Ce Ce should make amends for Ballerina debacle in Chillingworth

ARCADIA, Calif. – In the unwavering opinion of trainer Michael McCarthy, multiple Grade 1 winner Ce Ce is as good as ever this season at age 6.

It’s just that Ce Ce will enter the Grade 3 Chillingworth on Sunday at Santa Anita off the most lopsided defeat of her career – a fifth-place drubbing by more than 11 lengths as the favorite in the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga.

Ce Ce rarely needs an alibi, but she had two for the Saratoga debacle.

“I think it was the one-hole first, and the racetrack second,” McCarthy said. “I don’t think I would have put her on a plane to go 3,000 miles if I didn’t think she was going to run well. She drew the rail, got a bunch of dirt kicked in her face, and the rest is history.”

Ce Ce can make history this fall if she follows Groupie Doll and becomes the second back-to-back winner of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. But before Ce Ce ships to Keeneland, it would be a relief to win the prep.

Six fillies and mares entered the 6 1/2-furlong Chillingworth, race 4. It is the race Ce Ce won last year at odds-on prior to the Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar. Despite her Saratoga defeat in late August, Ce Ce is expected to be heavily favored Sunday.

Her rivals include Grade 2 winner Under the Stars and restricted stakes winner Teddy’s Barino. Longshots in the $100,000 Chillingworth are potential pacesetter My Destiny, Cover Version, and Scenic Masterpiece. The race is a formality if the favorite runs her race.

But is Ce Ce really as good this year?

“To me, she’s as good this year as she was last year, yes,” McCarthy said. “Take a look at her numbers.”

Ce Ce, who earned triple-digit Beyers this year winning the Grade 2 Princess Rooney at Gulfstream Park and finishing third in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park, has won 10 races and more than $2.2 million from 21 starts. A Grade 1 winner in 2020 and 2021, Ce Ce is in her fourth and probably final season of racing for owner-breeder Bo Hirsch.

“For her to stay good for as long as she has is a testament to generations of Hirsch family breeding,” McCarthy noted.

Ce Ce is a Hirsch family homebred. Sired by Elusive Quality, she was produced by Miss Houdini, a Grade 1 winner in 2002. Miss Houdini was produced was Magical Maiden, a Grade 1 winner in 1991 and 1992.

Victor Espinoza, who has ridden Ce Ce in all 10 of her career victories, is back aboard Sunday.

Under the Stars shortens to a sprint after breaking slowly and losing her chance in a Grade 3 route at Del Mar. Under the Stars is trained by Bob Baffert and will be ridden by Juan Hernandez.

Teddy’s Barino earned a career-high 91 Beyer last out winning a restricted mile stakes at Del Mar. Mark Glatt trains Teddy’s Barino, whose rider is Mike Smith.