Chop Chop back on turf for Lacombe

Two flops in her last three starts are sending Chop Chop back to where she started – turf racing.

Thirteenth as the surprising favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in November, Chop Chop got back on track finishing a solid second to stablemate The Alys Look in the Silverbulletday Stakes on Jan. 21. But the Feb. 18 Rachel Alexandra, where Chop Chop raced for the first time in blinkers, was dismal, with Chop Chop beating a steady retreat from the three-furlong pole to the wire, finishing a distant fifth.

The blinkers come off and Chop Chop races for the first time on Lasix while returning to turf in the $75,000 Allen “Black Cat” Lacombe Memorial Stakes, the featured eighth race Saturday at Fair Grounds.

“I don’t know what happened last time, but she’s never won on dirt and she’s undefeated on turf,” trainer Brad Cox said. “She breezed great last week. That’s why I entered her.”

Chop Chop drew the rail and is one of eight 3-year-old fillies entered in the one-mile Lacombe. Students of jockeyology will note that Florent Geroux, who rode Chop Chop her last three starts, is named on a different Cox filly, Beyond Doubt. Corey Lanerie, who rode Beyond Doubt to a second-place finish in a Jan. 22 Fair Grounds first-level allowance, is named on Chop Chop.

Chop Chop scored a debut win in a maiden turf mile at Ellis Park before capturing the $500,000 Juvenile Fillies at Kentucky Downs. The latter win came by a nose, and Chop Chop, in light of her recent struggles, is a play-against Saturday.

Beyond Doubt was beaten a widening three lengths Jan. 22 by a key Lacombe contender, Hang the Moon. Making her turf debut following a fifth-place finish in the Untapable Stakes over the Fair Grounds dirt track, Hang the Moon settled comfortably in last, was maneuvered far outside onto the best part of the Fair Grounds grass course at the time, and came with a sustained run under Brian Hernandez Jr., who rides her back.

“I think, hopefully, there will be a little more pace on,” trainer Mike Stidham said. “She had that nice turn of foot you need on grass.”

By Uncle Mo, Hang the Moon is a large, scopey filly who did take a bit of time to wind up and find her best stride. It’s possible cutting back from 1 1/16 miles to one mile is a slight negative.

That’s not the case with Girl Named Charlie. Second in a turf sprint maiden last summer at Ellis Park, Girl Named Charlie cleared the maiden ranks Jan. 16 at Fair Grounds winning a 1 1/16-mile turf maiden race. Trainer Tom Amoss instructed her jockey to make a wide run that played to the course bias; instead, Girl Named Charlie, full of run, dove between, then inside horses through the homestretch to win by 2 1/4 lengths.

“I like her a lot. She’s a horse with a very good turf pedigree,” Amoss said.

Amoss also starts recent Fair Grounds turf-route maiden winner Camp Akeela, who ought to be part of the pace. So should Hayunevano, who makes her stakes debut, and Blame Day, a first-time turfer with a very grassy pedigree.