Standardbred owner George Millar is a man of his word. In December,
he told Harness Racing Update that he was “a little over 50 per cent serious” about racing his undefeated homebred Ontario-sired pacing filly Chantilly against the boys in this year’s $1 million (G1) Pepsi North America Cup on June 14 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
On Friday, when asked how Chantilly, Canada’s reigning Horse of the Year, was faring training down for her sophomore season, Millar told Ontario Racing, “Put it this way, I made her first payment to the North America Cup. But, I also paid her up for the Fan Hanover (3-year-old filly race) that is the same night.”
Millar said he wanted to hedge his bets and he and his private trainer Nick Gallucci – the 2024 Canadian Trainer of the Year – will make a final decision about whether to race the daughter of Big Jim–Shiraz Seelster against the boys closer to June. No filly has raced in the open event since it changed its name to the North America Cup 42 years ago.
Chantilly (
shown winning the Shes A Great Lady in 2024 / New Image Media) was a perfect nine-for-nine with earnings of $761,000 in 2024. She is one of 69 sophomore pacers that have been
nominated to this year’s Pepsi North America Cup.
Gallucci said he shook his head when Millar first broached the idea.
“It was just a little bit of shock,” Gallucci said. “I don't know if he had been thinking about it for a while. When he brought up to me, it kind of threw me for a loop. But, what am I going to say? It's his horse. Still, it's a pretty cool situation… We'll do our best. Looks like she could beat the colts, but who knows? I think, for now, there’s a lot of dreaming.”
Millar said he believes Chantilly will need to post a mile in the 1:48 range to be successful against the boys. He said he believes the filly is capable of such speed after a conversation with her driver, four-time reigning Keith Waples Canadian Driver of the Year James MacDonald. Millar said MacDonald told him Chantilly likely would have posted a mile in 1:49 and change as a 2-year-old if any horse had “stared her in the eyeball.
“So, it’s just a matter of knocking off another second to get down to :48 and change… it's quite possible that she can get in that range and, if so, she's going to be competitive in [the NA Cup],” Millar said.
Truth is, all this is more than just an indication of how much talent Millar believes Chantilly has — the depth of which he said the world hasn’t seen, yet, because she was carefully managed during her rookie season. NA Cup dreams also speak to Millar’s incredible passion for horses and his desire to promote the sport he loves.
“Do I think she’d go with [the boys]? I don’t think she’d be embarrassed
… And it would make for a nice story,” said Millar, who was named the 2024 Armstrong Breeder of the Year in Canada.
“I don’t want to hurt her, but I don’t think it would hurt her… You can pay up and if you think you’re just not right or whatever, then you can just not enter. I think she just took care of herself all year and the fact that she wasn’t over raced really helped her out quite a bit.”
More Top Racing Headlines