Brown has ‘A' rating in Beverly D.

Of all the mighty feats Chad Brown has pulled off in his rise to training supremacy within the last decade, none is more pronounced than his domination of the Beverly D.

Brown has won the Grade 1 turf race a record five times – including an unprecedented sweep of the last four runnings – and appears to bring a decisive edge to suburban Chicago when seeking yet another triumph with Sistercharlie and two others in the 30th running of the $600,000 Beverly D.

“This is one of the highlights of my year,” Brown said earlier this week from Saratoga. “Fortunately, it looks like we’re bringing horses that look like they fit very well.”

Sistercharlie, with John Velazquez riding from post 7, will be joined in the Arlington Park starting gate by stablemates Competitionofideas (post 3, Javier Castellano) and Thais (post 8, Irad Ortiz Jr.). Last year, Velazquez guided Sistercharlie to a half-length score as Brown trainees Fourstar Crook and Thais completed a sweep of the top three placings.

Sistercharlie is listed as the 8-5 favorite for the 1 3/16-mile Beverly D. on the Arlington morning line, although with a Beyer Speed Figure of 101 or higher in each of her last six races, she might well be odds-on by post time of 4:53 p.m. Central. The 5-year-old Irish-bred mare clinched a divisional Eclipse Award by winning the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf in her only 2018 start following the Beverly D., and recently returned from a layoff of more than eight months by capturing the Grade 1 Diana on July 13 at Saratoga.

Last year, Sistercharlie won the Beverly D. three weeks after the Diana. This year, with the Saratoga meet having started a week earlier, the time between races is four weeks.

“It’s nice to have that extra week for her,” said Brown. “She’s trained really well since the Diana, bounced out of it in great shape. I’m very happy with her.”

Once again, the Beverly D. serves as a Win and You’re In toward the BC Filly and Mare Turf, to be run Nov. 2 at Santa Anita.

Sistercharlie, like longshot Thais, is owned by Peter Brant. The primary reason Thais was entered is to assure an honest pace to facilitate the late kick of Sistercharlie, said Brown.

Competitionofideas, owned by the Klaravich Stables of Seth Klarman, has finished second in all three of her starts this year, the most recent being the July 20 Matchmaker at Monmouth Park.

“I really like this distance for her,” said Brown.“There wasn’t much else coming up that fit our schedule with her.”

Just how heavy a favorite Sistercharlie depends partly on the decision made by Coolmore and trainer Aidan O’Brien as to whether Magic Wand (post 6, Wayne Lordan) remains in the Beverly D. or starts in the Arlington Million, for which the 4-year-old filly is cross-entered. Apart from her status, which was to be decided as late as Friday, Coolmore and O’Brien still have a primary challenger to the Brown trio in Fleeting (post 1, Ryan Moore), who will try to become just the second 3-year-old filly to win the Beverly D., following Euro Charline (2014).

Magic Wand has won just twice in 16 career starts but has run very well in all three starts in America, including a runner-up finish behind Million favorite Bricks and Mortar in the Pegasus World Cup Turf in January.

Fleeting has competed exclusively in group company in the United Kingdom and most recently was runner-up in the Group 1 Irish Oaks at The Curragh just three Saturdays ago.

Rounding out the lineup are Awesometank (post 2, Florent Geroux), Oh So Terrible (post 4, Jose Valdivia Jr.), and Remember Daisy (post 5, Mitchell Murrill).

Prior to Sistercharlie, Brown’s previous Beverly D. winners were Stacelita (2011), Watsdachances (by disqualification in 2015), Sea Calisi (2016), and Dacita (2017). Each of the five had a different jockey.

Part of Brown’s affinity for the Beverly D. stems from his years working under the late Bobby Frankel, who was a visitor here most every August. Frankel won the Beverly D. with Possibly Perfect (1995) and Heat Haze (2003).

“My mentor would really look forward to this weekend, and I feel the same way about it,” said Brown, who is scheduled to arrive here sometime in the early afternoon Saturday via the same charter plane transporting several jockeys from Saratoga. “I’ve had some great horses to work with and things really seem to work out well when we come in there.”

The Beverly D., the ninth of 12 Saturday races, is named for the late wife of longtime Arlington chairman and recent Hall of Fame inductee Richard L. Duchossois. Seven of its winners have gone on to earn the divisional Eclipse that same year.