Dreaming of Liz all the way

The Sweetest Chant Stakes was contested at one and one-sixteenth miles on Polytrack, but the race was all but over after a quarter-mile. By then, Dreaming of Liz had shaken loose on a clear lead without having to work, and so far, no horse has been able to run down Dreaming of Liz once she gets to the front on Arlington Polytrack.

Dreaming of Liz had won a maiden race and the Arlington-Washington Lassie loose on the lead here last year; she won the Double Delta Stakes on the engine earlier this meet; and with Earlier Fires pushing all the right pace buttons, Dreaming of Liz won the $53,300 Sweetest Chant by a neck over late-running Temper Temper.

A Frank Calabrese-owned homebred trained by Wayne Catalano, Dreaming of Liz paid $9 to win, and was timed in 1:46.45. Temper Temper finished almost five lengths in front of favored Choragus, who made a bold but very wide move on the far turn, and flattened out late to finish third.

Dreaming of Liz broke alertly from post 5, and scampered to the rail while running her first quarter-mile in 24.73 seconds. And while the Arlington main track has not been playing fast, that was a slow fraction, as was Dreaming of Liz's 49.43-second half-mile. The tepid pace helped Dreaming of Liz spurt clear turning for home, and with the Sweetest Chant ending at the regular sixteenth pole, there was no catching her.