Chatalas rallies along fence, edges Little Jamie in Indiana Oaks

The plan called for Chatalas to leave the California barn of trainer Mark Glatt in June and join trainer Grant Forster in Kentucky, as California 3-year-old filly dirt-route stakes are in short supply this time of year but plentiful in the Midwest and East. The plan already has proven successful.

Hustled to an early lead from her inside draw by Antonio Fresu, Chatalas set a moderate pace over a glib surface, was passed between the three-sixteenths and eighth poles by Little Jamie, but after going down by about a neck, Chatalas came back again along the fence to win the Grade 3, $250,000 Indiana Oaks by a head at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

“She’s just a lovely filly,” said Forster, who had gotten two timed workouts into Chatalas at the Churchill Downs training center. “We were looking for a really good race to kick off her year.”

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Chatalas hadn’t started since December, when she turned in a competitive showing in her turf debut. Last October, in her first route start, Chatalas won the Grade 2 Chandelier Stakes, but the filly lost her chance in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies when she was crunched leaving the gate, and she had an excuse in the Starlet Stakes, her most recent dirt race.

Fresu had to work a bit to make the lead over Little Jamie and 1-5 favorite Impel but got there before the first turn, setting splits of 23.72 and 47.48, not an especially demanding tempo considering the speed of the racetrack. Little Jamie stalked the leader and, with Impel coming three wide around the far turn, ratcheted up the pressure at the quarter pole. Little Jamie took a lead, but Chatalas and Fresu quickly battled back to snatch victory away.

Chatalas, who could easily have been second choice, instead went off fifth choice and paid a generous $23.80 while clocking 1:42.93 for 1 1/16 miles over a fast track. Little Jamie finished a half-length in front of third-place Impel. Owned by Rancho Temescal Thoroughbred Partners, Chatalas is by Gun Runner and out of the Indian Charlie mare, Indian Safari.

“She’s set up to have a really good second half of the year. There are a lot of options coming up,” Forster said.

Midwesterners often clamor to head west and visit Southern California. For Chatalas, it’s the other way around.

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