Brown has the high cards in Queen Elizabeth II Cup
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Breeders’ Cup must be coming up soon, seeing how Chad Brown is hitting on every cylinder.
Brown long has made the major autumn races a top priority during a training career that’s sure to land him in the Racing Hall of Fame in 2032, his first year of eligibility. The latest evidence was on display over the last three weekends, as the 42-year-old trainer compiled seven wins and nine seconds in graded stakes, including, remarkably, four races in which he had the one-two finishers.
Yet another Brown-only exacta in a Grade 1 stakes could be in the offing Saturday at Keeneland when Technical Analysis and Shantisara represent the powerhouse stable in the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup. The Irish-breds are looking to replicate the results of the Grade 1 First Lady here last Saturday, when the Brown duo of Blowout and Regal Glory ran one-two on the turf.
The Brown pair will start alongside one another when they meet eight other 3-year-old fillies in the QE II, a 1 1/8-mile turf fixture that serves as the sixth and last Grade 1 of the 17-day fall meet. Technical Analysis will have Jose Ortiz riding from post 2, and Shantisara will have Flavien Prat aboard from post 3. Both bring two-race win streaks into this while facing each other for the first time.
“Both fillies have been training very well,” Brown said this week from his New York base. “I’m very happy with how they’ve both developed throughout the year.”
Technical Analysis, owned by the Klaravich Stables of Seth Klarman, has raced exclusively in New York, accounting for both graded races of the Saratoga meet for 3-year-old fillies on turf, the Grade 3 Lake George and Grade 2 Lake Placid. She’s perhaps a bit quicker than her stablemate, having rallied from just off the pace in the Lake George before going wire to wire in the Lake Placid.
Owned by Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, and Robert LaPenta, Shantisara began her career with five starts in France prior to getting three starts for Brown – a runner-up finish in the Boiling Springs at Monmouth Park, followed by rallying triumphs in the Grade 3 Pucker Up at Arlington Park and the $671,000 Jockey Club Oaks last month at Belmont Park.
Brown said he is unlikely to be on hand Saturday, leaving duties instead to his longtime assistant Baldo Hernandez.
Neither Brown filly is expected to move on to face older horses three weeks later in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Brown is already loaded for the two-day Breeders’ Cup, to be run Nov. 5-6 at Del Mar.
Three other Irish-breds are in the QE II lineup, including Empress Josephine, who figures as the top threat to further Brown domination.
Empress Josephine (post 4, John Velazquez), trained by Aidan O’Brien for Coolmore, will be wheeling back on just a week’s rest after getting a 101 Beyer Speed Figure – highest in the QE II field – when finishing third in the First Lady. The quick-back blueprint worked to perfection for O’Brien here 10 years ago, when an Irish-bred named Together won the 2011 QE II after finishing second in the First Lady.
Empress Josephine will be equipped with blinkers for the first time Saturday.
The two remaining Irish-breds are making their stateside debuts. They are Nicest (post 5, Julien Leparoux), an American Pharoah filly trained by O’Brien’s 23-year-old son, Donnacha, and Cloudy Dawn (post 9, Brian Hernandez Jr.), a last-out Group 3 winner in France.
Rounding out the QE II cast are Burning Ambition, Queen Goddess, Lady Speightspeare, Flippant, and Closing Remarks.
Top to bottom, there seems to be quite a bit of speed signed on, and a ruinous pace might work to the benefit of a late runner such as Shantisara, Empress Josephine, or even Flippant.
The QE II is carded as the eighth of 10 races on a Saturday card that starts at 1 p.m. Eastern. Post time for the feature is 4:44 p.m.. The QE II is the middle leg of the $3-minimum Keeneland Turf Pick 3, which also includes races 6 and 10.
Although sunshine and highs in the mid-60s are in the local forecast, there could be some give to the Keeneland turf following the likelihood of Friday rain.
Saturday general admission has been sold out for more than a week as Keeneland continues to limit ontrack attendance to about 20,000 because of the ongoing pandemic.