Meet debut for Kya JO and 'Chancy'

PORTLAND, Ore. - Local stakes winners Kya Jo and Chancy Chancy will make their seasonal debuts in Monday's best race at Portland Meadows, a 5 1/2-furlong allowance that has drawn a field of six fillies and mares.

Kya Jo won three races at the 2003-04 meet, defeating maiden special weight company at six furlongs before winning the six-furlong OTBA Stallion Stakes and the 1 1/16-mile Oregon Oaks.

Kya Jo, a 3-year-old daughter of Abstract from the barn of trainer Jonathan Nance, has not raced since her Oaks victory on April 17, but she has posted six official workouts since mid-September and appears ready for a representative effort. Jose Rivera Jr. will ride at 118 pounds.

Chancy Chancy won the Oregon Hers Stakes and the City of Roses Handicap, both at a mile, here last December. She then challenged male competition in the 1 1/8-mile William Kyne Handicap in January and finished sixth, but it was discovered after that race that she had a cracked cannon bone. Trainer Dave Runyon has given his stable star ample time to heal, but Runyon is not confident that the 4-year-old is ready for her best.

"She is fine physically, but I'm not sure I have enough air in her quite yet," Runyon said. "Anyway, she probably needs more ground for her very best."

A third stakes winner in Monday's field is Raise a Daughter, 6, who won the Buttons and Bows Handicap and the Ribbons and Lace Handicap last April at Sun Downs.