Brown has two big shots to take another Flower Bowl

ELMONT, N.Y. – Though he won two of the five runnings of the Flower Bowl held at Saratoga, trainer Chad Brown is quite happy the Grade 2 turf stakes for females is returning to Belmont Park.

At Belmont, where the Flower Bowl is run at 1 1/4 miles around two turns – instead of 1 3/8 miles around three turns at Saratoga – Brown has won the race six times. Thursday, he’ll seek to add to his Flower Bowl totals when he sends out Kathynmarissa and Cathedral in the $500,000 race that offers a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Oct. 31 at Keeneland.

The Flower Bowl, originally scheduled for last Saturday but postponed due to a nor’easter, will go as the final race on an eight-race card that begins at 2:10 p.m. Thursday.

Brown prefers the configuration of the Flower Bowl at Belmont because it better replicates the BC Filly and Mare Turf, a race he has won four times. At Keeneland, the Filly and Mare Turf will be run at 1 3/16 miles.

With victories in the Grade 1 Diana and Grade 3 Modesty this year, Kathynmarissa has established herself as one of North America’s top candidates for the Breeders’ Cup. Brown gave her a freshening following the Diana and has liked the way she has trained since getting going again.

“She’s doing really well. I couldn’t be more pleased with her training. She’s doing terrific,” Brown said.

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Kathynmarissa is 0 for 4 at 1 1/4 miles, though she has twice finished second at the distance, including once to the champion She Feels Pretty.

“I don’t think it’s an issue. I like the distance for her,” Brown said.

Cathedral will be making her first start for Brown after beginning her career with Ralph Beckett and then moving to Kevin Phillipart De Foy. Cathedral finished fourth at 90-1 in last year’s FiIly and Mare Turf, beaten 1 3/4 lengths by Gezora. In her most recent start, Cathedral finished fourth, 4 1/2 lengths behind Kathynmarissa, in the Diana.

The re-draw of the Flower Bowl didn’t help Cathedral much, as she went from post 11 to post 10.

“She trains like a good horse,” Brown said of Cathedral. “Obviously, it’s a division that I’ve done very well in through the years, and she definitely fits. She’s settled into our program really well and from what I’ve seen, I really like the filly but she does have a tough draw.”

Had the Flower Bowl been run over the weekend, Sunlit Uplands may have had an edge as she had proven form over yielding or soft turf. Still, she ran a winning race in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa run over firm ground in August at Saratoga, where she was beaten just a neck by And One More Time, who did carry Sunlit Uplands out in the stretch. The stewards dismissed an objection from jockey John Velazquez, though they did give winning rider Javier Castellano a three-day suspension for his ride.

“A lot of the American commentators said we were very unlucky not to get the race in the stewards’ room,” trainer Stuart Williams said. “But she’s taken to life on the American tracks very well. We’re very happy with her.”

Sunlit Uplands has yet to run beyond 1 1/16 miles, but Williams has no concern about the added distance.

“We’ve always felt that was well within her comfort,” he said. “She’s always been a strong finisher over the mile, and we’re looking forward to trying her a new trip.”

James Doyle was originally named to ride Sunlit Uplands. He will now be ridden by Rossa Ryan, who did win the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on Starlust at Del Mar in a previous trip to the United States.

Fionn was a four-time graded stakes winner last year, including the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks, but is winless in two starts this year. Gezora, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner, finished second to Kathynmarissa in the Modesty but was a non-factor in both the Grade 1 New York and Grade 2 Glens Falls.

Evershed ran down Storm Miami to win the Grade 3 Waya on Aug. 28 at Saratoga. Esna, a 3-year-old filly trained by Brian Meehan, is coming off a runner-up finish in a Group 3 stakes going one mile at Deauville. Silvology finished sixth in the Waya.

My Favorite Memory, entered in multiple spots over the weekend, will run in the Flower Bowl after she had been entered in an allowance race for Sunday that was scrapped and not brought back.

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