Manny Wah (inside) cannot catch the Super Chow express. (Susie Raisher)
By Keith McCalmont
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Lea Farms’ Super Chow and jockey Madison Olver doubled up on graded stakes wins with a prominent score in Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Tom Fool Handicap, a six-furlong sprint for older horses, at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Trained by Jorge Delgado, the 4-year-old Lord Nelson colt, who captured the Grade 3 Toboggan here last out, won an early pace battle with 7-5 mutuel favorite Rotknee and continued to find more from the top of the lane, staving off the late run of graded stakes-winner Manny Wah to notch the 1 1/4-length win.
Delgado was full of praise for Olver, who was aboard Super Chow for a trio of stakes placings last year in the My Frenchman [2nd] and Jersey Shore [2nd] at Monmouth Park and in the Carle Place [3rd] at Belmont at the Big A.
“It was a really good performance. I give all the credit to the jockey Madison Olver. She rode the horse the way that she wanted, I think in the end that was the best decision,” Delgado said. “I was a little scared when I saw him go 22 on this kind of racetrack, but she figured it out I guess, and she felt comfortable doing that and won. I give all of the praise to her; she’s been galloping the horse every day since he got to New York. She got really close to the horse and they’re doing pretty well.”
Downtownchalybrown broke alertly from the inside post, but it was Super Chow that surged to the front and marked the opening quarter-mile in 22.74 seconds over the sloppy and sealed main track with the Jose Lezcano-piloted Rotknee pressing the issue.
Super Chow and Rotknee battled to the turn with the latter marking the half-mile in 46.06, but Super Chow regained command and opened up by one length at the stretch call with the veteran Manny Wah looming the main threat under Ramon Vazquez. Manny Wah dug in gamely down the lane but there was no denying the resurgent Super Chow, who despite demonstrating his tendency to drift late, stopped the clock in a final time of 1:10.86
Manny Wah finished second by 2 1/4-lengths over the late-running Stage Left with Twenty Four Mamba, who hopped at the start and trailed in last-of-7, completing the superfecta. Downtownchalybrown, Rotknee and Listentoyourheart rounded out the order of finish. Durante was scratched.
The Toboggan score marked the first graded win for both Super Chow and Olver, who will ride as an apprentice through March 8. The 24-year-old jockey, who grew up riding and breaking mustangs in Fort Collins, Colorado, was full of praise for the ultra-consistent Super Chow.
“What a horse he is,” Olver said. “I had to work for the lead. He’s won on a sealed track before, but I don’t know if it’s his preferred surface. I think he prefers a fast track. Horses weren’t really winning on the lead today, but I really wanted it [the lead] and I didn’t see Rotknee right away, so we had a little bit of a duel. In the stretch when he switches to his right lead – even though he drifts – he takes another big step forward and accelerates.
“It’s such a feeling of how bad he wants it and how hard he will try for you,” added Olver. “It’s an incredible feeling and there’s no way to put it into words. I’ve been confident and I’ve been getting on him every day since his last win. I’ve loved how he’s been training and he’s really tough in the morning. He’s been feeling good and is happy as can be. I was very confident and was wondering how it would play out with the other speed in the race, but he was sharp today.”
Vazquez said the William Walden-trained Manny Wah, who took his total purse earnings to $990,196, was not hampered by Super Chow’s drifting in the late stages.
“My horse tried hard, and I’m so happy with the race,” Vazquez said. “He [Super Chow] came out but it never bothered me. He got a length and a half in front of me so that is not an excuse.”
Super Chow previously finished third in the 2022 Grade 2 Saratoga Special and second in last year’s Grade 3 Swale at Gulfstream Park. He was a four-time stakes winner prior to making the grade, capturing the Bowman Mill at Keeneland and Inaugural at Tampa Bay Downs in 2022 along with last year’s Limehouse and Hutcheson at Gulfstream.
The $75,000 purchase at the 2022 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, out of the Warrior’s Reward mare Bonita Mia, is a full brother to stakes winner Princess Indy.
Bred in Kentucky by Spendthrift Farm, Super Chow banked $96,250 in victory while improving his record to 17-8-4-4. He returned $7.60 for a $2 win bet.
Live racing resumes Sunday at Aqueduct with an eight-race card. First post is 1:20 p.m. Eastern.
