Chao Chom Upsets Enola Gray at Del Mar

S Samdow, Inc.'s Chao Chom provided the stunner of the Nov. 13 Del Mar card with an upset of 1-9 favorite Enola Gray in the $100,000 Betty Grable Stakes.

Previously undefeated in California-bred company, which she also encountered in the Betty Grable, Enola Gray never got away from Chao Chom in the seven-furlong test and ultimately relented late.

Entering off three consecutive second-place finishes in conditional, optional claiming allowance races, Chao Chom wore down the odds-on favorite late in the stretch and pulled away to win by 1 3/4 lengths under first-time jockey Kent Desormeaux.

The top pair went head-and-head through most of the race for California-bred fillies and mares, and set fractions of :23.17 and :46.17 through a half-mile. Enola Gray began to inch away in the turn, but never got more than a length away from her rival on the outside. Still dueling to the eighth pole, six furlongs went in 1:10.09 before Chao Chom finished off the seven panels in 1:22.53.

"We won easy, so easy," Desormeaux said. "There were dawdling fractions. She was just cantering down the backstretch. Then we turned for home and she just ascended to the front. She finished with her ears pricked. She just couldn't have won much easier."

Trained by Gary Stute, Chao Chom, a 3-year-old daughter of Tizbud   last won in July at Del Mar, when she broke her maiden by 8 1/4 lengths. In four starts after, however, Chao Chom disappointed as the favorite. She finished second or third in all four allowance tests, never more than 6-5 in odds.

As the underdog Sunday, however, Chao Chom delivered at nearly 9-1 with prices of $19.80, $3.60, and $3 across the board. Enola Gray brought $2.10 to both place and show. Third-place finisher Cuddle Alert, 2 3/4 lengths back, delivered $6.40 to show.

"I got tired of her getting beat as the favorite, so I put her in a race where I knew she wouldn't be the favorite," Stute said. "Originally I was thinking about taking her back, because she hadn't been finishing. Then I looked and thought Enola Gray is the only speed, so maybe we'll get a slow pace and be close. I just left it up to Kent and he did the job."

Enola Gray, whose only loss entering the Betty Grable was a second-place run to Bendable in the Beverly J. Lewis against open company, came back to win the California Distaff Handicap in her first turf start Oct. 15 down the Santa Anita Park hillside turf course.

After the race, her jockey Tyler Baze struggled to find a reason why the Phil D'Amato-trained Grazen filly didn't win.

"I have no excuses," Baze said. "Turning for home, I thought I was home. But it just wasn't there today. I just don't know."

The upset set the table for a massive Pick 6 payout. Riding a two-day carryover, the wager paid $1,041,696 to a single winning ticket Sunday.