Brown may run Emerging Market in Louisiana Derby
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Emerging Market, an impressive albeit narrow winner of his debut at Tampa on Feb. 7, could possibly to step into stakes company in the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds on March 21, trainer Chad Brown said Sunday.
Brown said by running in the Louisiana Derby it doesn’t necessarily mean Emerging Market is a Kentucky Derby prospect, and that running a horse in the Kentucky Derby off two career starts “would be a real unorthodox move” for him. Emerging Market could be a Preakness or Belmont Stakes type of horse, according to the trainer.
Emerging Market ran down another first-time starter, Powershift, to win his one mile and 40-yard debut by three-quarters of a length. It was 13 1/2 lengths back to the third-place finisher. Emerging Market earned a 96 Beyer Speed Figure for his debut win.
“He ran like a horse with experience first time out,” Brown said. “He rated, he came around horses, he bumped in the stretch, he stuck his neck out, he really ran well. If you didn’t have the [past performances] in front of you, you wouldn’t have guessed he was a firster.”
Brown won the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds with Paladin, who is on schedule for the Grade 1 Blue Grass at Keeneland on April 4.
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