OXO Equine’s Snap Chap breezed five furlongs in 1:02.18 from the gate on the Belmont main track on Saturday for trainer Don Chatlos. Purchased for $1.2 million at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Chatlos said the Into Mischief colt is pointed to a six-furlong maiden event on October 23 at Belmont.
“I think he’s quick enough to win sprinting,” said Chatlos. “I haven’t asked him for everything in the morning, but he’s done everything right. You put him in company with other horses and he will fight. He likes that. You can’t train that into them; they either have it or they don’t.”
The stalky colt has breezed six times at Belmont since spending the summer at Saratoga.
“He came from Saratoga pretty fit. We knew we weren’t going to make Saratoga so we just tried to put a good foundation into him,” said Chatlos. “We started the serious work when we got here.
“He’s been steady,” added Chatlos.
“He’s worked in company a couple of times and he was waiting on the company. He could have just blown him away but that’s not what we were looking for.”
The multiple graded-stakes placed Brill has returned to training with Chatlos at Belmont after enjoying a brief freshening following her fourth in the Grade 3 Victory Ride on July 5 at Belmont. The 3-year-old Medaglia d’Oro bay finished third last year in the Grade 1 Chandelier at Santa Anita and since that effort has finished third in the Grade 3 Fantasy at Oaklawn and fourth in the Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico
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“We decided to give Brill a break after running in the Victory Ride. She shipped twice to Oaklawn and once to Pimlico and then from Pimlico to here. I think we just knocked her out,” said Chatlos. “We sent her to Bruce Jackson at Fair Hill and they did an unbelievable job. She looks great. We’ll move her to turf and see if that’s something she wants to do.”
Chatlos said Instagrand, who captured the Grade 2 Best Pal at Del Mar last year, will look to enter an allowance tilt before the end of the Belmont meet. He also noted that Forever Poe, an $850,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Two-Year-Olds In Training Sale, is nearing a debut before the barn moves to California for the winter.
“We’ll leave here on November 2 for Del Mar,” said Chatlos. “I’m looking forward to getting back here in the spring. Now that we’ve got the lay of the land we’ll be a lot stronger next year.”
From: Press Release
