Steve Dennis goes down the Saratoga stretch with the first in a regular weekly update from the Spa – and a familiar figure hits the ground running
It must be summer, because Saratoga is here again. And if Saratoga is here again then Chad Brown is the man to watch, and so it came to pass on opening weekend when the local boy made very good staged his usual full-frontal assault on a G1 distaff race and, of course, emerged with the prize.
It was Brown’s record-extending eighth win in the Diana Stakes, his seventh in the last eight years, and just as he did 12 months ago he won with the outsider of his quartet, the near 8-1 chance Whitebeam. Ridden by Flavien Prat the winner is a Juddmonte homebred who started life in Britain trained by Harry & Roger Charlton, for whom she won at Newbury (twice) and Haydock.
Brown’s strength in depth in the distaff division, and in the turf section particularly, means that he is forced to take the scattergun approach to big-race entries, akin to throwing a deck of cards in the air and being pretty sure that he’ll end up holding aces. Each of his four runners in the Diana had a different owner, so Brown’s chief skill could be said to be man-management rather than horse-coping.
He has won the Diana with a string of high-class females in the past, namely Zagora (2011), Dacita (2016), Sistercharlie (2018-19), Rushing Fall (2020) and In Italian (2022), who was touched off this time by her stablemate.
“It’s a very big part of our annual schedule,” he said. “We circle this race early on and through the years, I’ve had so many nice fillies sent to me and my team from all over.”
Diana runner-up In Italian, who has four G1s under her belt, could be taken as the moral winner of Saturday’s $500,000 Brown-out given that she was spotting Whitebeam six pounds and was beaten a nose. She is still the leader of this pack.
“It was really tight there and In Italian ran her heart out,” said Brown. “I think the turf’s pretty soft and she was going pretty quick there. They ran around in a pack there and it was pretty fast fractions on this soft turf.”
Diana fourth Marketsegmentation is also a G1 winner, and even the lower-level bullpen is full enough to allow Brown to have five runners (half the field) in Friday’s G3 Lake George over a mile on the lawn.
He also nailed Friday’s ungraded Wilton with the Nyquist filly Randomized, and we can expect last year’s meet-leading trainer to clean up in these races over the next seven weeks, although one caveat is the fact that – like Europe’s finest, Aidan O’Brien – he is just as prone to win with the barn’s fifth-string as he is with the main contender. Welcome to Brown-town, he’s here all meet.
Good karma: Bill Mott
Not only did the veteran New York-based trainer send out Casa Creed to win the G3 Kelso on Saturday, he also took the first two-year-old race of the meet on Thursday with debutante Sugar Hi, a daughter of Twirling Candy. And every week’s a good week with Cody’s Wish to look forward to.
Bad karma: chalk players
In Italian (G1 Diana) and Gold Sweep (G3 Sanford) beaten at 1-5 – the latter by 46-1 longshot Yo Yo Candy – plus odds-on shot Annapolis (G3 Kelso) and even-money chance Wine On Tap (G3 Schuylerville) sent packing, odds-on Oglethorpe beaten in a three-runner allowance and L Street Lady well beaten in the ungraded Coronation Cup, even-money Speakinofthedevil beaten in a five-runner claimer, Baby Yoda a letdown once again in allowance grade. Graveyard of champions? Graveyard of paychecks.
One to watch: Pirate
A jump straight into Graded company is on the cards for Pirate, who rolled his rivals flat by three lengths on debut over 5½ furlongs. The half-brother to G1 Preakness winner National Treasure has the G2 Saratoga Special (Aug 12) and the G1 Hopeful (Sept 4) as options, according to trainer Todd Pletcher.
Working hard
The big name in the mornings was the mighty Cody’s Wish, who worked five-eighths in a minute flat as he tunes up towards the G1 Whitney on August 5. “Looked like a machine,” said trainer Bill Mott.
Another Whitney contender also went through his paces in the shape of Stephen Foster winner West Will Power, breezing a half-mile in a leisurely 51.40s.
Last year’s champion juvenile colt Forte, who remains the arguable pro tem three-year-colt divisional leader, had his first breeze of the Saratoga summer as he buckles down towards the Jim Dandy [July 29].
Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Caravel breezed a half-mile in her build-up to the G3 Troy [Aug 5], while Kentucky Oaks winner Pretty Mischievous went a half-mile on her way to the G1 Test [Aug 5].
The numbers game
The trainers’ and jockeys’ rankings have an embryonic look with just four days of racing done and dusted, but the names at the top are the same ones that led the end-of-meet stats in 2022. Chad Brown couldn’t fail to top the money list with the one-two in the only G1 race so far but Linda Rice has been the fastest starter, banking five wins with a trip to the winner’s circle every afternoon to keep up the good work after her recent Belmont meet title.
In the saddle, the brothers Ortiz lead the way with seven winners apiece, with Irad king of the castle for now as he’s more than $100,000 clear of Jose.
Quotes of the week
“It goes to show you, particularly at Saratoga, anything can happen.”
Chad Brown with his take on the old ‘graveyard of champions’ tag after Whitebeam’s surprise score in the G1 Diana on Saturday.
“He’s an owner’s dream come true – you buy a horse and hope he can get to the races, but you can’t buy a horse at any price and think he can run more than 30 times, win more than $2 million and take you around the world.”
Casa Creed’s co-owner Lee Einsidler after his pride and joy won the G3 Kelso on Saturday. Casa Creed has run at Saratoga every year since 2018 and has won in four of those campaigns.
Forthcoming attractions
Preakness runner-up Blazing Sevens has only four to beat in the ungraded Curlin on Friday, Gambling Girl and Wet Paint, second and fourth in the Kentucky Oaks, are expected to renew rivalry in the G1 Coaching Club American Oaks on Saturday, but the headline act of the whole weekend is the brilliant Nest, who will make her first start of 2023 in the G2 Shuvee on Sunday.
Last year’s champion three-year-old filly will face four-time G1 winner Clairiere in a mouthwatering clash of the generations, with added spice sprinkled by fellow G1 winner Played Hard.
• Visit the NYRA Saratoga website
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A shocking Saratoga summer: when the Graveyard of Champions lived up to its name
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