Audacious

- Didn't have a chance to mention it here, since I didn't look at the race until I was at the Big A Sunday, and a lot of good it does now. But I loved Audacious Chloe in the Gaily Gaily Stakes at Gulfstream. She reminded me of her stablemate Twilight Meteor, who won the Hallandale Beach Stakes for Pletcher on Saturday, in that she was coming off a layoff after showing nearly flawless turf form at age two. Dreaming of Anna's disappointing return to the races made her seem vulnerable to me even though she was returning to the turf. Easy to say this stuff now, I know.

Dreaming of Anna rated comfortably in second with jockey Rene Douglas, behind Fanlight Fanny. The problem, besides the latter's unappealing name, is that they let the 16-1 shot get away with a second quarter of 25.23 seconds, 48.21 to the half. So Graham Motion's filly had a lot to offer when Douglas tried to go by, and she battled the 4-5 favorite during a subsequent quarter run in 23.46. Once Dreaming of Anna did leave that one behind, she was immediately tackled by Audacious Chloe, who sat behind the leaders before pulling three wide on the turn. After another quick quarter - 23.54 seconds - Dreaming of Anna couldn't hold off Audacious Chloe in the final sixteenth, though she showed some class battling on gamely to the end. The final time of 1:41.71 was a second slower than Twilight Meteor's race the day before.

[By the way, the Gulfstream turf course doesn't look so hot, does it? And what's all that white dust kicking up from the grass course at Fair Grounds?]

Audacious Chloe is by More Than Ready, out of Audacious, a mare by the turf champ Manila, so her affinity for the grass should be no surprise. Audacious is also a half-sister to Freddy Frisson, the dam of First Samurai (Giant's Causeway) - Audacious Chloe and First Samurai, currently standing for $40,000 at Claiborne, have the same second dam. Audacious Chloe has an unnamed two-year-old half-sister by El Corredor. [BRIS]