Brown looking forward to getting Feedback restarted

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – They’ll be back in dribs and drabs, these graded stakes winners that Chad Brown has stashed away a little north of Gulfstream Park.

Although some won’t make their 2020 debut until later at this championship meet, and some won’t even resurface until Keeneland or Belmont Park in the spring, the first one is here: Feedback, who will be heavily favored at Gulfstream on Sunday when she faces five other filly-mare sprinters in the 10th of 11 races, a $52,000 second-level allowance at 6 1/2 furlongs.

“I’m happy to finally have her back in a race,” said Brown, who is widely expected to be honored with his fourth straight Eclipse Award for outstanding trainer when the 49th annual awards dinner is held Jan. 23 at Gulfstream.

Feedback, a 4-year-old Violence filly, has not raced since incurring her only defeat in the Beaumont Stakes at Keeneland in April. She looked so good in winning her only two prior starts – an August 2018 maiden race at Saratoga and the Grade 3 Forward Gal here last February – that she was among the 23 separately listed fillies in the 2019 Kentucky Oaks Future Wager last March, closing at 20-1.

Alas, Feedback “was sick for a long time and needed to be turned out” following the Beaumont, said Brown.

After returning to light training in mid-summer at Saratoga, Feedback has been on a steady breeze schedule since early September and will make her comeback Sunday with 14 works under her – seven at Saratoga, three at Belmont, and most recently four at the Palm Meadows training center.

“She’s training very well,” said Brown. “Hopefully this allowance race sets her up for a big year in stakes company.”

Unlike at other major tracks, Brown never has contended for a training title at Gulfstream, owing to so few starts. For Brown, custom-planning a few winter months of relative quiet has worked exceedingly well.

Buoyed largely by a career-high 54 graded stakes wins, Brown’s stable earnings in 2019 were more than $31.1 million, an all-time record. And even with the expected Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar having been retired, there are plenty of candidates being primed to fill the void. Aside from his year-round stable in New York and layups at other venues, Brown has barnfuls of runners in Florida in various states of readiness this winter at Palm Meadows in Boynton Beach and Payson Park in Indiantown.

Besides Feedback, Brown also will be represented here Sunday by Motivated Seller, an Into Mischief filly who is one of a number of highly promising first-time starters in race 4, a $50,000 maiden-special at six furlongs. The race is loaded with 3-year-old fillies with big-time pedigrees and connections, including Token (by Curlin), Prairie Wings (by Tapit), and She Throws Heat (by Honor Code).

A second maiden-special (race 6) for 3-year-old fillies Sunday leads off the Rainbow 6, which spans races 6-11 and was expected to offer a $2.5 million pool guarantee, assuming the jackpot was not swept Friday or Saturday. This one-mile race also is a deep one, with the $1.05 million yearling purchase Spice Is Nice making her career debut. Trained by Todd Pletcher, she faces Jeweled Princess and Loaded, both of whom were second going a mile at Churchill Downs in their last start.

After Sunday, Gulfstream goes dark for two days before a six-day week begins Wednesday. Racing will be held here next Monday (Jan. 20) because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Omaha Beach in routine gallop

As the Gulfstream racing office continues to gauge horsemen’s interest in the Jan. 25 Pegasus World Cup, likely favorite Omaha Beach was sent through a routine gallop here Friday with trainer Richard Mandella watching.

Omaha Beach went about 1 3/8 miles under exercise rider Tyler Cambra and is on schedule for his first local breeze Sunday or Monday, Mandella reiterated. The 4-year-old colt arrived here four days after dominating the Dec. 26 Malibu at Santa Anita and has been in light training due partly because he has a bruise in his left front hoof.

Omaha Beach is one of at least seven confirmed starters for the $3 million Pegasus, with the others being Higher Power, Mr Freeze, Seeking the Soul, Spun to Run, Tax, and Diamond Oops. Several more older horses from a nominations list of 17 are under consideration for the 1 1/8-mile race, including Magic Wand, the star Coolmore mare who has the $1 million Pegasus Turf as an alternate spot.

◗ The Sunshine Millions will be renewed next Saturday (Jan. 18) with no changes to the format from recent years. Four races, all for Florida-breds, worth a total of $600,000 will comprise the series, which had far grander designs when it offered millions in purses at Gulfstream and Santa Anita in 2003. Entries for the $200,000 Classic, $150,000 Turf, $150,000 Filly and Mare Turf, and $100,000 Sprint will be drawn Wednesday.