Brown getting stakes squad set up at Churchill

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Three-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown was at Churchill Downs during training hours Thursday, having disbanded a 32-horse stable at Keeneland, assimilating 18 horses into Churchill, and sending most everything else back to his main base at Belmont Park.

Brown said he is likely “here for the duration” through Kentucky Derby weekend (May 3-4), with the superstar turf horses Bricks and Mortar and Newspaperofrecord being among his focus.

“They both settled in really well and are coming up to their races the right way,” said Brown.

Bricks and Mortar, the No. 1-rated horse in the latest Top Thoroughbred Poll conducted by the NTRA, will be favored in the annual lead-in race to the Derby, the Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic (formerly the Woodford Reserve), while the undefeated Newspaperofrecord will make her 3-year-old debut on Kentucky Oaks Day in the Grade 3 Edgewood.

Brown also has prospective starters for several other stakes, including the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile on Derby Day with Precieuse and Environs.

Meanwhile, Brown said that if Dunbar Road does not make the 14-horse cutoff for the Oaks she likely will make her next start either in a Belmont allowance or the May 17 Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico.