Big plans may be in store for Little Chesney

It’s the shtick that keeps on giving.

Owner-trainer Carlo Vaccarezza likes to name some of his horses for friends and acquaintances with “Little” in the title. So when Little Chesney won the $75,000 Jupiter Beach Stakes on Sunday at Gulfstream Park in South Florida, there were questions.

Vaccarezza said he named Little Chesney for Bryan Walls, the longtime clocker at the Palm Meadows training center in Boynton Beach.

“I tell Bryan he looks like Kenny Chesney,” the superstar country musician, Vaccarezza said. “So I named the horse for him.”

The “Little” trend began about 10 years ago, when Vaccarezza was beginning to make a name for himself in racing. Little Nick was named for one of his sons, and then Little Mike, named for his other son, soon followed. All that Little Mike did was win 14 races, including the Arlington Million and Breeders’ Cup Turf in 2012 and two other Grade 1 races, and earn $3.54 million and wide acclaim for Vaccarezza.

“The whole name thing basically went viral, just crazy,” said Vaccarezza, a 66-year-old entrepreneur and restaurateur. “It’s kind of stupid but people like it, and it’s harmless. There’s enough bad stuff in racing. This is good. This is fun and refreshing.”

Several dozen Vaccarezza horses now sport “Little” in their names. Most compete in the relative obscurity of claiming races, but Little Chesney, a 4-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding by City Zip, has taken his game to a higher level. Using his usual stalking style, he won the restricted Jupiter Beach, a five-furlong turf race, by 1 3/4 lengths and may have earned himself a berth in the Grade 3, $500,000 Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint on Sept. 8.

“He might be in over his head there, but we’ll take a look,” Vaccarezza said. “He’s a pretty nice horse, always tries, always there. He’s won four races now, so we’d like to keep him sound and healthy and try to keep having some fun with him.”

Meanwhile, real life goes on for the Vaccarezza family. Nick worked as a stablehand this summer at Saratoga for trainer Chad Brown before loading up his belongings last Monday for the trip to Lexington, Ky., where he is enrolled as a freshman at the University of Kentucky.

“We drove down and got him all settled in,” Vaccarezza said. “It’s a very exciting time for all of us.”

◗ Armando De La Cerda saddled one winner a day last Friday through Sunday – most notably Spanish Harlem in the $75,000 Barely Even on Saturday – to further entrench himself as the leading trainer at the 56-day summer meet. Into Wednesday, de la cerda had 14 wins at the meet, which runs through Sept. 30.

◗ The highlight of the coming weekend is the $100,000 Benny the Bull on Saturday. The Thursday card (first post, 2 p.m. Eastern) lacks so much as an allowance, so the Rainbow 6 (races 5-10) once again is the main attraction for horseplayers.