A Fine Chardonnay rallies from last to edge Sneaky Good in Beaumont

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Has A Fine Chardonnay, a stakes-winning 2-year-old, aged like a fine wine over the winter into the spring of her 3-year-old year, becoming a more impressive physical specimen as Thoroughbreds sometimes do as they mature?

"She's still small," trainer Ian Wilkes said. "She's still small, but mighty. She's improved in form, but still, what she was as a 2-year-old is what you see now."

A small but mighty tipple she is, indeed, as A Fine Chardonnay returned to Keeneland and edged by favored Sneaky Good for a three-quarter-length score in the Grade 2, $400,000 Beaumont Stakes, for 3-year-old fillies sprinting, on Friday's opening-day program.

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A Fine Chardonnay ($6.82), with Brian Hernandez Jr. in the irons, was unhurried early, slipping back to last in the scratch-reduced field of five at one point. Up front, Wrong Shoes, the longest shot on the board, had clicked off opening splits of 22.87 seconds for the first quarter-mile and then 46.36 for the half, coming around the far turn with a two-length lead. As the field cornered, Sneaky Good made her bid up the rail, but Wrong Shoes fought on gamely. Meanwhile, A Fine Chardonnay was rallying down the center of the track. She found her very best stride in the final yards, and was able to edge out Sneaky Good. Wrong Shoes, who fought on bravely between horses for a few strides before fading late, was third, 1 3/4 lengths behind Sneaky Good but clear of the rest. Coco Connect and Kingsolver rounded out the order.

The Beaumont was run in the sunshine, but on a drying-out track still officially rated muddy following overnight and early-day rain. The time for the seven furlongs was 1:25.87.

A Fine Chardonnay, a Maclean's Music filly owned by Double 22 Stables, won her first two starts, including the Myrtlewood Stakes last October at Keeneland. She finished third in the Fern Creek Stakes at Churchill Downs. In the first start of her 3-year-old campaign, she was third behind the talented Mystical in the Any Limit Stakes on March 14 at Gulfstream.

"I probably needed that race a little bit, but I wanted to knock the cobwebs off," Wilkes said.

Wilkes said the Grade 2 Eight Belles Stakes on May 1 at Churchill Downs will be considered for A Fine Chardonnay, but stopped short of committing to the race, saying he's "got to be careful" of asking for too much, too quickly from the diminutive filly.

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