Second time lucky for Boa Vista in G3 Chairman’s Stakes

Boa Vista will be hoping for better luck this time around as she gears up for her debut at Sandown.

The two-year-old, trained by Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr, is set to line up in the Group 3 Chairman’s Stakes (1000m) on Saturday after missing a similar race last weekend.

She had originally been entered for the fillies’ division of the Blue Diamond Preview (1000m) at Sandown but was withdrawn due to an issue detected in a pre-race scope.

“She had slight trace of mucus on scope, so we scratched her,” Kent Jnr explained.

“She scoped clean on Monday. She galloped really well on Tuesday morning, so she’s right to go.”

The Price and Kent Jnr stable has taken a patient approach with Boa Vista.

She reached the trial stage during the spring and had a single trial at Caulfield Heath in October before being given a break. Ahead of her autumn preparation, she has completed two jump-outs at Cranbourne, finishing second in her most recent effort on January 13.

Boa Vista remains in contention for the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) on February 22, as one of 81 juveniles still in the mix, and is also nominated for the prestigious Group 1 Golden Slipper (1200m) at Rosehill in March.

“She’s a lovely daughter of Snitzel,” Kent Jnr said.

“It’s no easy task to go to one of these Blue Diamond lead-up races and the Chairman’s has been won by so many good horses in the past.

“But she’s a nice filly, going the right way and is on an upward trajectory.

“We just don’t know where she will end up at this stage and I think we will learn a lot about her after this run.”

The last three winners of the Chairman’s Stakes have been colts, breaking a streak of five consecutive victories by fillies—Formality (2017), Ennis Hill (2018), Loving Gaby (2019), Mildred (2020), and Enthaar (2021).

The most recent two-year-old to complete the Chairman’s Stakes and Blue Diamond Stakes double was Extreme Choice in 2016.