Ashland an option for Champagne Room

ARCADIA, Calif. – Champagne Room’s third-place finish in last Sunday’s Grade 2 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita has left trainer Peter Eurton contemplating an out-of-town option for her.

The champion 2-year-old filly of 2016, Champagne Room was beaten 10 lengths by the upstart Unique Bella in the $200,000 Las Virgenes Stakes at a mile. The Las Virgenes was Champagne Room’s first start since she won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies here last November.

Eurton said on Wednesday that Champagne Room might start in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland on April 8 before targeting the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 5.

“She came out of the race in good order, and that’s the main thing,” Eurton said. “We’d like to go to the Ashland, and we could get a grass race in here.”

Eurton mentioned the $75,000 China Doll Stakes at a mile on turf March 11 as a possible prep race for the Ashland.

In the Las Virgenes, Champagne Room was second to pacesetter Mopotism for the first three furlongs and could not keep pace with Unique Bella when that filly took the lead on the backstretch.

“Physically, I thought I had her fit,” Eurton said. “Mentally, she might have gotten a little aggressive. That’s normal for her.”

If Eurton follows the proposed schedule, Champagne Room would not face Unique Bella again until the $1 million Kentucky Oaks at the earliest. Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said on Sunday that Unique Bella will remain at Santa Anita, with the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks on April 8 as an early-spring goal.

“Unique Bella is a very talented filly and freaky thing,” Eurton said. “She’s got the mind of an older filly. I still think I’ve got one of the top three fillies in the country.”