Breeders' Cup: Brown's smaller contingent does OK

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LEXINGTON, Ky. - Trainer Chad Brown didn’t bring his usual arsenal of horses to this year’s Breeders’ Cup, but it turned out he certainly brought the right ones.

Brown pre-entered just six horses for the 14 Breeders Cup races, was able to run only four and wound up with two victories and one second-place finish.

On Saturday, Ways and Means won the Filly and Mare Sprint and Kathynmarissa won the Filly and Mare Turf, while Fully Subscribed finished second to Nitrogen in the Distaff. On Friday, Domestic Agenda finished eighth in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, the only poor performance of the two-day event for Brown.

Brown had to scratch Gaudreau from the Juvenile due to an illness, and the veterinarians scratched Zulu Kingdom from the Mile due to a soundness issue that Brown did not argue.

The two victories give Brown 21 Breeders’ Cup wins, moving him past D. Wayne Lukas into third place. Aidan O’Brien, who won three BC races leads with 24 followed by Bob Baffert with 22.

“This year it didn’t work out where we’ve had as many starters as we’ve had pretty consistently through the last decade,” Brown said. “I had a good feeling we had the right ones in some of the races. We started with six, ended up with 4, and I thought four really good shots and fortunately three of the four ran really well.”

Ways and Means started Saturday’s card with a dominant 6 1/4 length victory, her third win from four starts this year, her second Grade 1 and one that should cement her as the female sprint champion.

Brown said the victory by Ways and Means was extremely gratifying since he trained the sire (Practical Joke) and dam (Strong Incentive) and she was among the first of the homebreds for Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables. It was also gratifying for all the injuries and infirmities Ways and Means had to deal with, including an ankle chip at 2, multiple lung infections and foot issues that led to multiple quarter cracks.

“This filly really is the shining example for our barn, for our company, in 19 years of training, I can’t think of another horse that had this many different team members and contributions from all the people and more to keeping this filly going into her 5-year-old career,” Brown said. “She happens to be of one the best we’ve trained - male or female - and that’s what makes it extra gratifying that she went out a champion.”

Ways and Means, who was catalogued to be sold at Monday’s Fasig-Tipton auction, retires with a record of 8-3-1 from 14 starts and earnings of $2,157,500.

Kathynmarissa was also catalogued to be sold on Monday after winning Saturday’s $2 million Filly and Mare Turf by three-quarters of a length over Gimme a Nother. It was Kathynmarissa’s fourth victory from five starts this year- including the Grade 1 Diana - and one that likely makes her champion female turf horse.

Brown took over Kathynmarissa’s training in early 2025 and, after she won an allowance race for him at Saratoga, Brown had to call owner Michael Dubb to tell him she had an issue and had to stop on her. Dubb agreed to bring her back for a 5-year-old campaign that began with a victory over defending Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Gezora in the Grade 3 Modesty.

“I know at the time it wasn’t a good phone call to make, but it gave her more time to acclimate to what I wanted to do with her,” Brown said. “It was not a rush job this year. She took us to every race. She even surprised me. I thought she was a Breeders’ Cup-quality horse to get there. I didn’t really start to believe she was a candidate to win until after the Diana, then I was like this filly is for real. This is a filly that can get the mile and three sixteenths the right way at Keeneland. She looked like the perfect horse for that distance on this course.”

Fully Subscribed finished second to Nitrogen in the Distaff. Brown said he wanted Fully Subscribed to try and surprise Nitrogen by rallying to her outside, even though he knows Nitrogen drifts out in the stretch. Brown got the trip he wanted, Nitrogen was just better, he said.

Brown said Fully Subscribed “was second-best, nevertheless ran a great race. Nitrogen is a deserving champion in that division. She’s been an ultra-consistent horse and never really ducked anyone.”

Brown said that Fully Subscribed is scheduled to ship to Florida on Monday and will be pointed to a 5-year-old campaign that could start in the Grade 1 La Troienne, the same race in May that Fully Subscribed returned in this year.

Brown said he will regroup with Domestic Agenda after she “packed it in earlier than I anticipated,” in the Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Gaudreau, runner-up in the Grade 1 Champagne, is improving, but is still sick and will remain in Kentucky until well enough to trave to Florida. He definitely will not run again this year.

Brown said Zulu Kingdom was not moving 100 percent, which is why he agreed with the veterinarian’s decision to scratch him from the Mile. Brown said Zulu Kingdom will be evaluated by Dr. Larry Bramlage at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, but the goal is to bring him back to race in 2027.

Englishman, T O Elvis could meet again

Both T O Elvis and Englishman, the one-two finishers from the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, are expected to remain in training in 2027 with a hoped-for rematch coming in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes in May.

Trainer Cherie DeVaux said that she plans to have Englishman undergo an evaluation by Dr. Larry Bramlage at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital and “let him guide us on how much time [off] he may or may not need,” she said.

DeVaux said Englishman ran his race in the Sprint “he just got beat by a better horse that day,” she said.

Englishman won 3 of 5 starts in 2026 with Grade 1 victories in the Woody Stephens and H. Allen Jerkens, sprint races for 3-year-olds at Saratoga.

Meanwhile, T O Elvis was expected to return to Japan on Wednesday after potentially clinching an Eclipse Award as North America’s champion sprinter. He won the BC Sprint and the Churchill Downs in his only two starts of 2026.

Kate Hunter, a media and Breeders’ Cup liaison for the Japan-based horses indicated that the team behind T O Elvis and trainer Daisuke Takayanagi enjoys shipping his horses and may look at the Middle East sprint races in Saudi Arabia and Dubai.

“I know Churchill wants him back, so there are many options,” Hunter said.

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