Miss Chatelaine rallies to win Chelsey Flower

ELMONT, N.Y. – Christophe Clement’s instructions to Joel Rosario in the paddock for his ride aboard Miss Chatelaine in Saturday’s $100,000 Chelsey Flower Stakes at Belmont Park were simple.

“Ride her like a good horse because I really think she has a nice career ahead of her,” Clement said he told Rosario.

Rosario followed instructions, letting Miss Chatelaine fall back to next to last down the backside before she came with a five-wide move around the turn and split horses in deep stretch to win the Chelsey Flower by 1 1/4 lengths over Ack Naughty. It was 2 1/4 lengths back to Margaret Reay in third.

The win was the second in as many starts for Miss Chatelaine, who hadn’t run since a debut victory over firm turf Sept. 7 on opening weekend here.

Clement said he skipped the Miss Grillo Stakes on Sept. 28 because he felt that was too close back to run the filly.

Rosario never hit Miss Chatelaine. He did have to make a decision in the stretch when the horse he was going to go around, Ack Naughty, drifted out under Irad Ortiz’s left-handed whip. Instead of going between Ack Naughty and Unbridled Sonya, Rosario went between Unbridled Sonya and Margaret Reay before drawing clear.

“I can see the horse on the inside [Unbridled Sonya] come out a little bit, so I said maybe I’m not going to get room there,” Rosario said.

Miss Chatelaine, a daughter of Pulpit owned by Highland Yard, covered the mile over yielding turf in 1:40.93 and returned $5.30 as the favorite.

“He probably took her back a bit more than he should have, but that’s what good horses do – she won,” Clement said.

And good trainers, too. Miss Chatelaine was the third winner on the card for Clement.

Clement said he most likely would put Miss Chatelaine away for the rest of the year and bring her back in spring 2015.