Brown has four of five runners in search of eighth Ballston Spa win
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Seven times in the last nine years trainer Chad Brown has started three horses in the Ballston Spa Stakes at Saratoga. In those instances, Brown has won the race six times.
Thursday, Brown will start four in the Grade 2, $300,000 Ballston Spa and with only one other horse in the field, his chances of winning an eighth Ballston Spa – he also won it in 2012 – are quite high.
Since 2015, Brown has won the race with three odds-on favorites and three horses whose odds ranged from 7-2 to 7-1.
The morning line suggests that Delahaye (4-1) will be the least regarded of Brown’s quartet with Gina Romantica and the seemingly pace-advantaged Beaute Cachee likely vying for favoritism. Coppice is Brown’s fourth entrant.
Delahaye finished third as the favorite in the Grade 3 Matchmaker going 1 1/8 miles at Monmouth, a length behind Beaute Cachee. Thursday, Delahaye is cutting back to 1 1/16 miles, a distance at which she is 4 for 4, including a victory in the Grade 3 Mint Julep on June 2 at Churchill.
“I do like her in here,” Brown said. “She’s a very consistent horse. We’ve always thought a lot of her. She got started a little late. I’m proud how she’s developed and got into stakes races fairly quickly. I think she’s a formidable horse.”
Tyler Gaffalione, second at the meet with 31 wins, rides from post 3.
Beaute Cachee looks like the controlling speed in the Ballston Spa under Frankie Dettori. She has recorded front-running victories this year in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley (25-1) and Matchmaker (9-2). She gutted out a narrow victory over Sacred Wish in the Matchmaker, but should appreciate the cutback to 1 1/16 miles.
“She seems to have found her niche on the lead,” Brown said. “I didn’t see that coming early on when I had her, but she certainly seems happy that way. She had rated before – in the Matriarch she got a little bit of a tough trip and she was finishing – but she seems to be happy on the lead and she looks like the controlling speed.”
Beaute Cachee is the 124-pound highweight from post 4.
Gina Romantica, a two-time Grade 1 winner, has shown to be a horse who runs her better races in the second half of the year. Brown hopes her late-running third in the Grade 1 Diana, where she was beaten three-quarters of a length by Whitebeam, signals she’s ready to do that again.
“She’s rounding into form nicely and she’s training well,” said Brown, who has Flavien Prat to ride.
Coppice has been a bit of a head-scratcher for Brown, not running as well in the afternoon as she trains in the morning. Her first race in the United States was solid when she was beaten a neck by Chili Flag in the Distaff Turf Mile before finishing sixth and fifth, respectively, in the Just a Game and Diana.
“Her first race was very good,” Brown said. “She’s had a couple of frustrating outings, a little bit trip-related, but when she’s found room late in the races she hadn’t really kicked like she trains in the mornings, so I’m hoping to break through with her in this race.”
Irad Ortiz Jr., atop the standings with 36 wins, rides Coppice, the 118-pound low weight, from post 2.
Todd Pletcher will send out Surprisingly, who makes her 12th consecutive graded stakes appearance. Since winning the Grade 3 Endeavour at Tampa in February 2023, Surprisingly is 0-4-2 in her last 11 starts. She was beaten a length when fourth in the Matchmaker.
“Irad kind of felt like he held her up a little long in retrospect,” Pletcher said. “But she ran well, like she always does.”
Jose Ortiz rides Surprisingly from the rail on Thursday.
The trio of Hoosier Philly, Movie Moxy, and Amanda’s Folly are entered to run only if the Ballston Spa is transferred to the dirt, which, given the forecast, seems unlikely.
The Ballston Spa is carded as race 2 on Thursday’s 10-race program that begins at 1:10 p.m.
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