Songbird sings sweetly in Chandelier Stakes
Like her male counterpoint Nyquist, Songbird has been dominating her division on the West Coast. Sent off as the heavy favorite in the Grade 1 Chandelier Stakes, the 2-year old filly made today no exception. Leading every step of the way, Songbird made winning and staying undefeated look as easy as pie.
With Hall of Famer Mike Smith in the irons, Songbird broke smoothly from post 4, as the #5, and immediately went out to establish herself on the lead. Jade Princess, Halo Darlin and Land Over Sea took up the second through fourth running positions with the rest of the field behind them.
With no pressure early, Songbird sailed along on an easy lead. She set moderate splits of :23.14, :46.85 and 1:11.09. While she maintained the advantage on the front end, a good bit of shuffling was going on behind her. Land Over Sea moved up to take over the second running position, and Right There made a middle move that took her from eighth and last to fourth. Jade Princess lost a spot while Halo Darlin and Yodelsong lost two spots.
In the turn and into the stretch, Mario Gutierrez and Land Over Sea tried valiantly to make a horse race out of the Chandelier, but at the top of the stretch, Mike Smith hadn’t moved on Songbird who was willingly maintaining her advantage. Halfway through the stretch, Smith simply shook the reins at his mount and gave her a few reminder taps, resulting in Songbird pulling further away from Land Over Sea to win by 4 ½-lengths at the wire in a final time of 1:43.79 for the 1 1/16 mile event over Santa Anita’s fast main track.
Mike Smith, the winning jockey, said of the race, “It lived up to the expectations. She opens that stride up and she has such a high cruising speed.”
Smith went on to praise Songbird and describe their trip, “Not only does she have the ability but she has the mind to go with it. There are so many horses with that kind of ability but a lot can get to them. She’s so intelligent, she’s so smart and listens to everything I tell her. I got her to fall asleep there on the lead but she fell asleep too much! I had to wake her up a little bit at the eighth pole but after that she jumped back into the bridle and it was over. She acted up a little bit at the break. I think breaking in front of the crowd the first time made her a little nervous. I was lucky to get away as well as I did but she’s so big and strong that when those horses came together on her it just made her go forward.”
Land Over Sea was 9 ¾-lengths clear of third place finisher Right There, who in turn finished 5 ¾-lengths ahead of Vieja Luna. Jade Princess ran fifth, and Halo Darlin, Sheeza Milky Way and Yodelsong completed the order of finish.
Despite being able to make little headway against Songbird, Mario Gutierrez was pleased with Land Over Sea’s effort. “Really good,” he said. “I wasn’t going to make much ground on her. Mike Smith has a really talented filly, and with them being able to get that type of easy lead, I knew it was going to be tough for me to cut it.”
As the 1-5 favorite, Songbird paid $2.40/$2.20/$2.10 for the win. Land Over Sea, off 9-1 odds, returned $4.20/$3.20, and 24-1 outsider Right There returned $4.00 for the show. The $1 exacta paid $4.50, the $1 trifecta returned $19.90 and the $1 superfecta was worth $171.20.
Second place trainer Doug O’Neill, in regards to Land Over Sea’s valiant 2nd place effort, stated, “She ran a great race. We’re very happy with the way she ran. Songbird is a great filly. She’s got that speed and stamina and when she got out there and was able to settle a little bit, you knew no one was going to beat her. We got beat by a really, really good filly, but I was really proud of our filly. She cut into it a little bit. She tried to make a race out of it, but Songbird was too tough and had too much left.”
As to Land Over Sea’s next start, O’Neill said, “We’ll huddle up with Team Reddam, but I would think the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly would be the next up.” A start in the Juvenile Fillies would result in a re-match with winner Songbird.
By Medaglia d’Oro and out of the West Acre mare Ivanavinalot, Songbird was bred by John Antonelli. Owner Fox Hill Farms picked her up for $400,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga 2014 Yearling Sale. Now 3-for-3 in her short career, Songbird has picked up $402,000 in purse monies and earned a fees paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Dan Ward, assistant to Songbird’s trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, enthused after the race, “It was very exciting. It was just what we wanted. She showed she can go two turns and now we’ve got five weeks (until the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies October 30).”