Wine Princess 'better than ever' ahead of Chilukki

Wine Princess 'better than ever' ahead of Chilukki

As the steady Wine Princess nears the end of her racing days, trainer Steve

Margolis is dealing with mixed emotions as his filly appears to be in

career-best form.

There's a good chance those feelings could be even more jumbled after Becky

Winemiller's regally-bred four-year-old filly competes in Saturday's

28th running of the Grade 2 Chilukki under the lights at Churchill Downs.

The filly is the result of a mating

of Hall of Famers and Horses of the Year Ghostzapper and Azeri, and oddsmaker Mike Battaglia has

installed her as the 4-1 morning line favorite in a very competitive field of 12

in Saturday's one-mile race for fillies and mares. The Chilukki has a post time

of 8:15 p.m. (EDT) and is the last event on a 10-race live program

that will run adjacent to the simulcast of the 30th Breeders' Cup Championships

at Santa Anita. Post time for the first of Saturday's live races at

Churchill Downs is 2:15 p.m.

Wine Princess will head to the

breeding shed at Hill 'n' Dale Farm in Lexington following the end of her career

on the track, and the knowledge that she is heading to a good home for her new

career as a broodmare is good news to Margolis.

But her trainer also believes that

she is an improving filly heading into to what likely will be two more starts

that would include the Chilukki and a probable run back in the Grade 2 Falls

City Handicap on Thanksgiving Day.

"She's run against some good horses,"

Margolis said. "Even though she's been beat a couple of times, she always runs

good."

Wine Princess ran third behind the

Polytrack and turf specialist Emollient in her most recent start in the

Spinster at Keeneland in her debut over the synthetic footing at the Lexington

track. Prior to that she ran a strong second to Flashy American in the Locust

Grove at Churchill Downs and was second to Joyful Victory in Monmouth Park's

Molly Pitcher.

She won a Churchill Downs allowance race at the Chilukki distance before her

only clunker of the season: a fifth-place run behind Funny Proposition and

two-time champion Royal Delta in Churchill Downs' Fleur De Lis Handicap in

mid-June.

Wine Princess notched a Grade 3 win

in last year's Monmouth Oaks, but a Grade 1 victory in the Spinster would have

been a fine addition to her resume as she heads into her next career. But

Margolis was very happy with the effort in which she finished 4 3/4 lengths behind

the three-year-old Emollient, who also won Keeneland's Ashland in the spring and

runs back in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf this weekend. Wine Princessalso

finished 3 1/2 lengths behind runner-up Summer Applause, who is set for the

Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.

"We took a shot," Margolis said. "We

took her over there and she had a real good work about eight or nine days out.

The whole goal with her pedigree was to get some kind of black type in a Grade 1

race. She ran hard. She made a move and she had a shot to win. The other horses

were just very, very good racehorses."

In Saturday's race Wine Princess will

run over a track where she has a career record of 3-1-0 in five races and all

three wins have come at the Chilukki's one-turn mile distance.

"I like this cutback to this mile,"

Margolis said. "I think the mile is a real good distance for her."

The competition will be strong on Saturday as rivals to Wine Princess include

a pair of rising 3-year-old stars in Dogwood winner Sky Girl (5-1) and Indiana

Oaks and Hollywood Starlet winner Pure Fun (9-2), and a group of veterans headed by Apple

Blossom third-place finisher Don't Tell Sophia (5-1), Gardenia winner Devious

Intent (10-1), Ontario Matron scorer Sisterly Love (5-1) and

Gardenia runner-up Magic Hour (8-1).

Margolis is encouraged by the way

Wine Princess is coming into Saturday's race. In fact, he believes she continues

to improve as she nears her final weeks of competition, and that will likely

make Saturday's race, regardless of result, a bittersweet experience.

"It's a little funny, but with her

five-year-old year not far away, she seems to be doing better than ever," Margolis

said. "She's running competitive and she's running good against some top horses,

so it would be great to run good Saturday here at Churchill and then we'll see

what happens after that."

The career record of Wine Princess

heading into Saturday's race stands at 4-4-1 in 11 races with a bankroll of

$330,761.

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