Brown has ‘em surrounded in turf stakes
ELMONT, N.Y. – The first horse in the first race Thursday, the first day of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, is trained by Chad Brown. Pure chance led to that occurrence, but it’s a fitting start to the racing week.
Brown and the colt’s owners are holding Preakness Stakes winner Cloud Computing out of the Belmont Stakes. Brown’s starter in the Belmont, Twisted Tom, will be a longshot. But the stable is set up for a potentially awesome week in Belmont’s turf stakes.
There are seven such races Thursday through Saturday. Brown has nothing for the Gold Cup or the Jaipur Invitational but is loaded for the other five stakes, with multiple runners in each race and the potential favorite in all of them.
New Money Honey heads a three-strong team in the $200,000 Wonder Again on Thursday, while Take These Chains is the likely favorite in the $250,000 Intercontinental, a race in which Brown also starts Conquest Babayaga.
On Friday, Brown has the most likely exacta in the $500,000 New York, Sea Calisi and Dacita. On Saturday, he starts Roca Rojo and Antonoe – both very live – in the Grade 1, $750,000 Just a Game and favorite Time Test plus Beach Patrol and Wake Forest in the $1 million Manhattan.
It has been less than a week since Brown ran one-two in a graded turf stakes, doing it Saturday at Monmouth with Grand Jete and Light In Paris in the Grade 3 Eatontown. Last year, Brown won 32 graded turf stakes in the U.S., 19 more than the next-highest total for a trainer. So far in 2017, his record is 8-11-2 with 39 graded-stakes starters on turf, and Brown would win more of those races were there increased opportunities. As is the case here this week, he often winds up being his own stiffest competition.
“We try to separate them the best we can,” said Brown. “You just saw that with Lady Eli going all the way to California to win the Gamely this early in the year. I’ve done that two years in a row now. We like to run in all the Arlington stakes over the summer. I’ve got the staff now that we’re not afraid to go on the road.”
For this week, at least, travel is not required. Brown’s potent arsenal of turf horses can walk over from his Belmont barn and do plenty of damage just a couple hundred yards away.
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