Chance It finally returns in allowance prep for Smile Sprint
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Nobody could have blamed trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. for letting out a little sigh of relief after the overnight came out for Sunday’s card and he learned a $48,000 allowance race that will serve as the afternoon’s main event had filled. The race closed with a field of six, including the Joseph-trained Chance It, who returns from a 14-month hiatus as the heavy favorite in the six-furlong dash that serves as a prep for the Grade 3 Smile Sprint here on July 3.
Chance It was one of the most promising young horses to pass through these parts over the past several years, having come within a head of sweeping the 2019 Florida Sire Stakes series at 2 before launching his 3-year-old campaign with a 99-Beyer Speed Figure victory in the Mucho Macho Man. But Chance It’s career got sidetracked following a fifth-place effort nine weeks later in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby. He went to the sidelines and missed not only the remainder of his 3-year-old campaign, but the opening third of the current season as well.
“We did all sorts of tests on him and never could pinpoint the exact problem, which is why he wound up having all the time off,” Joseph said. “Now that we’ve got him back, it doesn’t seem like it’s been that long, and needless to say we’re excited to get him going again. Physically, he looks tremendous, and mentally, he’s matured quite a bit. I thought his last work was really good, and I’m hoping we’re going to have a really big year with him from here on in.”
Joseph said the six-furlong Smile is the short-term goal for Chance It, and he’s happy to be able to get a prep race for him over his home grounds.
“It was a relief to see the race went,” Joseph said. “I kind of focused in on the fact that it would go sometime over the next week. I really wanted to run him here since the Smile is our first goal, although I was a little surprised the race filled right off the bat like that. And that it came up tougher than I’d expected or had hoped. Naturally, we’d like him to win first time back. I feel he’s fit enough to win, but he’s probably going to have to run pretty hard to do so against this field.”
Chance It has had six works over the past eight weeks, including five furlongs from the gate in 58.60 seconds over a good track on May 14. Edgard Zayas, who rode Chance It in his first four starts, will have the call.
Double Crown, another talented but idled 4-year-old with possible designs on the Smile, also will launch his comeback in this spot. Double Crown, who has never been off the board in six career starts, finished third facing older horses in the 2020 Smile, which was decided Sept. 5 because of the coronavirus pandemic. He has not started, however, since chasing home only the odds-on Yaupon in the Grade 3 Chick Lang on Oct. 1 at Pimlico.
Completing the lineup are Cool Arrow, winless in five starts since registering a three-quarter-length victory in last year’s Smile, Went West, Inter Miami, and Man of Honor.
Joseph will be on the road quite a bit over the next several months. He will send Mischevious Alex and Drain the Clock to New York to compete June 5 on the Belmont Stakes card. Mischevious Alex runs in the Grade 1 Met Mile and Drain the Clock in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens. Joseph has 11 stalls at Belmont but plans to up his New York stable to 30 head for the Saratoga meet. He’s also taken 50 stalls at Monmouth Park and plans to continue to maintain a full presence locally throughout the summer, with horses stabled both at Gulfstream and Palm Meadows.
“Like I’ve been splitting my time down here between Gulfstream Park and Palm Meadows, I plan to be doing the same this summer shuttling between Saratoga and Monmouth with a trip back to South Florida from time to time during that period,” said Joseph, who is the runaway leader in the trainer standings during the Gulfstream spring-summer meeting.