Brown changes plans with Money Supply, other stakes horses
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown has tweaked his plans for some of his bounty of stakes horses, including his 3-year-olds who are or were pointing to Kentucky Derby points-scoring races.
Brown said Friday that he plans to scratch Money Supply from Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby. Brown said the combination of post 11 and an expected wet track given an ominous forecast are the reasons to scratch. In his only start, Money Supply won a six-furlong race at Tampa on Feb. 12.
“It’s not what I want to do in his second start,” Brown said. “I do think the horse wants to run long. He’s always struck me that way in his training. I was surprised he was able to get up in time going six [furlongs].”
Brown said he would consider several options for Money Supply, including the ungraded $400,000 Lafayette Stakes at Keeneland on April 8, the Grade 3, $200,000 Bay Shore at Aqueduct on April 9, or an allowance race. The two stakes are at seven furlongs.
The weather forecast Saturday in Tampa also has Brown expecting to scratch the undefeated and 2-1 morning-line favorite Bleecker Street from the Grade 2, $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes, scheduled for the turf. Brown, who doesn’t view Bleecker Street as a horse who would enjoy soft ground, said he will still run Rocky Sky in that race. Peter Brant owns both fillies.
Brown said that Flavien Prat would ride Zandon in the Grade 1, $1 million Blue Grass Stakes on April 9 at Keeneland. Prat will become the fourth rider on Zandon, who won a maiden race with Joel Rosario, was second in the Grade 2 Remsen under John Velazquez, and third in the Grade 2 Risen Star with Jose Ortiz aboard. Ortiz will ride Early Voting, the Grade 3 Withers winner, for Brown in the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct the same day as the Blue Grass.
The Brown-Prat team figures to be formidable not only in the Blue Grass but in New York this spring and summer as Prat plans to move his tack from California to New York in early May.
“We’ve had very good success together, have a high win-percentage, particularly in stakes races,” Brown said. “Definitely planning on adding him to the rotation for sure.”
Brown said Miles D, last year’s Grade 3 Discovery winner and third in the Grade 3 Mineshaft at Fair Grounds on Feb. 19, will make his next start in the Grade 2, $1 million Oaklawn Handicap on April 23. Miles D was offered an invitation to the $12 million Dubai World Cup on March 26, but Brown does not want to run against Life Is Good.
“I don’t really have any interest in running against Life Is Good with any of my horses right now,” Brown said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a mile and a quarter; I respect the horse quite a bit. I know it’s a lot of money, but as long as he’s doing well and headed that way, I’ll head somewhere else.”
Brown said Search Results is likely to make her 4-year-old debut in the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland on April 9, but will also be nominated to the Grade 3, $150,000 Distaff at Aqueduct the same day as well as the Grade 1, $1 million Apple Blossom at Oaklawn on April 23.
Reinvestment Risk, a recent allowance winner at Gulfstream, will run next in either the Grade 1, $300,000 Carter at Aqueduct on April 9 or the Grade 3, $300,000 Commonwealth at Keeneland the same day.