Brown duo possible for Violet Stakes

It’s a filly-mare turf stakes race on the East Coast, so be sure trainer Chad Brown, who dominates the division, has entries for the $100,000 Violet Stakes on Saturday at Monmouth Park. As of late Thursday morning, however, it was hard to be sure if both of Brown’s entrants, Beaute Cachee and Veronica Green, would be running in the Violet, carded for 1 1/16 miles.

Beaute Cachee could go favored if she starts, but she was entered with no rider named. Samy Camacho, who has been Brown’s go-to jockey this meet, is named on Veronica Green, but it’s always possible Veronica Green could be scratched, Camacho moving to Beaute Cachee. A jockey need not be named on a stakes entry at Monmouth until scratch time the day of the race. The Monmouth racing office wasn’t sure of Brown’s plans, and neither Brown nor his Monmouth assistant, Luis Cabrera, responded to calls or texts Thursday. Veronica Green has been working at Monmouth. Beaute Cachee worked Aug. 27 at Saratoga and as of Thursday morning, the Monmouth stable gate attendant said Beaute Cachee was not on the Monmouth grounds, though that would not preclude her arriving Friday or even Saturday morning.

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Here’s what’s less murky: Join the Dance is going to the front in the Violet. Join the Dance has three wins in her career, all in front-running fashion. On May 7, she comfortably captured a 1 1/16-mile turf stakes at Gulfstream Park racing wire to wire, and Join the Dance didn’t start again until Aug. 7, when she dueled on a solid pace and faded to last of five in a high-end Colonial Downs turf allowance.

“She probably needed that one pretty good,” trainer Mark Casse said. “She does want to be on the lead. She’ll be very aggressive Saturday.”

Miss Carol Ann showed speed in a July 27 second-level turf allowance at Saratoga, but since the filly faded to fourth in that 1 1/16-mile contest and has yet to win beyond seven furlongs, one suspects her connections aren’t interested in turning the Violet into a test of stamina and would prefer to sit back and make a run.

Second in that same Saratoga allowance was Beaute Cachee, who had the lead in deep stretch before being passed late by Mise en Scene, a graded stakes-class performer. French import Beaute Cachee made her North American debut in May and won a first-level allowance by a nose after tracking a tepid pace. Both her American starts came at 1 1/16 miles, but she was campaigned as a 1 1/4-mile horse in France, where she often led, suggesting Beaute Cachee lacks a strong turn of foot.

Veronica Green also ran in that allowance race and never made an impact, but she was racing for the first time in blinkers, which come off for the Violet.

Brown has two turf stakes wins this Monmouth meet, both with Consumer Spending, after winning five turf stakes on higher volume during the 2022 Monmouth season.

The Violet, which attracted eight entrants, comes early on the Saturday card as race 5, post time 2:33 p.m. Eastern. Clear conditions are forecast, and the turf should be very firm.

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