Three-year-old filly Triple Chelsea won the Dec. 17 Lightning City Stakes to become the newest stakes winner for Gainesway stallion Hat Trick.
Owned by Calvin Johnston and Carlos Tonda, ridden by Wilmer Garcia, and trained by Anthony Granitz, Triple Chelsea overcame the inside post position in the field of 12 fillies and mares at Tampa Bay Downs. Ninth in the early stages of the five-furlong turf event, she became competitive in the turn and rallied to edge Nile Delta by a neck at the finish in a final time of :55.60 (VIDEO). The consistent filly has won four of her eight starts this year and earned $170,600.
Marsha Naify’s Liberty Road Stables bred Triple Chelsea in Kentucky out of her French-bred stakes winner Oceane Music (by Ocean of Wisdom), who won the Prix Amandine at Deauville, and offered her at the 2013 Keeneland September yearling sale. Johnston purchased the dark bay out of the Gainesway consignment for $22,000.
Inbred 3×4 to leading sire Halo, Triple Chelsea shares this cross with 2016 group stakes winners Try Twice (G2) and Hat Ninja (G3).
Sire of 25 stakes winners, Hat Trick is a 15-year-old son of Japan’s perennial leading stallion Sunday Silence.