Brown has strong hand for New York Showcase Day

ELMONT, N.Y. – Even on New York Showcase Day, trainer Chad Brown looks tough to beat.

Brown will have runners in just three of the eight stakes for New York-breds on Saturday, but he will be live in all three.

In the $300,000 Empire Classic, the richest race on the 11-race program, Brown will send out the multiple-stakes-winning 3-year-old Twisted Tom in a nine-horse field. Twisted Tom has won five of his last six starts, the lone defeat being a sixth-place finish in the Belmont Stakes.

Twisted Tom will take on a trio of runners from trainer Rudy Rodriguez: Royal Posse, Control Group, and Becker’s Galaxy.

Naturally, Brown will have runners in both of the turf stakes. In the $200,000 Mohawk, which drew seven, he will send out Offering Plan and Nevisian Sky. Offering Plan will be running back just two weeks after finishing seventh in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland.

In the $200,000 Ticonderoga for females, which drew nine, Brown has the uncoupled entry of Fifty Five and Ancient Secret. Fifty Five, a supplemental entrant, has placed in multiple graded stakes, while Ancient Secret is still trying to regain her graded-stakes-winning form from a year ago.

In other stakes on Saturday:

◗ The sisters Jcs Shooting Star and Jcs American Dream square off in a field of nine entered in the $250,000 Empire Distaff.

◗ Weekend Hideaway, Celtic Chaos, and the talented 3-year-old T Loves a Fight are part of a 10-horse field in a competitive renewal of the $150,000 Hudson at 6 1/2 furlongs.

◗ Picco Uno, who has won her last five sprint races, will take on Quezon and Royal Inheritance in the $150,000 Iroquois.

◗ Battle Station, a 9 1/4-length winner of the Bertram Bongard Stakes, will be the horse to beat in a field of 11 2-year-olds in the $250,000 Sleepy Hollow.

◗ Held Accountable, Pure Silver, and Newport Breeze head a field of eight entered in the $250,000 Maid of the Mist Stakes for 2-year-old fillies.

First post Saturday is 12:25 p.m. Eastern.

King Kreesa, Kharafa sidelined

The New York-bred turf stalwarts King Kreesa and Kharafa will be conspicuous by their absence from the New York Showcase Day program.

King Kreesa, who won the Mohawk in 2013 and has run in it three times, is sidelined with a foot abscess, trainer Linda Rice said. Rice said she believes the plan is for King Kreesa to return as a 9-year-old.

Kharafa, the winner of the 2014 Mohawk, recently underwent surgery to remove a knee chip. Trainer Tim Hills said Kharafa should be able to resume training in January and will be brought back to race at 9.