Chanel's Legacy notches second stakes win of meet

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Chanel’s Legacy established herself as a 3-year-old filly to be reckoned with at Oaklawn on Saturday, when she won her second stakes of the meet in the $125,000 Martha Washington. She darted home by 2 1/2 over My Sweet Stella, notching her first two-turn victory following a score at six furlongs in last month's $125,000 Dixie Belle.

The Martha Washington doled out Kentucky Oaks eligibility points to the first four finishers, with Chanel’s Legacy earning 10 to add to the one she picked up in November for her fourth-place finish in the Grade 3, $400,000 Delta Downs Princess. Others earning points Saturday were My Sweet Stella (4), third-place finisher Torrent (2) and fourth-place finisher Lovely Bernadette (1).

Chanel’s Legacy ($28.20) settled just off the pace Saturday under Alex Birzer, tracking Perfect Wife through fractions of 23.51 seconds for the opening quarter and 46.90 for the half-mile. Chanel’s Legacy moved to the fore through six furlongs in 1:11.61, then proceeded to finish up the mile race, which ended at the sixteenth pole, in 1:38.51.

"She ran huge," Birzer said.

Trainer Lynn Chleborad was equally thrilled with the performance from Chanel's Legacy.

“I thought she was going into this race just as good as she could and it was just up to her to see what kind of filly we have,” said Chleborad, who trains Chanel’s Legacy for her breeder, Allen Poindexter. “She’s just coming into herself. She’s holding her weight. She’s training well. She enjoys her job.”

Chleborad said plans are to target the Grade 3, $200,000 Honeybee on March 11 at Oaklawn. The race is the final steppingstone to the meet’s biggest prize for 3-year-old fillies, the Grade 3, $400,000 Fantasy.

Chanel’s Legacy earned $75,000 for her win in the Martha Washington, which was her third stakes victory behind the E.L. Gaylord Memorial last year at Remington Park and the Dixie Belle. Overall, she has won four of seven starts and $234,394. Chanel’s Legacy is a daughter of Dominus and was bred in Iowa.