Chalon preps for Breeders' Cup in TCA Stakes

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Stop the replay of the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint with about 200 yards to go and take your best guess who the winner was.

You already know, of course, that it wasn’t Chalon, even though it sure looked like the Lael Stables colorbearer was on her way to victory. Only a last-gasp run by Shamrock Rose nailed her on the wire, denying trainer Arnaud Delacour his first Breeders’ Cup win.

Nearly a year later, Chalon is back, primed to announce herself ready for another go at the Filly and Mare Sprint. First comes a critical stepping-stone, the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes at Keeneland, a six-furlong Win and You’re In event toward the Nov. 2 race at Santa Anita.

Now 5, Chalon will face eight other fillies and mares with Paco Lopez aboard from post 8 in the 39th running of the Grade 2, $250,000 TCA, part of the huge Saturday card at Keeneland.

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“That was a tough loss last year,” Delacour said. “The mare is doing very well, and we hope she will show she deserves to run again in the Filly-Mare Sprint.”

First or second in 14 of 17 career starts, Chalon is about as steady as they come. Remarkably, she has earned Beyer Speed Figures between 88 and 93 in her last 11 starts. This is her third crack at the TCA after finishing second in 2017 to Finley’sluckycharm and last year to Golden Mischief.

To get over the top Saturday, Chalon will have to outrun a number of major players in the division, including a couple of Grade 1 winners, Spiced Perfection and Mia Mischief.

Spiced Perfection (post 3, Javier Castellano), winner of the Grade 1 Madison here in April, returns from a five-month layoff with 10 works since late July after being regrouped back home at San Luis Rey Downs by trainer Peter Miller.

Mia Mischief (post 6, Joel Rosario) won the Grade 1 Humana Distaff on the Kentucky Derby undercard, earning a 99 Beyer, then defeated Covfefe, one of the Filly and Mare Sprint favorites, in her next start prior to a couple of disappointing tries at Saratoga this summer.

Other chief threats in a terrific renewal include the fleet Louisiana-bred Ours to Run (post 1, Gabriel Saez); Danuska’s My Girl (post 4, Flavien Prat), a last-out winner of the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo at Del Mar; Dawn the Destroyer (post 5, Tyler Gaffalione), turning back from a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Ballerina behind another Filly and Mare Sprint favorite, Come Dancing; and Talk Veuve to Me (post 7, Jose Ortiz), mostly recently second in the Grade 2 Presque Isle Masters, a key producer of Filly and Mare Sprint winners in the brief histories of both races.

Rounding out the lineup are longshots Razorback Lady and Pretty Greeley.

The TCA, named for the prestigious club located on the southwest edge of the Keeneland campus, is carded as the seventh race, with post time set for 4:29 p.m. Eastern. It’s a key link in several multi-race wagers, including as the lead-off leg of an all-stakes pick four (races 7-10) and the late pick five (races 7-11).