Spring in the Air will tackle dirt for the second time in
Chilukki
Canadian champion and Grade 1 heroine Spring in the Air, coming off a third-place
effort in the Grade 3 Seaway at Woodbine on August 24, will return to dirt in
Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Chilukki at
Churchill Downs for trainer Mark Casse.
The one-mile Chilukki will mark the second dirt start for
Spring in the Air, who finished a one-paced and well-beaten fifth in the 2012 Breeders’
Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on dirt.
“She’s been here at Churchill Downs for about a month,” said Casse’s assistant trainer and son, Norman Casse.
“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 Molly Morgan, who captured the
Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Handicap under the Twin Spires in June; Grade 3 divas My Option, My Happy Face and Honey Hues;
Grade 1-placed stakes
winners Toasting and Street Girl; dual Grade 3-placed Frivolous; multiple stakes-placed
Kipling’s Joy; Enchanting Lisa, who is a half-sister to two-time Horse of the
Year Wise Dan; 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 Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland who is pre-entered in Friday’s
Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
While Spring in the Air awaits a second try at dirt in Saturday’s Chilukki,
Awesome Jill will be returning to the turf for the first time since December
earlier in the week against allowance rivals.
Coming off a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Indian Oaks in her last start
on October 4, the Pioneerof the Nile lass will face 11 other three-year-old
fillies in the
9TH race, a $45,000 contest, going one mile on the Matt Winn Turf Course.
“We caught a tough field in Indiana,” trainer Michelle Lovell said. “We were
hoping to get a dirt race here at Churchill for her but there wasn’t one. We’ll
try her back on the turf, but this race didn’t exactly come up easy either.”
The only two victories for the daughter of Pioneerof the
Nile have come under the Twin Spires — her maiden debut in September 2013 and an
optional claiming contest on May 30, both on dirt.
“I look for her to run well,” Lovell stated. “She’s always pretty honest. She
was pretty green in her first two starts and I think she is pretty versatile.”
Awesome Jill’s two prior turf starts were both in 2013 — a
sixth-place finish in a Keeneland allowance event and a third-place effort in an
optional claimer at Fair Grounds.
“I think she’ll handle it nicely,” Lovell said. “I don’t think it’s supposed
to rain Wednesday but if it did I’d say that would be an advantage for us if it
came off. But we’re excited for her and we’ll see.”
Jockey Chris Landeros has the call on Awesome Jill, who
will break from post position 5 in Wednesday’s allowance event.
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