Chi Town Lady overcomes troubled start to run down stablemate in Bolton Landing
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Neither a yielding course nor stumbling start could prevent Chi Town Lady from keeping her record unblemished and becoming a stakes winner for the first time. The promising juvenile filly overcame her early adversity and rallied from last to post a 1 3/4-length victory over stablemate Poppy Flower in Wednesday’s $120,000 Bolton Landing Stakes. Both fillies are trained by Wesley Ward.
Chi Town Lady trailed the field following her eventful beginning before surging to closer contention while widest exiting the backstretch. She was able to angle closer to the rail approaching the stretch, finishing resolutely to readily run down Poppy Flower a sixteenth out and win going away.
Poppy Flower set a lively pace while stalked by Fulminate from the outset, was left with a clear advantage when that one failed to corner well turning for home, but proved no match for the winner while easily second best.
Kneesnhips, steadied back shortly after the start, finished strongly on the extreme outside for third. Fulminate, the 2-1 favorite off a one-sided and relatively well-graded maiden win at Gulfstream Park, tired badly after bearing well out at the top of the stretch and finished last in a field of nine 3-year-old fillies.
Chi Town Lady, a daughter of Verrazano, is owned by her breeder, Castleton Lyons. She entered the 5 1/2-furlong Bolton Landing off a three-length debut win over the main track on April 11 at Keeneland. Ward had originally hoped to bring Chi Town Lady to Royal Ascot for her second start but had to alter those plans after she came out of her maiden win with sore shins.
Chi Town Lady completed the distance over a yielding surface in 1:05.87 under her regular rider, John Velazquez, and paid $12.80.
“She broke horrible. She actually charged the gate before it opened, they brought her back, and she charged it again when they broke and stumbled leaving there,” Velazquez said. “I’d hoped she’d be closer than that, but she was having a hard time handling the ground for the first quarter-mile. By the time we got to the three-eighths pole, she got more comfortable and at that point I got pretty confident she’d get there.”
Velazquez called Chi Town Lady’s improvement from her first start to her Bolton Landing victory “incredible.”
“I would have liked to have seen how much improvement she’d have shown if she had a better start,” Velazquez added.