Shred the Gnar meets tough cast for comeback in Chilukki
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The 3-year-old filly Shred the Gnar was a seven-length winner of the first race on the Kentucky Oaks card May 2 at Churchill, a first-level allowance race going 1 1/16 miles on dirt. Her time of 1:42.04 yielded a 94 Beyer Speed Figure. Ten races later, Good Cheer won the Kentucky Oaks running 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.15, earning a 91 Beyer.
So, when Shred the Gnar went to Saratoga for the Acorn Stakes in June, she did so as the fastest horse of her generation. Things did not go as planned. Shred the Gnar was scratched lame from the Acorn and only on Saturday, in the $300,000 Chilukki Stakes at Churchill, does she start for the first time since Oaks Day.
She’s one of seven fillies entered in the Chilukki, a one-turn mile that drew a strong cast for a Grade 3. The morning line has Shred the Gnar – Luis Saez riding for trainer Brian Lynch and owner Flying Dutchmen – the 5-2 second choice behind 8-5 Ragtime.
Ragtime came within a neck of winning the Grade 1 Test in August at Saratoga, then came to Churchill and easily won the Dogwood on Sept. 20. She went back to trainer Bill Mott’s string at Saratoga before returning to Kentucky, finishing a fast-closing third as the favorite in the Grade 2 Raven Run last month at Keeneland, and since has been based with assistant trainer Kenny McCarthy at Churchill.
Ragtime fell too far behind the pace at Keeneland, rallying from 10th, and therefore races Saturday in blinkers, which she wore her first three starts, but not her last two. The equipment might keep Ragtime more engaged, but she no doubt will come from off the pace Saturday under Junior Alvarado.
Shred the Gnar, a tough-beat second going six furlongs in her debut and lone loss, cleared the maiden ranks while leading in a one-turn mile, and went wire to wire in her allowance win. An inside draw likely forces Saez to use her speed in the Chilukki, which might, in the end, come at a shorter trip than ideal.
“I think she’s a two-turn filly all day,” Lynch said.
Lynch said sore high suspensory ligaments took Shred the Gnar out of training this summer.
“We had to give her a little bit of time, but she’s come back and is doing really well. She comes back a bigger, stronger mare,” Lynch said.
Ragtime and Shred the Gnar, the race’s only 3-year-olds, get three pounds from the older horses – Impel, Literate, Runaway Diva, and Zadorsky.
Brad Cox trains Impel and Literate. Impel, sluggish in her early-season races, came to life winning the Groupie Doll on Aug. 10 at Ellis Park, winning by a head over Regaled, third Nov. 1 in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. At 6 1/2 furlongs, the Gallant Bloom at Aqueduct, Impel’s most recent outing, just seemed too short for her. Literate makes her first start for Cox after campaigning in Woodbine route races on turf and Tapeta over the summer. Her one-turn dirt mile victory March 13 at Gulfstream suggests she shouldn’t be overlooked.
It would be difficult to overlook One Magic Philly, who makes her second start for Brendan Walsh since taking over her training when owner-breeder John Gallegos sent One Magic Philly from California to Kentucky. Walsh said Gallegos, in fact, set the Chilukki as a target, and One Magic Philly, who has faced many of the best older female dirt horses in training, won well last month in a Keeneland sprint allowance.
One Magic Philly hasn’t won at a distance longer than 6 1/2 furlongs, but over that trip in the Keeneland allowance, she wore down pacesetting Hillerito, winner last weekend of the Dream Supreme at Churchill.
“At Keeneland she was really only getting the upper hand on that filly at the end of the race,” Walsh said. “I would think the one-turn mile shouldn’t be a problem; it might even move her up.”
Shred the Gnar could target two-turn races this winter. Saturday, she might serve as One Magic Philly’s target.
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