Speedy rivals could test Matareya in Chicago Stakes

Multiple Grade 1 winner Matareya, considered one of the top female sprinters in the country, is using Saturday’s Grade 3, $225,000 Chicago Stakes at Ellis Park as a prep toward the summer and fall’s major events for her division – the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita.

But the Chicago is far from a gimme for Matareya. Grade 1 winner Society and Grade 3 winner Hidden Connection, both cutting back from two-turn races to seven furlongs, make this small field of six a very intriguing one.

Matareya, a Godolphin homebred trained by Brad Cox, won three graded stakes last year, including the Grade 1 Acorn, and was third in the Grade 1 Test, beaten less than two lengths after a bump in the stretch. The campaign was enough to place her on a handful of Eclipse Award ballots.

Matareya started this season by finishing second to multiple graded stakes winner Wicked Halo by three-quarters of a length in the Matron going six furlongs on a muddy track at Oaklawn Park. That sharpened her to turn the tables next out in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff at her preferred distance of seven furlongs. She posted a career-high 97 Beyer Speed Figure while prevailing by a length over Wicked Halo, with champion Goodnight Olive another length back in third after a troubled trip. Goodnight Olive and Wicked Halo returned to finish first and second in the Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses last weekend at Belmont Park.

Matareya, with regular rider Flavien Prat aboard, will break from post 2 in the Chicago, with Hidden Connection inside of her and a long run down the backstretch. She is the only member of this field who has run at Ellis, winning her debut here in the summer of 2021.

Society, breaking from post 5, and Hidden Connection could provide the pace. Tyler Gaffalione, who rode Society three times with two wins last year, is reunited with the filly trained by Steve Asmussen. Luis Saez will ride Hidden Connection for the first time for Bret Calhoun.

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Society, winner of the Grade 1 Cotillion on the front end last year, opened her season racing around one turn, setting the pace before finishing third in the Grade 1, seven-furlong Madison at Keeneland, a race won by Goodnight Olive. Society then went two turns in the Grade 1 La Troienne on May 5 at Churchill, again setting the pace before fading to ninth.

The fleet-footed Hidden Connection, a Grade 3 winner as a juvenile, has made all her starts this year at 1 1/16 miles, with mixed results. She finished second in the Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic, seventh in the Grade 2 Azeri, second in the Grade 3 Doubledogdare, and fifth in the Grade 3 Shawnee. She is cutting back at a good point in her form cycle.

Graded-placed Drifaros and Stella Noir and allowance-level winner Be Like Water round out the field.

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