Ova Charged Catches Cilla in LA Champs Day Thriller
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Photo: Hodges Photography / Lou Hodges Jr.
Ova Charged outkicks Cilla in the Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Sprint at Fair Grounds Race Course
A Louisiana Champions Day showdown Dec. 11 between Ova Charged and Cilla lived up to the pre-race hype. The two classy 3-year-old fillies dueled down the length of the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots stretch, with Ova Charged coming out narrowly on top in the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Sprint.
The victorious daughter of Star Guitar outran the graded stakes-winning Cilla by three-quarters of a length, completing six furlongs on a fast track in 1:09.92. Bet down to clear favoritism following a 10 1/2-length allowance optional claiming victory last month, Ova Charged returned $2.80 to win.
Though Ova Charged prevailed, it was Cilla that appeared to hold the upper hand early. Prioress Stakes (G2) winner Cilla tracked the pace in second behind an opening split in :21.89, established by Sumitup , and took a narrow lead with a half-mile in :45.32. Ova Charged, meanwhile, racing in fifth down the backstretch, traveled with her head held awkwardly.
As the field neared the long Fair Grounds stretch, Ova Charged began to race more comfortably. Thundering down the center of the track under Reylu Gutierrez, she gradually wore down an inside-running Cilla under Adam Beschizza.
"I mean this stretch is so long—you can't believe you're going to get there," Gutierrez said. "Two (top) fillies, neither one deserves to lose. Props to Cilla, but, I mean, what a battle down the way and we got lucky today.
Strong Beauty ran third, 5 3/4 lengths behind the runner-up, and was followed by Sarah's Passion in fourth.
Ova Charged improved her career record to 4-for-5 and earnings to $174,600 for Evelyn Benoit's Brittlyn Stable. Jose Camejo trains the filly, whose lone defeat was a runner-up finish in the Victory Ride Stakes (G3) over the summer at Belmont Park.
Benoit also raced Star Guitar, the leading money earner in Louisiana-bred history, and the owner has strongly supported the stallion. He stands at Clear Creek Stud in Louisiana.
Benoit complimented her trainer for his work with Ova Charged and her other horses and lavished praise on Star Guitar.
"I had so much faith in the stallion and no one wants to breed to (him). I don't want to breed anyone else, and I've had the best," she said in an in-house television interview. "I've had three American Pharoah s, and they can't beat my Star Guitars."
Ova Charged is yet another homebred success for Benoit. The filly becomes the first stakes winner out of the stakes-winning Dehere mare Charged Cotton , who also has a black type-placed runner in Sethamee Street (Street Sense ). The dam has four winners from seven foals, five of whom have raced. The dam's last five foals are by Star Guitar, including an unnamed yearling colt and a filly foaled earlier this year. She was bred back to Star Guitar for 2022.
Video: Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Sprint S. (BT)
In the race following the Ladies Sprint, Grand Luwegee scored a repeat victory in the $150,000 Louisiana Champions Day Classic, leading from start to finish under Colby Hernandez.
The winner, bred, owned, and trained by Gerard Perron, raced 1 1/8 miles on a fast track in 1:51. The 6-year-old son of El Corredor , out of the Gold Fever mare Magical Mia , returned $8 to win.
Highland Creek , who stalked the pace inside before angling out in the stretch, finished second, ahead of Pound for Pound in third and Jimi's a Star in fourth.
Grand Luwegee strides out at the wire in the Louisiana Champions Day Classic
The Classic was the richest of 10 stakes for either Thoroughbreds or Quarter Horses on the Champions Day program. The other Thoroughbred stakes winners of the day were Fort Polk in the Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Distaff, Unified Report in the Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile, Monte Man in the Louisiana Champions Day Sprint, Who Took the Money in the Louisiana Champions Day Turf, and Buckley Bunny in the Louisiana Champions Day Lassie.