Chismosa and jockey Tiago Pereira stormed past 5-2 second-choice Richi. (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Santa Anita Press Box
ARCADIA, Calif.—Chismosa collected her second stakes win of the year Saturday with a mild upset in the $100,000 Desert Stormer Stake for fillies and mares going six furlongs at Santa Anita.
Chismosa (3-1) and jockey Tiago Pereira stormed past 5-2 second-choice Richi in the final furlong and won going away by 1 ¼ lengths. Richi, who dueled with Tom’s Regret on the lead, finished a half-length ahead of Tom’s Regret (10-1) for second.
The disappointment in the race was 6-5 favorite Anywho, who was returning 16 days after shipping to Churchill Downs and romping in six-furlong allowance. Anywho pressed Richi and Tom’s Regret while between horses down the backside, but then lost considerable ground on the turn and ultimately checked in fourth.
Trained by Rafael DeLeon, Chismosa’s win comes just 15 days after finishing third in the Mizdirection Stakes sprinting on the hillside turf course. Her winning time for the Desert Stormer was 1:09.70. Fractions for the race were a sharp 22.17, 44.39 and 56.76. Pereira noted the speed duel up front between Richi and Tom’s Regret played to his advantage.
“The pace was too fast,” Pereira said. “My filly has some speed. I broke good and I asked her a little bit. I tried to put her close, but that’s when I knew they were going too fast. I loved it. It was much better for me because my filly finishes strong.”
“I thought that Tiago knew the horse pretty well. Kyle Frey knew the horse too, but he decided to ride the other horse. (3rd place finisher Tom’s Regret) I had two jockeys that have ran huge with this horse. She runs better on the dirt than she does on the turf. We had no luck finding these kinds of races, that’s why we had to sacrifice and run her back in 15 days. She looked super every time she ran on the dirt. I think my filly is very good because she comes out really good out of the races,” DeLeon said.
“I groomed her from day one, I have only four horses and I have someone who helps me with the stalls and everything. I do my horses, I like to do my job and I like to groom my horses because I have a hand on them at all times,” he added.
A 4-year-old California-bred by Clubhouse Ride, Chismosa is now 18: 5-3-4 with $501,750 in earnings for owner-breeder Jaime Renella. This was her fourth career stakes win, all on dirt. The Mizdirection two weekends ago was her third-straight stakes try sprinting down the hillside turf course. In two previous dirt sprints this year, Chismosa won the GIII Las Flores going six furlongs in January at Santa Anita and was second in the GII Santa Monica going seven furlongs Feb. 3.
“She runs better on the dirt than she does on the turf,” said DeLeon, who operates a four-horse stable at Los Alamitos. “We had no luck finding these kinds of races, that’s why we had to sacrifice and run her back in 15 days. She looked super every time she ran on the dirt.”
Live racing resumes Friday with a nine-race card starting at 1 p.m. Admission gates open at 11 a.m.
