Rapid Rhythm a fitting winner in Richie Scherer Memorial

The trainer Mike Stidham was tennis buddies with the trainer Richie Scherer, and it was very fitting that Stidham had the right horse, Rapid Rhythm, to win the second division of the $50,000 Richie Scherer Memorial on Saturday at Fair Grounds.

Scherer, the popular trainer who grew up in New Orleans, passed away last summer after being afflicted with cancer.

Rapid Rhythm finished off her race Saturday like she was running for a just cause, but that’s the way the mare always performs at Fair Grounds. Six times Rapid Rhythm has started over the Fair Grounds grass course, and six times she has won.

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Back from a long layoff and after two subpar performances early this past summer, Rapid Rhythm was kept a few paths off the fence and in the clear by jockey Shaun Bridgmohan while racing from eighth down the backstretch in this turf sprint. She cruised into contention around the turn, had reached the tail end of the lead pack at the three-sixteenths pole, and came outside Miss Gossip to make the front in the final half-furlong. Contributing rallied even later and wider to nab second, just up over Miss Gossip in a closer-dominated race.

Off modest splits of 22.67 and 46.46, Rapid Rhythm ran 5 1/2 furlongs on firm turf in 1:04.01. The 7-2 second choice, she paid $9.60 to win while giving Stidham his third winner on the Saturday card.

Rapid Rhythm, owned by Robert Evans, is a Virginia-bred 5-year-old mare by Successful Appeal out of Patriot Miss, by Quiet American. She won for the ninth time in 23 starts – and might be a champion if all her races had come at Fair Grounds.

Chanteline at home on turf

Chanteline made her first 16 starts on dirt, and she was pretty good, too, but the first stakes win of her career came on turf when she captured the first division of the $50,000 Richie Scherer Memorial.

Trainer Steve Asmussen tried Chanteline on turf this past summer at Saratoga, but she was cooked on a hot pace and faded to seventh in a stakes race. At Keeneland in October, Chanteline blew the break and was taken out of her front-running game, but came with a good sustained run to finish a close fourth in a high-end turf-sprint allowance, a strong hint she appreciated the surface switch.

Saturday, Chanteline broke alertly under Jamie Theriot and was less settled than ideal while pressing a quick 21.87-second opening quarter-mile. Chanteline tore through a half-mile in 45.19 seconds, made the lead at the top of the stretch, opened daylight by the stretch call, and had enough in the tank to beat One Last Shot to the wire by three-quarters of a length.

The top two were clearly best, with even-money favorite Triple Chelsea, unbalanced through the final furlong, holding for third by a nose while 3 1/2 lengths behind One Last Shot. Winning time for the 5 1/2 furlongs on firm turf was 1:03.30, and Chanteline paid $6.40 to win as the second choice.

Five-year-old Chanteline, owned by Ten Broeck Farm, is by Majesticperfection and out of the Indian Charlie mare Listen to Libby. Her career record now stands at a fine 5-6-3 from 19 starts.