STUDENT BODY GOING FOR HER FIRST GRADED STAKES VICTORY IN THE GIII CHICAGO HANDICAP

By Grant LaGrange —-

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (June 26, 2019) –

The 30th running of the GIII Chicago Handicap will be run Saturday June 29 at Arlington International Racecourse. A solid group of nine fillies and mares will go to post for the seven-furlong contest.

The horse to beat in the Saturday feature will be #3 Hotshot Anna who will be making her first start in over nine months. Owned and trained by Hugh Robertson, she is the most accomplished in the field with career earnings of over $500,000 and is a multiple time graded stakes winner. She won her only career start going seven furlongs and will likely be the favorite at post time. Hotshot Anna will break from post three and will be ridden by Arlington leading rider Jose Valdivia Jr.

Student Body will be looking to score a minor upset Saturday for trainer Chris Davis. The 5-year-old mare owned by Gary Broad is coming off an unfortunate ninth place finish in the Giants Causeway Stakes at Keenland in April. This marked the first defeat of her 2019 season. Trainer Chris Davis has remained optimistic on Student Body however,

“Right now she’s doing fantastic,” Davis said. “We really weren’t disappointed in her effort that day, she was just ridden a little differently and never had her head,” he explained. “She’s one of those horses that if she doesn’t win she usually doesn’t run very well. It’s either first or last with her and we’ve learned to accept that’s how she does it,” he said.

This will be her first start in two months, but has shown that she is ready to fire off of the layoff after a bullet work on June 20 going 59.3 seconds over the Arlington synthetic,

“She’s actually pretty lazy in the mornings,” Davis said. “She’s never on the muscle in her works; she takes it easy on herself. That 59.3 was done very easily. The track was pretty fast that morning too,” he explained.

The daughter of Colonel John will be making her second career start over the Arlington synthetic, where she is a perfect one for one to this point. Last year, she was able to win an allowance race by almost 10 lengths over the track.

“I don’t think any type of track will give her trouble. She’s a stone race horse,” Davis said. “She’ll run on anything, it doesn’t matter what surface or distance it is,” he explained. “If she gets her head early and she’s right that day she can win on any surface,” he said.

The distance also shouldn’t be a cause for concern for Student Body Saturday in the GIII Chicago Handicap,

“Seven furlongs doesn’t worry me at all,” said Davis. “She broke her maiden going seven and did that impressively, and she’s also won going six and a half furlongs over this track so I’m not worried about that at all,” he said. “I think that everything fits her and is in her favor so I’m looking forward to seeing her put in a race I know she’s capable of,” he said.

Student Body will break from post 1, and will be ridden by Sophie Doyle who is a regular rider for the Chris Davis barn.

The GIII Chicago Handicap is scheduled as the either race on the Saturday card, with an expected post time of 5:15 PM CDT.