Chub Wagon's unbeaten string climbs to 7 with Shine Again win

Chub Wagon remained unbeaten in seven lifetime starts after charging past a game Hello Beautiful in a thrilling $100,000 Shine Again Stakes for fillies and mares racing six furlongs at Pimlico on Sunday.

Chub Wagon broke sharply from the inside post under Jomar Torres, but was outsprinted for the lead by Hello Beautiful. The latter blasted through quick fractions of 22.21 and 45.32 seconds with Chub Wagon tracking from the inside pocket.

Hello Beautiful traveled sweetly turning into the stretch and displayed dogged determination along the inside, but Chub Wagon had the late momentum and reached the wire a neck in front in 1:10.21 seconds.

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Hello Beautiful was three lengths clear of third-place Paisley Singing. It was another length back to Never Enough Time in fourth. Anna’s Bandit, Lucre, Unique Factor, and Dontletsweetfoolya completed the order of finish.

A 4-year-old daughter of Hey Chub owned by Daniel Lopez and George Chestnut, Chub Wagon paid $3 as the betting favorite.

Pennsylvania-bred Chub Wagon won her first five starts in gate-to-wire fashion, but showed a new dimension by rating from just off the pace in last month’s Skipat Stakes at Pimlico. Her newfound versatility gave trainer Guadalupe Preciado increased confidence coming into the Shine Again.

“We know she’s quick and I told Torres to wait because last time she responded pretty good,” Preciado said in a post-race interview broadcast by Pimlico.

The Shine Again is part of the 24-stakes Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series that runs through Dec. 26.