Sweet smell of success 'Chanel' gives female trainer second Dixie Belle winner

Trained by one of the most likable women at Oaklawn Park, Saturday's $125,000 Dixie Belle provided a hunch play sure to entice any female bettor.

A filly with Chanel in its name and breaking from post No. 5.

Chanel's Legacy has more than a catchy name, picking up the scent of what the racing business is all about. The daughter of Dominus is a two-time stakes winner from six starts after taking the Dixie Belle by 2 1/2 lengths, leaving behind odds-on favorite Vertical Oak (fourth) and five other 3-year-old fillies.

Trainer Lynn Chleborad said Chanel's Legacy "probably can go farther" than her 2013 Dixie Belle winner, American Sugar. The gray or roan filly bred and owned by Allen Poindexter may get that chance, said Chleborad, in Oaklawn's $125,000 Martha Washington at one mile Feb 11.

At the least, Chanel's Legacy should be a terror if ever pitted against fellow Iowa-breds later this year at Prairie Meadows, Chleborad's summer base.

Making her 3-year-old debut, as were the others, Chanel's Legacy kicked clear in the stretch after a three-wide move on the turn. Her fast-rated six furlongs in 1:11.85 and under 119 pounds, Chanel's Legacy returned $13.40, $5.20 and $3.20. My Sweet Stella -- "hustled" into the field by racing secretary Pat Pope, per Hall of Fame trainer Wayne Lukas -- closed strongly for second, a half-length ahead of Churchill Downs debut winner Five Star Factor.

Vertical Oak, a Saratoga maiden and Churchill Downs allowance winner for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, challenged early before fading in the stretch. When Ramon Vazquez, a two-time winner on Chanel's Legacy at Remington Park, took the mount on Vertical Oak, Chleborad enlisted the services of Oaklawn veteran Alex Birzer.

"Ramon was going to ride for Steve," said Chleborad, "but Alex is my rider. He won (this race) aboard American Sugar and he's worked this filly every time out here in Hot Springs. He's getting close to 3,000 victories, which I hope he gets here -- and for me."

Birzer called it "an easy win," Chanel's Legacy tracking the early pace set by multiple stakes winner Country Candy and taking command at the head of the stretch.

"Lynn and her group did an excellent job prepping her," Birzer said. "She relaxed and settled for me real nice and when I asked her around the turn to get a little closer, she just responded. Everything I asked her, she was so push button."

The pace scenario, as discussed beforehand by trainer and jockey, worked out nicely for the winner.

"We talked about it this morning and we thought there would be speed," said Chleborad. "We thought we'd be laying about third, right off them, pressing the pace if things worked out. But, you never know until they break. I think she could have gone to the lead pretty easy, but she's got to save her kick for the end. And that makes her a better horse, when she comes from off the pace and then kick 'em on down the lane."

Jockey Jon Court said My Sweet Stella "closed on them well" after "the speed got away" on the backstretch and "she ... just couldn't stay with them." Lukas said before the race that the Martha Washington, which he won in 2015 with champion Take Charge Brandi, is next for the daughter of Eskendereya with the same owner (Ahmed Zayat) as 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.

Vertical Oak, no worse than second in three starts since her career debut at Saratoga, "just had bad position the entire race," said Vazquez. "I was never able to get her to the outside."

Arkansas-bred I Be Jeannie B, Country Candy and No Closure completed the order of finish.

Chleborad said the Dixie Belle winner lost weight and took some time to recover from a fourth-place finish going a mile in Remington Park's $100,000 Trapeze Dec. 11. That followed a Grade 3 fourth at Delta Downs after a Remington Park stakes victory at 6 1/2 furlongs.

Chanel's Legacy has bankrolled $159,394, which owner Poindexter, a Missouri resident, said "(feels) great, especially since I raised her at my house."

* Oaklawn announced Saturday that horses from Delta Downs, Evangeline Downs Training Center and north Louisiana will be allowed on its backstretch under certain conditions. But because of an EHV-1 outbreak in New Orleans, "any horse that has been at the Fair Grounds since Dec. 21 ... will not be allowed on the grounds at Oaklawn."

A quarantine went into place at Fair Grounds after a horse tested positive for equine herpesvirus Dec. 26. The New Orleans track announced Thursday that horses on the backstretch could begin coming out of quarantine as soon as Saturday.

Fair Grounds officials were encouraged that 48 horses entered the five stakes races on the track's Saturday card, up from 43 runners in the same races last year.

Favored Guest Suite, a Quality Road gelding trained by Neil Howard and ridden by Robby Albarado, won the Grade 3 Lecomte, a Kentucky Derby prep race, by 1 1/4 lengths over Untrapped, a Steve Asmussen trainee owned by Jonesboro resident Mike Langford and ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr.

Sports on 01/22/2017

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