Chocolate Ride wears target in Bradley
NEW ORLEANS – One year and five starts ago, Chocolate Ride had about zero name recognition as a horse still eligible for a first-level allowance race and who had been claimed for $40,000 in the fall. Chocolate Ride won a first-level allowance race in January, flashing home with a great turn of foot, and rewarded his backers with a $28 win payoff in capturing his stakes debut last February in the Fair Grounds Handicap.
A year later, Chocolate Ride is the horse with a target on his hindquarters. He went on to win the most important race of the Fair Grounds season, the Mervin Muniz Memorial, last March, and after a summer break, he cruised to a Fair Grounds allowance win Nov. 27 as the odds-on favorite. Chocolate Ride returns to stakes competition Saturday in the Grade 3, $125,000 Col. E.R. Bradley Handicap as the 122-pound highweight and the horse everyone has to beat.
“He’s the favorite, deserves to be the favorite,” said Brad Cox, who claimed Chocolate Ride for owners John Wentworth and Stephan Brochu about 14 months ago. “He’s every bit as good now as he was last year.”
Chocolate Ride, with Florent Geroux to ride, was one of 12 entrants in the 1 1/16-mile Bradley, but Majestic Harbor and Freestyler are dirt horses whose connections are hoping for a rain-off that seems highly unlikely. The Bradley goes as race 10 at 4:52 p.m. Central and includes last year’s winner, String King, and two Florida shippers with win potential, Roman Approval and Sky Flight.
Key contenders
Chocolate Ride (Last 3 Beyers: 100-91-100)
* Bad feet might have been impeding his performance before Chocolate Ride came quickly to hand during the last Fair Grounds season, but the feet are not a concern right now, Cox said, and Chocolate Ride has great attributes for a grass horse: controllable but strong pace, a temperament responsive to a rider, and a powerful turn of foot.
“I couldn’t be any happier with him,” Cox said. “His works on the dirt have all been really good. His feet are good. He looks tremendous.”
* The turf was fast, but Chocolate Ride, the course record holder at 1 1/8 miles, missed the 1 1/16-mile course record by 0.01 seconds in winning his comeback from a long layoff race last out.
* From post 2, Geroux figures to leave the gate running, but Chocolate Ride can be taken back off another horse if a rival is intent on leading.
* Morning-line odds of 2-1 seem generous, and Chocolate Ride could go postward close to an odds-on favorite.
String King (Last 3 Beyers: 87-94-90)
* Louisiana-bred millionaire won the 2015 Bradley, and though this year’s edition seems tougher, owner-breeder-trainer Charlie Smith believes his horse is coming into the race at least as well as a year ago.
“He’s so sharp right now,” Smith said. “I believe he’s the one to beat.”
* Finished second by a nose at odds of 4-5 last out in the Louisiana Champions Day Turf after being mauled by a riderless horse going into the first turn.
“If he’d been 100 percent fit, he’d have won that last race despite all the nonsense,” Smith said. “He’d had 90 days off and only three good works in him.”
Ibaka (Last 3 Beyers: 92-88-67)
* This year’s version of Chocolate Ride? Was a struggling Oklahoma-bred when switched to turf two starts ago at Remington. He won that day and won again here last month, capturing the Buddy Diliberto Memorial despite an interrupted training schedule and a tough trip.
* Breaks from an outside post under new jockey Jose Valdivia but is tactically versatile.
“He’s done it all – front end, back end, middle of the pack,” trainer Bret Calhoun said. “I think Valdivia’s got a lot of choices.”
