More Chocolate sweet winner of La Canada

Sent off the 5-1 third pick in the six-horse field, More Chocolate paid

$12.60, $5.40 and $4 to her faithful supporters. Book Review, the 7-5 second

choice, was easily best of the rest, 2 1/4 lengths in front of Willa B Awesome,

while 6-5 favorite Lady of Fifty just missed third a neck farther back.

Ubelongtomemissy and Open Water completed the order under the wire.

It took three trips to post before More Chocolate broke her maiden, finally

getting the job done last Independence Day at Hollywood Park for trainer John

Sadler while racing exclusively on the turf. She didn't do so well in her next

start on Del Mar's green, running ninth in an allowance/optional claimer, then

finished fourth on Santa Anita's grass course nearly three months later.

The four-year-old miss earned just her second victory at Santa Anita 21 days

later and then took another brief vacation before making her first stakes start

in the Grade 3 Robert J. Frankel, still on the turf. More Chocolate held the

lead in the stretch of that nine-furlong contest before being passed late.

"We wanted to try her on the dirt (after all seven career starts on grass),"

Sadler explained the decision for the surface switch. "It's the last chance to

run her with her own age group, this was the nice thing about it, the

four-year-old series. This race looked like it was coming up a good spot with a

small field.

"We thought we might be back a little further, but with a :48 half, I felt

good with where we were sitting. She had a perfect trip, slow pace, very nice."

With this initial black-type score, the bay filly doubled her career earnings

to $182,790 and boasts a scorecard that reads 8-3-1-1. Sadler said following the

race that he'll look at the Grade 1 Santa Margarita going nine furlongs on March 16

for More Chocolate's next start.

Bred in Kentucky by Calumet Farm, More Chocolate passed through the sales

ring twice, bringing $45,000 as a Keeneland September yearling and then $310,000

at the Fasig-Tipton Florida Sale as a two-year-old. She is out of the Grade

2-winning Night Shift mare Little Treasure, who is a half-sister to the dam of

last year's Grade 2 Goldikova victress Rhythm of Light. This is the same female

family as multiple Group 1-winning French highweight Bigstone.

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