Breeders' Cup Runner-Up Chalon Returns in Skipat Stakes

Trainer Arnaud Delacour will be represented by three stakes runners May 17 at Pimlico Race Course, topped by Lael Stables' Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) runner-up Chalon in the $100,000 Skipat Stakes. The Dialed In  mare will make her 5-year-old debut against nine others in the six-furlong dash for fillies and mares 3 and up.

Lael went to $550,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale to purchase Chalon from Taylor Made Sales Agency's consignment. Already a stakes winner and multiple grade 2-placed for Rockingham Ranch, Chalon racked up more merits for her new connections by winning the Primonetta and Regret stakes last season. She was second in her three other starts, all graded stakes, and missed the Nov. 3 Breeders' Cup victory by only a head.

From 13 career starts, Chalon has been off the board only twice.

"She's coming back a little late, kind of on purpose because I think that her best distance is probably around six furlongs," Delacour said. "She can do seven-eighths, but it's kind of a stretch. I think the six furlongs at Pimlico should work out very well."

A standout among Chalon's rivals is No Guts No Glory Farm's Anna's Bandit. Bred in West Virginia and by the Maryland stallion Great Notion , Anna's Bandit has won her last three races, including the March 16 Conniver and April 20 Original Gold, both restricted stakes.

In the $100,000 Hilltop Stakes, a one-mile turf event for sophomore fillies, Delacour will saddle Denlea Park and Kent Spellman's Fashion Faux Pas, who lost by less than a length when second throughout in the April 14 Mizdirection Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack. The Mizdirection was the first time on grass for Fashion Faux Pas, a Flatter  filly who ended 2018 on a high note as a four-length winner of the Dec. 15 Sandpiper Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. Both races were six furlongs.

"This will be the first time going this far. The furthest she's been is seven furlongs at Gulfstream in the Forward Gal (G3)," Delacour said. "She didn't run any good, but I think she didn't like the track. Since then we switched to turf, and she seems to be running pretty well on it."

The other lone stakes victor in the Hilltop is LNJ Foxwoods' P. G. Johnson Memorial winner Dogtag, who last raced in September. Brown also sends out Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables, and Bethlehem Stables' Nova Sol, a group 3-placed filly in France, for her U.S. debut.

StarLadies Racing's Orra Moor, third and fourth, respectively, in the March 9 Busher and April 12 Fantasy (G3) stakes, also tries turf for the first time here.

"Being a daughter of Orb  out of a Royal Academy mare, I'd had it in the back of my mind that she might improve on turf," trainer Todd Pletcher said. "She worked pretty well on the turf Saturday. She got over the ground easily, went smoothly, galloped out strongly. Overall, it was a favorable impression, which is why we decided on the change of surface."

Delacour sends out another Lael runner in the $100,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint Stakes for 3-year-olds and up going five furlongs. Tricks to Doo looks to improve off two fourth-place stakes efforts following a victory in a Tampa allowance-optional claiming event Jan. 12 at the Jim McKay distance. Now 4, the Into Mischief  colt displayed his best form in December 2017, when he won the six-furlong Inaugural Stakes at Tampa by 7 1/4 lengths.

"He ran well the last time. He had 15 on the outside so we had to use him a little bit to get a position and try to save some ground and it probably cost him a little bit at the end," Delacour said. "(With) a better draw we can use him a little less at the beginning and hopefully he can give us a little better finish."

Top turf sprint horses Bound for Nowhere and Pure Sensation ship in for the Jim McKay. Wesley Ward's Bound for Nowhere missed his Shakertown Stakes (G2T) repeat by a neck April 6 at Keeneland, and Patricia Generazio's three-time Turf Monster Stakes (G3T) winner Pure Sensation enters off a five-furlong allowance-optional claiming win April 12 at Gulfstream Park.

Entries: Skipat S.

Pimlico Race Course, Friday, May 17, 2019, Race 7

• STK
• 6f
• Dirt
• $100,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 2:39 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Hailey's Flip (MD)	Weston Hamilton	122	Gary Capuano	12/1
2	2Everlasting Secret (FL)	Horacio Karamanos	122	Damon R. Dilodovico	20/1
3	3Chalon (KY)	Javier Castellano	122	Arnaud Delacour	6/5
4	4Phantom Shot (MD)	Ricardo Chiappe	122	Donald H. Barr	30/1
5	5Adios Annie (FL)	Jevian Toledo	122	Gary Capuano	15/1
6	6Anna's Bandit (WV)	Xavier Perez	122	John J. Robb	6/1
7	7Maybe Wicked (KY)	Florent Geroux	122	Brad H. Cox	5/1
8	8Majestic Won (KY)	Jorge A. Vargas, Jr.	122	Jeremiah C. Englehart	15/1
9	9Estilo Femenino (KY)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	122	Steven M. Asmussen	9/2
10	10Last True Love (KY)	Forest Boyce	122	Flint W. Stites	30/1

Entries: Hilltop S.

Pimlico Race Course, Friday, May 17, 2019, Race 9

• STK
• 1m
• Turf
• $100,000
• 3 yo Fillies
• 3:43 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Primela (FR)	Julien R. Leparoux	120	Cherie DeVaux	20/1
2	2Nova Sol (GER)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	120	Chad C. Brown	7/2
3	3Fashion Faux Pas (KY)	Daniel Centeno	120	Arnaud Delacour	6/1
4	4Cover Photo (KY)	Trevor McCarthy	120	Michael J. Trombetta	30/1
5	5Dogtag (KY)	Javier Castellano	120	Chad C. Brown	9/2
6	6Makeme Dream (KY)	Joel Rosario	120	Christophe Clement	8/1
7	7Ebullient (KY)	John R. Velazquez	120	Michael R. Matz	10/1
8	8Venetian Princess (KY)	Victor R. Carrasco	120	Keith Nations	20/1
9	9Introduced (MD)	Jevian Toledo	120	Jorge Duarte, Jr.	8/1
10	10Who U Gonna Call (MD)	J. D. Acosta	120	Valora A. Testerman	50/1
11	11Her Royal Highness (KY)	Manuel Franco	120	H. Graham Motion	15/1
12	12Orra Moor (KY)	Luis Saez	120	Todd A. Pletcher	10/1
13	13Be Nimble (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	120	Michael J. Maker	12/1
14	14Souper Escape (FL)	Julian Pimentel	120	Michael J. Trombetta	20/1

Entries: Jim McKay Turf Sprint S.

Pimlico Race Course, Friday, May 17, 2019, Race 12

• STK
• 5f
• Turf
• $100,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 5:25 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1American Sailor (KY)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	122	Wayne Potts	20/1
2	2Tricks to Doo (KY)	Javier Castellano	122	Arnaud Delacour	6/1
3	3Bound for Nowhere (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	122	Wesley A. Ward	1/1
4	4Tempt Me Twice (MD)	Sheldon Russell	122	Ann W. Merryman	30/1
5	5New York's Finest (NY)	Luis Saez	122	Linda Rice	15/1
6	6Clever Triad (KY)	Trevor McCarthy	122	Ann W. Merryman	20/1
7	7Oldies But Goodies (MD)	Alex Cintron	122	Michael J. Trombetta	15/1
8	8Pure Sensation (FL)	Jose L. Ortiz	122	Christophe Clement	7/2
9	9Completed Pass (IN)	Victor R. Carrasco	122	Claudio A. Gonzalez	8/1