Hot and Sultry shows great form in Chilukki Stakes

Plan A was to bring Hot and Sultry back from a half-year layoff in an allowance race. Plan B worked just fine.

Starting Saturday at Churchill Downs in the Chilukki Stakes, after an allowance race in which she was entered failed to attract sufficient entries to make it onto a race card, Hot and Sultry ran her pace rivals off their feet and turned in a brilliant performance in winning the Grade 3, $295,000 Chilukki by eight lengths.

Hot and Sultry went straight to the front from post 8 under Ricardo Santana, leading by 2 1/2 lengths after a half-mile in a testing 45.88 seconds and by more than four lengths after going six furlongs in 1:10.44.

Hot and Sultry hadn’t started since May and a one-mile dirt race run at a sprint pace can be a difficult spot for a comeback run, but Hot and Sultry widened her advantage from the quarter pole to the finish.

“I was a little worried today,” said Norm Casse, who trains Hot and Sultry for owners JoAnn and Alex Lieblong. “This really wasn’t the first plan. We knew going the one-turn mile at Churchill is always a little more difficult off the layoff.”

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The real difficulty was finding the second-place finisher. Nostalgic rallied from last, never coming anywhere near Hot and Sultry while besting Oeuvre by a nose for the place. Falconet finished fourth, followed by She Can’t Sing, Be Like Water, Braganza, and Hidden Connection, who ran flat as the second choice. Raindrops on Roses was scratched.

Hot and Sultry was timed in 1:35.93 seconds over a fast track and paid $6.20 as the favorite while winning her first graded stakes.

Oeuvre looked like a significant pace player, but neither she nor anyone else sniffed the lead as Hot and Sultry burned down the backstretch.

“We went quick early, but she was doing it very easily,” Santana said. “She’s a very nice filly.”

A 4-year-old by Speightster out of Hot Water, by Medaglia d’Oro, Hot and Sultry debuted in December 2021 and made three starts before going to the sidelines and returning last December with Casse as her new trainer. She won the six-furlong American Beauty Stakes at Oaklawn Park earlier this year and raced competitive around two turns facing the cream of the division there before cutting back to seven furlongs in the Derby City Distaff in May.

Hot and Sultry failed to show her best six months ago but came back in top form Saturday. Casse said the filly will be pointed to Oaklawn stakes, and while Hot and Sultry might best suit seven furlongs or one mile around one turn, if she stays as sharp over the winter as she was in the Chilukki, she’ll make her presence felt in Arkansas regardless of distance.

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