Chismosa powers to CTBA victory

DEL MAR, Calif. – In an era when trainers can oversee runners numbering in the hundreds, it’s tougher and tougher for smaller and mid-sized barns to succeed. But if given the stock, they can produce, and this weekend at Del Mar the wealth was spread among the little guys.

On Saturday, trainers Marcelo Polanco and Dean Pederson won stakes, and on Sunday it was Rafael DeLeon’s turn. He sent out Chismosa to a mild upset in the $126,000 California Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Stakes for 2-year-old fillies.

Add up the number of horses trained by those three men and it wouldn’t fill a 32-stall barn. But each showed they can get the job done if given the opportunity.

DeLeon, based at Los Alamitos, has eight horses. Chismosa had won her debut here on July 23 – it was DeLeon’s first win of 2022 – and wheeled back in two weeks she remained perfect with a late-running victory.

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Chismosa ($14.80), sixth early in the eight-horse field, moved sharply on the turn and powered clear through the lane for a 3 1/2-length victory in the 5 1/2-furlong race. Chedda Cash was second, a half-length in front of the 2-1 favorite, Sell the Dream.

E Z Pharis was fourth and was followed by pacesetting Electric Lettuce, then Fumano’s Girl, Paddle On Polly, and Smiling Lady, in that order.

Absolutely Zero and Lov U Mean It were scratched from the original field of 10.

Chismosa was timed in 1:05.26 for 5 1/2 furlongs on the fast main track.

Edgar Payeras, who works Chismosa, was aboard. Payeras was scheduled to ride her in her debut, but he got into a car accident that day and had to miss the race. Kyle Frey replaced Payeras. Frey, though, chose to ride Lov U Mean It in the CTBA and was named on her. That allowed Payeras to get back on Chismosa when the race was drawn. And then Lov U Mean It was scratched, so Frey watched the race in the jockeys’ room.

“He knows the horse very well,” DeLeon said of Payeras.

DeLeon knows his horse well, too. He said he decided to run back on short rest because of the way Chismosa attacked her feed tub.

“Put a lot of food, finish every single day, shows she’s ready,” he said.

Chismosa, owned and bred by Jamie Renella, is by Clubhouse Ride out of the Cat Dreams mare You Can Dream. She earned $71,250 and has banked $119,250 to date.