Chalon Makes Her Return in Santa Paula

It's frustrating enough for a trainer to turn a talented horse out when they know what the problem is.

So what Peter Miller had to do with Rockingham Ranch's Chalon in the summer of 2016 was extra confounding.

After defeating future superstar Unique Bella in each filly's debut June 23 at Santa Anita Park, Miller entered the daughter of Dialed In   in the Landaluce Stakes.

"She was perfect when I shipped her up from San Luis Rey (Training Center)," Miller said. "She never had a pimple on her, passed the vet in the morning, and trained that morning at Santa Anita, so we were all pumped up. She gets on the track and was off in her left hind (leg). It was obvious to see they had to scratch her. We just don't know why she was off."

Back at Miller's San Luis Rey base, the investigation began. The trainer said they spent "thousands and thousands" of dollars on diagnostics to try to find out what was wrong, but no injury was discovered. So Miller sent the horse out for rest.

"It's not often that you're turning horses out and not knowing why," Miller said. "Usually we know they've got something and we have something to hang our hat on and address. We had nothing to address, but at the same time, I didn't feel comfortable going on with her."

Back to serious training in 2017, the only horse to beat Unique Bella will make her return to racing April 9 in the $75,000 Santa Paula Stakes at Santa Anita.

Miller is happy to get the filly back to racing, but has understandably restrained his excitement.

"It's her first race in a long time and it's a very tough race, so I'm tempering my expectations," Miller said. "She's a very nice filly, but this race is like a graded stakes. This isn't the end-all. This is the starting point."

The trainer's assessment of the seven-filly field scheduled to go 6 1/2 furlongs is on point. Among the entrants are grade 1 winner Union Strike, who won the 2016 Del Mar Debutante (G1); a pair of highly regarded maiden winners from the barn of Bob Baffert in Charlatana and Life's Blessings; and 9 1/4-length debut winner Selcourt.

Don't expect Chalon's connections to be eager for a rematch with Unique Bella down the line, either. Miller—for now, at least—feels sprinting will be in her wheelhouse.

"She's definitely built like a one-turn horse," Miller said. "She's training very well, but like I said, it's like a graded stakes. There's a ton of speed in the race and we have a lot of speed. It's going to unfold with a hot pace and we'll be up there with it."

Santa Paula S.

Santa Anita Park, Sunday, April 09, 2017, Race 9

• STK
• 6 1/2f
• Dirt
• $75,000
• 3 yo Fillies
• 4:41 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Auntjenn (KY)	Rafael Bejarano	120	Peter Miller	15/1
2	2Mistressofthenight (KY)	Corey S. Nakatani	120	Richard Baltas	15/1
3	3Union Strike (KY)	Brice Blanc	124	Mick Ruis	6/1
4	4Selcourt (KY)	Tyler Baze	120	John W. Sadler	8/5
5	5Charlatana (KY)	Martin Garcia	120	Bob Baffert	5/1
6	6Life's Blessings (KY)	Flavien Prat	120	Bob Baffert	5/2
7	7Chalon (KY)	Norberto Arroyo, Jr.	120	Peter Miller	4/1