Stud Los Leones' Cheetara, a Group 2 winner in her native Chile, came with a relentless drive on the far outside to outrun fellow closers Olivia Darling and I'm the Boss of Me and spring a 17-1 upset of Saturday's $100,00 Skipat presented by Old Bay at historic Pimlico Race Course.
The 30th running of the Skipat for fillies and mares three and up sprinting six furlongs was the fifth of 10 stakes, six graded, worth $2.75 million in purses on a blockbuster 14-race program headlined by the 148th Preakness Stakes (G1), Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.
Ridden by Vincent Cheminaud for trainer Ignacio 'Nacho' Correas IV, Cheetara ($36) picked up her fourth career stakes win and first since the Crestwood last June at Hawthorne. She also won the 2021 Seeking the Pearl at Colonial Downs and Haras de Chile Marcel Zarour Atanacio (G2) at Hipodromo Chile in December 2020.
Edie Meeny Miny Mo, racing for the first time since finishing fifth in the Sugar Swirl (G3) on New Year's Eve at Gulfstream Park, ran the opening quarter of a mile in :22.58 with fellow stakes winner Princess Kokachin pressing from the rail and Olivia Darling to her outside.
Cheminaud kept Cheetara in the clear on the far outside, getting up into fourth after a half in :45.14 and five furlongs in :57.10 as Princess Kokachin opened a clear lead. Cheminaud was persistent on Cheetara, a 6-year-old daughter of Daddy Long Legs, and they were able to prevail by a neck in 1:09.95 over a fast main track.
Olivia Darling was second, a half-length ahead of I'm the Boss of Me. It was another half-length back to Princess Kokachin, who edged Oxana by a head for fourth. Gunning, the 9-5 favorite, multiple stakes winner Street Lute and Edie Meeny Miny Mo completed the order of finish.
Cheetara ran third in the Alma North at Laurel Park and Roxelana last year and was fourth in the Gallant Bloom (G2) last fall at Aqueduct. She entered the Skipat having run second by a head in a 6 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance April 14 at Keeneland.
Bred in Connecticut, Skipat won 26 of 45 career races over six years, earning $614,215 in purses between 1977 and 1981. Two of her wins came in the Barbara Fritchie (G3), in 1979 and 1981, the latter coming the year after she had been retired and bred and brought back to the races.
Cheetara's dam is the Chilean-bred Thunder Gulch mare Fescura Total.
Skipat Quotes
Haram Rosario, assistant to Winning Trainer Ignacio Correas IV (Cheetara): “The horse is feeling very good and is training very good. We were confident she would run a good race.”
Winning Jockey Vincent Cheminaud (Cheetara): “It was great to win this race. The pace is why we won today. It was perfect for her, very fast. Sometimes, I ride this filly next to the leader and she doesn't run well. She finished very well, she deserved this win. She likes to come from the outside.”
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