Opalina Gives Optimizer a First Stakes Winner in Sweetest Chant
Opalina (Optimizer) won the GIII Sweetest Chant S. at Gulfstream Park. It's the first black-type winner for her Calumet Farm-based stallion. Opaline won a hand-timed affair over yielding Gulf Stream turf Sept. 17 and was a sneaky good fifth in Keeneland's GII Jessamine S Oct. 13. She came to win the Jan. 1 Ginger Brew S at the eighth pole, but couldn't finish the job.
Opalina is the first black-type winner for Optimizer. Opaline is out of daughters of Kitten's Joy, who have produced Grade I winner Channel Cat and other graded winners Spooky Channel, English Bee and Admiralty Pier. Bernardo Alvarez-Calderon purchased Opelina's dam with the filly in utero for the upset price of $1,000 at Keeneland November in 2018. Calderon passed away in August 2020 at the age of 78.
