Exactly one month away from the 2025 Pepsi North America Cup, Trot Insider will profile some of the race’s top ranked contenders as they gear up for those eliminations on Saturday, June 7 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Coming in at 8-1 odds, Chantilly was ranked No. 5 in TROT Magazine’s 2025 Pepsi North America Spring Book.
One could argue that no sophomore pacer is generating more buzz in harness racing right now than Chantilly, who made history by being the lone filly to ever be nominated into the North America Cup. Trained by Nick Gallucci, this three-year-old daughter of Big Jim-Shiraz Seelster is coming off a freshman campaign when she went a perfect nine-for-nine, while bankrolling $761,000 in the process.
Owned and bred by George Millar of Millar Farms, Chantilly's perfect season was highlighted by her richest victory to date, when she captured the $532,000 Shes A Great Lady Stakes at Woodbine Mohawk Park in a lifetime best 1:50.2. She put a bow on her two-year-old season by tying her life’s mark when she cruised to a 6-1/2-length score in the $300,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final. Chantilly’s undefeated season resulted in her being named the 2024 Somebeachsomewhere Horse of the Year, becoming just the fifth two-year-old — and only the third pacing filly — to be named Canada’s Horse of the Year.
“It’s very exciting, that’s for sure,” admitted Nick Gallucci when discussing the buzz that his filly is generating. “This is why we train horses… We hope to end up having some that are capable of competing in those top-level races, and that’s what we have in Chantilly. We’re just hoping she comes back just as good and we’ll see how things shake up over the course of the next month.”
With Chantilly set to make her sophomore debut on Saturday, May 17 at Mohawk, Trot Insider caught up with Gallucci to discuss his star filly, what her road to a possible North America Cup appearance looks like and what's in store for the rest of the year. Scratched out of her most recent qualifier, Gallucci indicated that he planned a training trip for his stable star on Wednesday in advance of the $133,512 SBOA Filly Stakes final.
Where did she winter and when did you start back with her?
"She wintered in Kentucky just after the Super Final. She spent two months there, and we brought her back just after Christmas and she seemed to come back really good."
Have you noticed any changes from last year to this year?
"Physically, I’d say she’s developed as well as you’d hope a two, turning three-year-old would. She muscled and she seems a bit thicker in comparison to last year… She’s come back in much better shape."
She's in to go this weekend. What will her tentative early schedule look like leading up to the Pepsi North America Cup?
"She has an OSS Gold at Mohawk the week after [the SBOA]. We’ll focus on those races, assess her efforts, how she comes out of it and then we’ll all have a better indication as to what we’ll do from there."
What does her tentative schedule look like after the North America Cup?
"She’s going to race primarily in Canada and we love the fact that we can keep her at home for the most part. With the Breeders Crown being on home soil this year, that’ll be a huge benefit. The only race that we have her paid into that’s south of the border is the James Lynch Memorial at Pocono Downs, and that’s a race I’m really excited about her competing in."
What’s her biggest asset / strength?
"I’d say it’s just her natural ability. She’s just so gifted in anything she does, and she’s not a trip-dependent horse, which is going to benefit her a lot down the road. She’s special."
At what point last year did you think this horse was worthy of being heavily staked at three?
"Definitely after her second lifetime start. That was an eye-catching performance that even got James [MacDonald] excited. I’d be lying if I didn’t start thinking about the possibilities down the road and so forth."
Any three-year-old stablemates in the barn right now that are paid up and also looking promising?
"I don’t have anyone else who’s eligible, so she looks like my best shot so far (laughing)."
(Standardbred Canada)