Chacha Real Smooth First Black-Type Winner for Palace

River Ridge Ranch's Chacha Real Smooth became the first black-type winner for Palace  when he notched a one-length victory in the Sept. 2 Iowa Cradle Stakes at Prairie Meadows. 

Trained by Gene Jacquot, the dark bay gelding broke a touch slow in the seven-horse field. Angled out four wide by jockey Ramon Vazquez, Chacha Real Smooth moved ahead to take control at the half-mile mark. Still running four wide as they entered the stretch, Chacha Real Smooth set down for the drive to the wire and kicked home. Final time for the five-furlong dirt sprint was 1:10.45. 

The win came less than a month after Chacha Real Smooth broke his maiden on second asking at Prairie Meadows by 2 1/4 lengths. 

Bred in Iowa by DNAce Thoroughbreds, Chacha Real Smooth is out of the Yes It's True mare Is It True Ma'am. He has won two of his three starts and earned $81,542. 

A four-time graded stakes-winning son of City Zip, Palace is out of the winning End Sweep mare Receivership. Raced for the majority of his career by Antonino Miuccio, Palace won or placed in 15 black-type stakes while racing from 3 to 6. He banked a total of 12 victories include seven stakes, four graded. 

His top wins came consecutively at 5, when he scored in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) and Forego Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. He retired in 2015 with a 12-7-5 record from 30 starts and $1,586,550 in earnings.

Palace stands at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky for $6,000.