Ready for Chianti, Lemon Drop Belle Work in Tandem

A pair of Charles Fipke homebred fillies with lofty expectations worked in tandem on Friday morning for trainer Dallas Stewart. Ready for Chianti, who was visually impressive when graduating in her sophomore bow on Feb. 6, and Lemon Drop Belle, eighth last out in the Grade II $200,000 Rachel Alexandra Stakes, each worked a half-mile in 49.80 – tying the fillies for 17th of 43 works at the distance.

 

“Ready for Chianti is very good right now,” Stewart said. “She skipped a week to give her a little more time and we’re looking at trying to get a race for her before the end of the meet. We couldn’t get a race to go for her, which is why it took her a while to run.

 

“I really like her,” Stewart continued. “She’s developed really well and is a healthy filly. We’re hoping to have a good spring with her and I’m aiming her toward the (Grade III $125,000) Appalachian (Stakes on Apr 14) at Keeneland.”

 

Previous to her graduation, the daughter of More Than Ready had competed three times, while running into the likes of Grade II winners Just Wicked and Carina Mia, as well as multiple stakes winner Stageplay and Breeders’ Cup fourth-place finisher Sapphire Kitten. Her graduation was her first attempt at a turf route.

 

Lemon Drop Belle, a daughter of Lemon Drop Kid out of the swift Storm Boot mare Bourbon Belle, has raced only three times. A half-sister to Canadian champion 3-year-old of 2008 Not Bourbon, she broke her maiden at first asking going seven furlongs at Woodbine before finishing a game head-second to Royal Obsession in her Fair Grounds and Dallas Stewart bow on Jan. 23. Royal Obsession would go on to finish fourth in the Rachel Alexandra.

 

“I’m going to put a line through her last race,” Stewart said. “I am not sure what went wrong, but I know she’s a better filly than that. I’ll look for an allowance race for her.”

 

Midwest Thoroughbreds’ homebred Eclipse Award finalist for 2015 champion turf horse The Pizza Man has been given time off to freshen, according to Fair Grounds-based trainer Roger Brueggemann.

 

A 7-year-old son of English Channel, the Illinois-bred was last seen finishing a disappointing fifth in the Grade I $350,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap as the even-money favorite on Feb. 6 in his seasonal debut. Previous to that, he was a facile victor in the Grade II $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup at Del Mar in late November to cap a big season in which he also won the Grade I $1,000,000 Arlington Million

 

“He went to the farm for a little while,” Brueggemann said. “He hasn’t done that well since he got back from California and then he got a little sick and was off his feed (after Gulfstream). He wasn’t acting like he normally does, his color wasn’t quite right, his blood work was off and we decided he just needed a little time.