Rough Entry looks a shoo-in for Chairman’s Trophy

ROUGH ENTRY returns to the scene of his Mouttet Mile victory – well, almost – going seven and a half furlongs in Saturday’s Chairman’s Trophy. To say the five-year-old American is the horse to beat would be the understatement of the year, considering his local introduction two months ago.

Entering the US$150,000 Mouttet Mile with a strong September 23 victory at six furlongs – among $35,000 claimers at Gulfstream Park, Florida – ROUGH ENTRY sat fourth with Frenchman Julien Leparoux before going after MAMMA MIA coming off the home turn.

Reproducing his Gulfstream Park form, ROUGH ENTRY outclassed the best of the local cast, clocking a solid 1:38.0, beating last year’s Jamaica Derby-winner, ABILITY, by seven gaping lengths.

Set loose by multiple Breeders’ Cup-winning rider Leparoux, ROUGH ENTRY collared MAMMA MIA a furlong and a half out after which the issue was a foregone conclusion.

Streaking clear of MAMMA MIA, ROUGH ENTRY won as his form and exercise reports indicated, an out-of-class foreign invader plundering the $12.5 million winner’s purse for Jamaican trainer Rohan Crighton, who plies his trade on the Florida circuit.

Shamaree Muir, who partnered another Crighton Florida invader, PROVOCATIVA, to an easy win at a mile on February 10, has the leg up aboard ROUGH ENTRY, who has looked none the worse since plundering the Mouttet Mile.

As he did for the now seven-year-old’s local debut in the Mouttet Mile, Crighton has kept ROUGH ENTRY relatively quiet at exercise, saving the foreigner’s best for raceday. ROUGH ENTRY innocently strode five furlongs out the straight in 1:05.1 last Saturday morning. He strode seven furlongs in 1:35.0 the previous Sunday and galloped the trip in 1:29.4 a week earlier.

Prior to the Mouttet Mile, ROUGH ENTRY had galloped seven furlongs in 1:30.0 out the mile chute, returning to the exercise gallops a week before the event with a 59.2 at five furlongs straight, the first half-mile in 46.0.

ATOMICA, who had ditched Dane Dawkins two and a half furlongs out in the Mouttet Mile, returns for a crack at the foreigner after redeeming herself with a strong victory over IS THAT A FACT in the Ian Levy Cup on New Year’s Day.

However, IS THAT A FACT, who made late gain to place fourth in the Mouttet Mile, which he franked by his crisp effort against ATOMICA in the Ian Levy, reports with 102lb, a 10lb weight swing, which could see the United States-bred turning the tables on her at seven and a half furlongs.

ATOMICA doesn’t fancy holding speed but isn’t bad at the handicaps, carrying 115lb. However, ROUGH ENTRY proved that he’s out-of-country with a hole-in-one in the Mouttet Mile, toting topweight 126lb against an overall much more fearsome line-up.