Amoss Gets First Fair Grounds Oaks Win With Chocolate Martini

By Ryan Martin —-

Chocolate Martini (Orange & Brown Silks); Hodges Photography

NEW ORLEANS (March 24, 2018) – Making her stakes debut, Double Doors Racing LLC’s Chocolate Martini gave native New Orleanian trainer Tom Amoss his first win in the Grade II, $400,000 TwinSpires.com Fair Grounds Oaks, rallying from well off the pace to win by a neck, while also securing a spot in the Grade I $1 million Longines Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 4.

Under Mitchell Murrill, who rode the Broken Vow filly to a first-level allowance win here last month, Chocolate Martini moved toward the rail to save ground early, raced second-last down the backside, angled five wide out of the far turn, and closed strongly to get the lead at the sixteenth-pole before stopping the clock in 1:44.44 for a mile-and-a-sixteenth over a fast main track. Eskimo Kisses, who raced in last early as the leaders went through a half-mile in 46.28 seconds, rallied on the outside in the stretch but was held at bay by a determined winner.

Wonder Gadot ran evenly to get third, three-quarters of a length behind Eskimo Kisses, while early pacesetter and betting favorite Classy Act, who had opened up by more than three lengths at the top of the stretch, lost steam in the stretch but managed to hold a clear fourth.

Chocolate Martini earned 100 points for the win, while Eskimo Kisses acquired 40. Third-place finisher Wonder Gadot got 20 (boosting her total to 44) and fourth-place Classy Act takes 10 (giving her 30 overall). The Fair Grounds Oaks was the first 170-point race on the calendar and Chocolate Martini now leads all 3-year-old fillies on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks Leaderboard that determines preference for the First Friday in May feature at Churchill Downs.

Amoss claimed Chocolate Martini early last month for $25,000 and ran her back 16 days later, stepping up to beat winners for the first time at 27-1.

“We were very, very lucky to get this horse just as she was starting to become a better racehorse, which you see a lot with the young horses,” Amoss said. “I can’t stress enough how lucky we were to get her while she was maturing.”

Chocolate Martini paid $29.80, $10.80, and $3.80. Eskimo Kisses returned $5.20 and $3.20. A $2 show bet on Wonder Gadot was worth $2.40.

It was the first graded stakes win for an ownership group with only four wins overall.

“You can’t keep these owners away from the Kentucky Oaks,” Amoss said. “As long as she’s healthy we’re going to run there.”

Rounding out the field were Classy Act, She’s A Julie, Saguaro Row and America’s Tale.

Additional Fair Grounds Oaks Quotes:

Florent Geroux (jockey of Eskimo Kisses, second): “I was scrubbing the whole way. They went pretty quick and they came back, but it was too late. I thought I had it at the top of the stretch.”

Javier Castellano (jockey of Classy Act, fourth): “She’s the type of horse if she wants to go she’ll get rank in the first part of the race,” Castellano said. “In my opinion, she doesn’t want to go that far. At two turns she gets too rank and she’s not going to get there.”

Cover Photo: Tom Amoss; Hodges Photography