture or Ole’s Miss.

Another possibility is Two Pump, who is the only horse in the field who has raced this year and is coming off a win in a $40,000 starter race March 30 at Golden Gate.

Also on the seven-race card that begins at 1:50 p.m. Pacific is the $50,000 Jim Coleman Province for 3-year-olds going 6 1/2 furlongs.

The only stakes winner in the field is Neverabettercause, who won the CTHS Sales Stakes and the $75,000 Ascot Graduation. His win in the 1 1/16-mile Ascot was the deciding factor in his being voted the local 2-year-old champion.

Trainer Pat Jarvis is pleased with how Neverabettercause is coming into his first start since he won the Ascot on Oct. 14.

Fuentes rides Neverabettercause.

The possible favorite in the wide-open race is Aspen Getaway. Trained by Anita Bolton, Aspen Getaway won his only start as a 2-year-old, going 3 1/2 furlongs. He has been very impressive in training this spring, and in his five-furlong move April 27, he easily outworked last year’s $100,000 Jack Diamond Futurity winner, Andallthatitmeans.

Hastings’s Derby connection

It isn’t quite the same as when Vancouver’s favorite adopted son, Mario Gutierrez, won the Kentucky Derby aboard I’ll Have Another, but local fans might want to consider a Hastings-related exacta in the Derby.

Art Sherman, the trainer of morning-line favorite California Chrome, was a jockey in Vancouver in the 1950s and early 1960s. One of his most important wins came in the 1960 Randall Plate at Hastings, then called Exhibition Park, aboard Donn Baykey.

The dam of Danza, Champagne Royale, raced exclusively at Hastings, winning four races. She also finished second in the 2005 Matriarch for trainer Janet Armstrong.