Belmont Park: Watsdachances gives Chad Brown another Breeders' Cup starter with Miss Grillo win

Adam Coglianese/NYRA

Watsdachances and Javier Castellano pull away in the Grade 3 Miss Grillo on Monday.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Chad Brown’s Breeders’ Cup contingent keeps getting larger.

About 90 minutes after Noble Tune earned his way into the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, Watsdachances earned a spot in the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf with a 2 1/4-length victory in Monday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Miss Grillo Stakes at Belmont Park.

[Breeders’ Cup Challenge 2012: Replays of all the Win and You’re In races]

Rated well off the pace by Javier Castellano, Watsdachances beat Sustained to a hole in upper stretch - the two appeared to brush going for that hole - then split horses at the eighth pole and drew clear for the victory.

Sustained, coming off a maiden win over Manuka Honey at Saratoga on Aug. 31, finished second by one length over Manuka Honey on Monday.

Fly Again finished fourth and was followed in the order of finish by Wave Theory, Three Hearts, Buckingham Bull, Atlantic Dream, Effie Trinket, and Adriani.

The win was the third in four starts for Watsdachances, an Irish-bred daughter of Diamond Green, and her second in two starts in North America and for Brown. In her U.S. debut, Watsdachances won the P.G. Johnson Stakes at Saratoga. The Miss Grillo was a Win and You’re In race, meaning Watsdachances gets a entry fees-paid berth in the Juvenile Fillies Turf to be run Nov. 2 at Santa Anita.

Midway through the Miss Grillo, Brown was a bit concerned because Watsdachances was in seventh position, about 10 lengths behind the pace-setting Manuka Honey, who raced uncontested through a half-mile in 49.60 seconds.

“I was concerned at the half-mile pole that she was a little too far back, not by Javier’s choice but she wasn’t pulling him to be somewhere,” Brown said.

Watsdachances edged closer around the far turn and into the stretch she and Sustained, under Joel Rosario, were attempting to move together. Watsdachances beat Sustained to a hole, split horses at the eighth pole, and was able to collar Manuka Honey inside the sixteenth pole.

Watsdachances, owned by Bradley Thoroughbreds and Michael Kisber, covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:47.90 over yielding turf and returned $4.40 as the 6-5 favorite.

“She’s amazing," Castellano said. "She’s a very tiny horse, she runs with her head down, but she’s got heart. She split horses, she [went] through a little tight hole, she took off. She did it the right way today.”

Brown could have five or more starters in the Breeders’ Cup: Watsdachances (Juvenile Fillies Turf), Balance the Books and Noble Tune (Juvenile Turf), Awesome Feather (Ladies Classic), and Zagora (Filly and Mare Turf). Book Review (Filly and Mare Sprint) is possible.