Chi Chi back on favorite track for Game Face

Chi Chi is a multiple stakes winner, graded stakes-placed, and the 123-pound highweight in Saturday’s $95,000 Game Face Stakes at Gulfstream Park. But as far as the bettors are concerned, Chi Chi is likely to fly a little bit under the radar when returning locally to face six rivals in the six-furlong dash for 3-year-old fillies.

Chi Chi posted back-to-back stakes victories during the fall of her 2-year-old campaign, shipping to Remington Park to capture the E.L. Gaylord Memorial before returning home to prove a very popular winner of the Juvenile Fillies Sprint for Florida-breds. She was then stakes-placed in three of her four subsequent starts, including a third-place finish behind the speedy R Harper Rose in the Grade 3 Forward Gal.

Trainer Herman Wilensky subsequently sent Chi Chi with his son Sam to Keeneland, where she was a bit ambitiously placed, finishing a distant fourth following an eventful beginning in the Grade 2 Beaumont. But Herman Wilensky is hopeful she will bounce back with a big performance when returning home to compete over what appears to be her favorite track in the Game Face.

“She really prefers a hard surface, like the track here at Gulfstream,” the elder Wilensky explained. “She’s going to try and give you her all no matter the surface, but if it’s a little loose – like the track seemed to be at Keeneland the day she ran there – she really doesn’t want any part of it.”

After the Beaumont, Chi Chi remained at Keeneland, where she turned in a sharp and very encouraging bullet half-mile breeze prior to shipping back to South Florida last week.

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“She’s doing good, it’s a small field, and if she can run back to her best numbers she should be competitive,” Wilensky said. “It looks like there is some speed in this field and if they run fast early, I think she’ll come get them.”

Haulin Ice, the new kid in town, will likely go postward the favorite in the Game Face while making her first start since being purchased privately and transferred to leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. following a well-graded allowance win at Oaklawn Park four weeks earlier. Haulin Ice, an Arkansas-bred, was stakes-placed against statebred company earlier this spring. The 84 Beyer Speed Figure she earned in her most recent start is tops in the Game Face lineup.

Marshmallow Queen has shown major improvement since going on Lasix at the start of her 3-year-old campaign, registering three straight impressive victories, including a 10-length starter allowance triumph for which she earned an 83 Beyer going seven furlongs April 11. But the Antonio Sano-trained filly hit a bump in the road exiting that big effort four weeks later when succumbing to a race-long pace duel and coming out second best with former bottom-level claimer Amy the Butcher as a 3-5 favorite in her most recent try.

Another up-and-coming 3-year-old filly, Star of Saturn, is sure to garner plenty of support despite stepping into stakes company for the first time after registering back-to-back victories against lesser opposition during the Championship meet for trainer Bobby Dibona. Like Marshmallow Queen, Star of Saturn also has improved since adding Lasix, although neither filly will be permitted to race on the bleeder medication while competing under stakes conditions Saturday.

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