Now that we're back, it's time to get caught up.
For those who may be new to this blog (and for those who just need a brief refresher) we've been following City Chapel, a five year old gelding by Chapel Royal, since August 2012, when he was claimed out of this race by Owner/Trainer Victor Trujillo. To be quite honest, we didn't know what to expect from City Chapel at the time; but it was certainly eye-catching to see a horse with one career win in seventeen tries, and total career earnings of $15,861 (an average of less than one thousand dollars per race) get claimed from a race in which he finished fifth at Final Odds of 29.80-1. The combination of high odds and poor finish would seem to indicate that City Chapel was not a good class fit even at the cheap level of that contest ($4k NW2L) and as a gelding he sure wasn't being bought for breeding purposes. But despite all that Trujillo saw something that neither the betting public nor City Chapel's prior connections did, and willingly plunked down the four grand to have City Chapel in his barn.
On Thursday, May 1, City Chapel competed for the twenty-fifth time for Owner/Trainer Victor Trujillo; in this most recent contest with a $20k price tag on his head (five times the amount for which he had been purchased by Trujillo) in a race for non-winners of two lifetime, excluding Maiden, Claiming and Starter races for $16k or less (abbreviated as NW2L X). As can be seen from the Equibase chart of the race, City Chapel (Final Odds 1.80) was last at the half but rallied in the stretch on the all-weather track to take the Place in the six furlong contest, two and a half lengths behind the Winner, Mickey Ball (1.50*).
So in the twenty-five races that City Chapel has run for the Trujillo barn, he sports a record of four Wins, nine Seconds, and six Thirds (25 4-9-6). City Chapel's total earnings for Trujillo since being claimed for $4,000, including the $3,600 he brought in for the Place finish on May 1, come to $70,155, approximately $2.8k per race.
Peace and Love,
Jimbo
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