Team O'Neill high on sharp debut winner Saudi Chroma

In any sport or endeavor, hindsight is 20/20. That said, Dennis O’Neill, assistant to his brother Doug, was kicking himself early on in yesterday’s second race, a 4 ½ furlong open maiden special weight for two-year-old fillies, as their first-time starter Saudi Chroma was large and in charge with Victor Espinoza heading into the far turn.

“She broke so sharp yesterday and we were eight to five. I’m sitting on my hands and thinking, ‘Oh my God, what a time to quit gambling,’” said Dennis. “We had been very high on her, but in her last work, she got outrun by another filly we’ve got and we were really confused. Victor was on the other filly, Tyfosha, and we had her in 46 flat. We had Saudi Chroma in 46 and three and Kyle Frey, who was on Saudi Charma, told us, ‘I want to ride the other one!’”

A California-bred chestnut filly by Lucky Pulpit (see California Chrome), Saudi Chroma, who fetched $360,000 at the Barrett’s March two-year-old in training sale, won in-hand by 3 ¼ lengths and paid $7.80 to win. Owned by Amar Zedan’s Zedan Racing Stables Inc., she’s out of the Mr. Greeley mare Nine to Five and was bred by Cole Ranch.

“Amar is a new client and he’s very enthusiastic about our game,” said Dennis. “He was born in LA. His parents went to USC and he graduated from Texas A & M., but renounced his U.S. citizenship to run his family’s business in Saudi Arabia.

“He gave me a budget and we bought four colts and two fillies, most of them in Florida. I gotta tell you, I had just got back from Baltimore and I didn’t sleep much Wednesday night. That’s gotta be the most money ($360,000) ever spent for a Lucky Pulpit and with the way she worked that half mile . . . It was very, very nerve racking. On top of that, we decided to run against open company, which made it much tougher. To see her win and gallop out the way she did yesterday, it was like winning the Derby. It was one of my biggest wins, that’s for sure.

“She was geared down at the end and she came out of the race good. She ate up good this morning and we’re going to look at the Landaluce ($100,000 at six furlongs) on July 4.”