After historic day, Brown mapping out routes for talented turfers
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. − After winning his 11th Diana Stakes at Saratoga and his 10th Matchmaker at Monmouth Park on Saturday, trainer Chad Brown will now set his sights on adding to the grandiose totals of wins he has in a pair of other graded turf stakes for females later this summer and fall.
At Saratoga, Kathynmarissa led a 1-2-3 finish for Brown in the $500,000 Diana, giving Brown his fifth consecutive victory and 10th in the last 11 years in Saratoga’s marquee race for older turf females. Kathynmarissa ran down the pacesetting Segesta with Portfolio Duration in third. Brown also ran fifth in the race with Dynamic Pricing.
At Monmouth, Grayosh got a perfect set up, aided in part by the Brown-trained pacesetting City Girl, to win in the $300,000 Matchmaker by one length. It was Brown’s seventh straight victory in Monmouth’s premier race for older turf females.
Kathynmarissa, who earlier this year won the Grade 3 Modesty and finished third in the Grade 1 New York, will get a brief freshening and be pointed to the Grade 2, $500,000 Flower Bowl at Belmont Park on Sept. 26. Brown has won the Flower Bowl eight times. That will be Kathynmarissa's last start before the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, on Oct. 31 at Keeneland, which could very well be the 5-year-old mare’s final career start.
“She’s got some age on her, she’s got plenty of experience, she ran really well off the layoff in the Modesty,” Brown said. “I want to handle her carefully, get two more good starts out of her.”
Plans for Brown’s other Diana starters are less clear. Segesta and Portfolio Duration could be considered for the Grade 2, $300,000 Ballston Spa at 1 1/16 miles on Aug. 22. Brown, who has won the Ballston Spa eight times, said Portfolio Duration, who was coming off a win in the Grade 1 New York, had some trouble entering the first turn of the Diana and perhaps wasn’t fond of the turf that was less than firm after getting some rain.
“That’s the one horse I might give a mulligan to and draw a line through it,” Brown said. “If she gets firm ground and is not bothered early in the race her next race, I could see her getting back to her winning ways.”
Brown was disappointed in Dynamic Pricing’s fifth-place finish in the Diana since he entered her thinking the ground may be to her liking if it rained. Brown said he would consider the Ballston Spa depending how Dynamic Pricing is training leading up to it.
“I might give her another try, but it’s hard to only draw a line through that when she got ground she should have liked and she should have run better,” Brown said.
Meanwhile, Brown said Grayosh, an 8-1 winner of the Matchmaker, will be pointed to the Ballston Spa. Grayosh won the Grade 2 Lake Placid in Saratoga in 2024.
Brown on Saturday also won the Grade 2 United Nations with Program Trading, who won at 1 3/8 miles for the first time. Brown didn’t completely rule out wheeling him back in four weeks in the Grade 1 Christophe Clement going 1 1/2 miles on Aug. 15.
“It’s possible,” Brown said. “It’s a little tight, but you know what, it’s his last year running. Maybe I’d do that, particularly if I get some wet weather.”
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