Triple Chelsea breaks through for new connections in Pan Zareta Stakes
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
NEW ORLEANS – Five horses in the $50,000 Pan Zareta Stakes went off at odds between 4-1 and 5-1, but a race lacking any sort of decided favorite produced a definitive winner as Triple Chelsea extricated herself from trouble in the final furlong and won this turf sprint by 1 1/4 lengths with a strong late run.
The victory was the first in a North American stakes race for jockey Adam Beschizza, an established English rider who is giving Fair Grounds a go this winter. He’s doing well, too, thanks in great part to Triple Chelsea’s trainer, Joe Sharp. Beschizza galloped horses for and with Sharp on a previous stay in the U.S., and when Robby Albarado, who’d ridden Triple Chelsea in her last start, went to Gulfstream on Saturday to ride Dak Attack in the Mucho Macho Man Stakes, Beschizza picked up the mount on Triple Chelsea.
“She’s small, but there’s an engine there and a good turn of foot,” Beschizza said. “That turn of foot gets you out of trouble, and that’s what we saw from her today.”
Triple Chelsea had finished a fading third as the 11-10 favorite after chasing a strong pace in a division of the Richie Scherer Memorial Stakes on Dec. 2. Saturday, she broke well enough from post 9 and made it over to the fence to race inside One Last Shot as those two fillies sat behind pace-setting Nite Delite and Excessivespending.
Triple Chelsea got stuck behind fading pacesetters before the eighth pole, but Beschizza steered her outside that pair and Triple Chelsea beat Nobody’s Fault to the spot, and while running a final half-furlong in less than six seconds she was pulling away late.
“Watching her replays before I claimed her, she’s the kind of filly, so game and genuine, that when she gets in a little trouble it seems to engage her,” said Sharp.
Sharp and owner Brad Grady claimed Triple Chelsea for $62,500 in September at Kentucky Downs, and after a third and a second for her new connections, Triple Chelsea broke through. Off splits of 22.21, 46.39, and 58.21 seconds, she ran about 5 1/2 furlongs over firm turf in 1:04.19, paying $11.40 to win. Five-year-old Triple Chelsea, a winner in 6 of her 17 starts, is by Hat Trick and out of Oceane Music, by Oceane of Wisdom.
Contributing, who also was second in a division of the Scherer, got a solid enough trip but was second-best, though she did out-finish perfect-trip One Last Shot by a half-length for the place. Nobody’s Fault ran late for fourth, while tepid 4-1 favorite Rapid Rhythm, probably making her last start before retirement, finished faster than anyone but had no chance at a top placing after dropping back to last of 11 behind a moderate tempo.
