Gamble on Chocolate Martini paying off for Amoss
Lone Sailor took a tough loss Saturday in the $1 million Louisiana Derby, losing by a neck to Noble Indy after he looked like a winner in midstretch.
But for his trainer, Tom Amoss, the defeat was tempered not just by the fact Lone Sailor had taken a huge step forward from his races earlier this winter, but that 40 minutes earlier he had scored an upset in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks with Chocolate Martini.
Amoss had said last week he knew he was running longshots in both races, and, indeed, Chocolate Martini paid $29.80 after holding off Eskimo Kisses to win by a head. It also was a longshot that she even raced in the Fair Grounds Oaks. Chocolate Martini was drummed in her first two starts last year, and she needed a drop all the way down to $15,000 maiden claiming to win for the first time. Amoss and Double Doors Racing claimed her a start later for $25,000. Chocolate Martini narrowly won a first-level allowance race Feb. 18 while racing under a $50,000 claiming option, and the shot her connections took running in the Oaks hit the mark.
Amoss has made a lot of good claims through the years – he singled-out the good sprinter Delaunay as one of the best – but this ranks with the best of them.
“You’ve got to see her to understand her,” Amoss said. “She’s big and good looking and has a lengthy stride. I’ve liked this horse from the moment I claimed her. She was in really good health when she came to us – look how quickly we ran her back after the claim. It’s not like we had some magic formula. It just worked out for us.”
Double Doors Racing is a four-person partnership headed by Dallas attorney David Walker. Chocolate Martini is the only horse this partnership owns, though there are related partnerships with other horses.
Chocolate Martini for her Oaks win got a career-best 88 Beyer Speed Figure, a number that’s not out of line with the current leading Kentucky Oaks contenders. That’s the next stop for Chocolate Martini, who appeared to take Saturday’s race well.
“She actually ate up last night, which was a bit of a surprise,” Amoss said Sunday. “She’s always so quiet around the barn, it’s hard to judge how she’s acting by her personality.”
