Brown going against old boss McGaughey in turf tussle
ELMONT, N.Y. – There are three allowance races scheduled for turf on Thursday’s card at Belmont Park, and it’s no surprise that trainer Chad Brown has significant players in all three.
In two of the three, Brown will be going up against his former boss, trainer Shug McGaughey, who has top candidates in race 5, a first-level allowance for males going 1 1/4 miles, and in race 8, a first-level allowance for 3-year-old males going 1 1/16 miles.
Brown’s action gets started in the opener with Fundamental in a second-level allowance/$62,500 optional-claiming race at 1 1/4 miles over the inner turf. Fundamental looms as a short price against four rivals in this spot. He is coming off a neck loss to Go Around in the $75,000 Tampa Turf Classic at Tampa Bay Downs on April 9.
Last fall, Fundamental finished fourth in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar. He was one of four horses Brown ran in that race, but he might have had the most trouble, stuck on the inside with nowhere to run in the stretch.
“I ran second with March, but Fundamental in late stretch visually looked like he had the most horse and nowhere to go,” Brown said. “He got out very late near the wire, but I know this horse, and he doesn’t like running inside of horses. If he could have gotten in the clear, I could have seen him winning that race.”
Montclair won a race similar to this Feb. 3 at Gulfstream Park. This time, the 6-year-old gelding is available to claim for $62,500. Bigger Picture won at this level going 1 1/16 miles when offered for $62,500 at Aqueduct on April 17 and is now running under the allowance condition.
In race 5, Brown sends out Araqeel against six rivals going 1 1/4 miles over the inner turf. Araqeel is a one-run closer who may have to run down the likes of Roccia d’Oro and potentially Gold Shield.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 3 Araqeel. Trainer Chad Brown is 205-67-46-25 (and 124-41-24-13 on the NYRA circuit) over the past five years in turf routes when switching jockeys to Javier Castellano. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Gold Shield, trained by McGaughey, was a $1 million yearling purchase by Lane’s End Racing, which owns the horse with its breeder, the Steinbrenner family’s Kinsman Stable. In his first try on turf, Gold Shield finished fifth, beaten only 3 1/2 lengths, going 1 1/16 miles at Gulfstream Park.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 6 Gold Shield. Trainer Shug McGaughey is 65-13-7-12 (and 45-9-6-6 on the NYRA circuit) over the past five years in turf routes when switching jockeys to John Velazquez. – Mike Hogan
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DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 7 Roccia d’Oro. Trainer Tom Albertrani is 15-1-1-0 (13-0-1-0 on the NYRA circuit) over the past five years in turf routes when switching jockeys to Irad Ortiz Jr. – Mike Hogan
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“He’s just one-paced,” McGaughey said. “That’s why I want to run him a mile and a quarter.”
In race 8, McGaughey may have the upper hand over Brown with Inspector Lynley, who drops into allowance company after finishing third in the Grade 3 Transylvania Stakes at Keeneland on April 8.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 3 Inspector Lynley. Trainer Shug McGaughey is 58-20-7-6 (and 25-11-1-2 on the NYRA circuit) over the past five years in turf routes when switching jockeys to Javier Castellano. – Mike Hogan
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“His race at Keeneland was a good race; he was kind of ambitiously placed,” said McGaughey, noting that Inspector Lynley was coming off a maiden win. “I thought he ran good, and I think he’s a nice horse.”
Further, McGaughey said Inspector Lynley’s half-mile breeze in 48.20 seconds Saturday at Belmont was “as good as I’ve ever seen him breeze.”
Brown sends out Ray’s The Bar, who has not run up to expectations. Bought following a debut win at Ascot last July, Ray’s The Bar finished a troubled third in the Grade 3 Pilgrim. He finished 11th in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and began his 3-year-old season with a sixth-place finish in the Grade 3 Dania Beach on Jan. 2 at Gulfstream.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 1A Ray’s The Bar. Trainer Chad Brown is 89-25-11-11 (and 72-22-10-9 on the NYRA circuit) over the past five years in turf routes when switching jockeys to Irad Ortiz Jr. – Mike Hogan
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“That horse has always trained a lot better than he’s run,” Brown said. “We figured we’d drop into an allowance race, but it came up tough.”
Brown is adding blinkers to Ray’s The Bar for this spot.
Conquest Superstar, a debut winner for Mark Casse, Site Read, Vulcan’s Forge, and Scholar Athlete add to the competitive field.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 6 Scholar Athlete. Trainer Graham Motion is 22-0-3-5 over the past five years going synthetic to turf on the NYRA circuit. – Mike Hogan
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