Spring in the Air Aims High in Chilukki

 

John C. Oxley’s Spring in the Air, coming off a third-place effort in the Aug. 24 Seaway (Grade III) at Woodbine, will return to dirt in Saturday’s $200,000-added Chilukki (GII) at Churchill Downs for trainer Mark Casse.

 

The one-mile Chilukki will mark the second dirt start for Spring in the Air, who finished fifth in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on dirt.

 

“She’s been here at Churchill Downs for about a month,” Casse’s assistant trainer and son Norman Casse said. “She’s had several works over this racetrack with Shaun Bridgmohan on her.

 

“She really seems to appreciate this racetrack and I don’t have a horse here who has been training better than she has.”

 

With $913,032 in earnings, a win in Saturday’s Chilukki would place Spring in the Air over the coveted million-dollar mark.

 

“I’m really excited to see her run here and I think the distance is going to end up being right up her alley,” Casse said.

 

Other possible Chilukki contenders include: Grade II winner Molly Morgan; Grade III winners My Option, My Happy Face and Honey Hues; stakes winners Toasting and Street Girl, graded stakes placed Frivolous; stakes placed Kipling’s Joy; half-sister to champion Wise Dan, Enchanting Lisa; and Call Pat.

 

The 29th running of the Chilukki received a $50,000-purse increase from 2013. Last year’s edition was won by Don’t Tell Sophia, recent winner of the Spinster (GI) at Keeneland who is pre-entered in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff (GI).

 

Source: Churchill Downs Communications