Chanteline likely to stick around for 2018 campaign

Race plans are uncertain for Chanteline, who won the first division of the Richie Scherer Memorial on Saturday, but there are, in fact, plans to continue racing the mare as a 6-year-old in 2018.

“It’s my understanding she’ll keep running,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “She’s been a nice sound filly, and her last two numbers probably were her best two. She’s pretty versatile.”

Indeed, Chanteline found success racing on dirt in her first 16 starts, but was switched to turf three races ago and won the first stakes of her career racing over the Fair Grounds grass course Saturday. Being a bi-surface mare gives Chanteline plenty of options this winter.

Meanwhile, Asmussen is in the process of sorting out his army of talented 2-year-olds for the winter. Many will be stabled at Fair Grounds, and the colt Reride is a candidate for the Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 13.

“That’s an option for him,” Asmussen said.

Reride won a dirt sprint at first asking last June at Churchill, returned in the fall to win a two-turn turf mile allowance race at Keeneland in October, then got caught in a tricky spot between horses while racing near the lead in the Nov. 25 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill, eventually fading to sixth. Bred and owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, Reride, like his stablemate Gun Runner, is a Candy Ride colt of modest dimensions. Gun Runners do not grow on trees, but Reride should prove better than his Kentucky Jockey Club performance.

Asmussen also has the talented 2-year-old filly Mia Mischief stabled at Fair Grounds, but when and where Mia Mischief surfaces again is uncertain. Mia Mischief was a second-out, 16 1/2-length winner of a Keeneland sprint maiden race and won a first-level sprint allowance Nov. 25 at Churchill by almost four lengths, getting a flashy 90 Beyer Speed Figure.

“We’ve moved her to Fair Grounds, and we’ll see how she trains,” Asmussen said.