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Hot Cha Cha rallies up the hedge for Mint Julep

Hot Cha Cha showed her affinity for Churchill's turf in the Mint Julep (Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography) Nelson McMakin's homebred HOT CHA CHA (Cactus Ridge) surged along the inside hedge to strike the front in deep stretch and gamely prevailed by three-quarters of a length in Saturday's $110,800 Mint Julep H. (G3) at Churchill Downs. Winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) last fall and second in the Distaff Turf Mile (G2) in her previous start, the Philip Simms-conditioned filly notched her fourth career stakes victory and improved her overall mark to 15-6-2-3, $726,717, when completing 1 1/16 miles over the firm turf in 1:43 1/5. Jockey James Graham saved ground most of the way, rating closely behind Winter's Circle (Commendable), who led the six-horse field through early fractions of :25 2/5 and :49 1/5 before throwing in the towel. My Baby Baby (Bernstein) grabbed the lead entering the far turn and led into the stretch, but Keertana (Johar) rallied along the outside to take the lead and passed the mile mark with a one-length advantage in 1:37. Acoma (Empire Maker) was cranking up her rally from the back of the pack at this point, but Hot Cha Cha had the most momentum along the fence and edged clear late.

The dark bay winner returned $5.20, $3 and $2.20 as the 8-5 second choice. Acoma finished a head better than Keertana in second and gave back $4.20 and $2.60 at 7-2. Keertana, who was favored at 7-5, paid $2.10. The exacta was $20, the trifecta $29 and the 5-6-7-4 superfecta, with 6-1 My Baby Baby in fourth, yielded $46.20.

Winter's Circle and Absolutely Cindy (Arch) rounded out the order of finish. Danzon (Royal Academy), Grande Annee (Gone West) and Hooh Why (Cloud Hopping) were all scratched.

Hot Cha Cha scored her first stakes victory early last year in the Bourbonette Oaks (G3) on Polytrack and finished a nose second when making her turf debut in the Appalachian S. (G3). The four-year-old miss scored in the Pucker Up (G3) at Arlington prior to her convincing 4 1/2-length decision in the aforementioned Queen Elizabeth at Keeneland. She opened this year with a third in the Jenny Wiley S. (G2).

The Kentucky-bred is out of Reduced Sentence (Broad Brush) and has an unnamed yearling half-brother by Flatter. This is the same female line as Hall of Famer Inside Information (Private Account); her half-sister, multiple Grade 1 heroine Educated Risk (Mr. Prospector); and Pennsylvania Derby (G2) and Ohio Derby (G1) hero Gone Astray (Dixie Union).

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