Churchill Downs: Coach seeks next-level win Saturday’s Chilukki

Kueber Racing’s two-time stakes-winning filly Coach will attempt to collect her first victory in graded-stakes company as the headliner in Saturday’s Grade 3 $300,000 Chilukki Stakes at Churchill Downs.

The one-mile contest for fillies and mares will go as race 10 of 11 with a post time of 5:35 p.m. EST. First post is 1 p.m.

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Owned by Louisville entrepreneur Rick Kueber and trained by Brad Cox, Coach was victorious in the Rags to Riches as a 2-year-old and won the Pippin to begin her 4-year-old campaign. In between, the daughter of Commissioner finished third in the Golden Rod (G2), second in the $200,000 Martha Washington, third in the Fantasy (G3) and ninth in the Kentucky Oaks (G1).

Coach finished fourth in this year’s Bayakoa (G3) and was forced to the sidelines for nearly eight months until her runner-up effort in the $100,000 Twixt Stakes on Oct. 1 at Laurel.

Jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. will have the riding assignment in the Chilukki and break from the rail. Santana was aboard Coach for her victory in the Pippin and an allowance contest on Dec. 17 at Oaklawn.

Chief among Coach’s rivals in the Chilukki is Grade 3 winner Center Aisle. Owned by Larry Best’s OXO Equine and trained by Paulo Lobo, Center Aisle won the $100,000 Sugar Swirl (G3) last year at Gulfstream Park. Following two disappointing efforts against Grade 1 competition in the $500,000 Madison and $750,000 Derby City Distaff (G1), Center Aisle returned against allowance foes and finished a determined head in front of Chandana on Oct. 9 at Keeneland. Jockey Gerardo Corrales will be in the saddle for the Chilukki from post No. 3.

Also entered in the Chilukki is Rigney Racing’s $150,000 Mistletoe Stakes winner Mariah’s Princess. Trained by Phil Bauer, Mariah’s Princess made the first start of her 4-year-old campaign on Oct. 29 at Keeneland, where she made a sweeping four-wide move at the head of the stretch to take the lead in the 1 1/16-mile allowance event but gave way late to eventual winner Le Da Vida. Jockey Martin Garcia will be aboard Mariah’s Princess from post 2.

Here is the complete field for the Chilukki from the rail out (with jockey and trainer): Coach (Santana, Cox); Mariah’s Princess (Garcia, Bauer); Center Aisle (Corrales, Lobo); Ice Orchid (Tyler Gaffalione, John Ortiz); Empire House (Joe Talamo, Jonathan Wong); She Can’t Sing (Brian Hernandez Jr., Chris Block); and Liberty M D (Julien Leparoux, Ian Wilkes).

It will be a cold day for racing Saturday with the temperature expected to reach 36 degrees under a sunny sky, according to the National Weather Service.