Brown, McGaughey double down in wide-open Hill Prince
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainers Chad Brown and Shug McGaughey both send out two contenders in a seemingly wide-open renewal of the Grade 2, $300,000 Hill Prince Stakes for 3-year-olds on turf Saturday at Aqueduct.
Brown sends out Unanimous Consent and Mackinnon while McGaughey bookends the field with Celestial City from the rail and Limited Liability stuck on the outside in a 10-horse field.
Unanimous Consent won his first three starts, including the Woodhaven Stakes at Aqueduct in April. After he finished fourth in the Grade 2 Pennine Ridge, Unanimous Consent got sick and missed a good portion of the summer. He returned from a three-month layoff with a fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Virginia Derby, missing second by two necks, on Sept. 6 at Colonial Downs.
“It was his first race back, probably a little short. It came up a fast race,” Brown said. “Hopefully, he’ll move forward. It should be a pretty good distance for him.”
Manny Franco rides Unanimous Consent from post 8.
Mackinnon is a recent addition to the Brown barn. Previously trained by Doug O’Neill, Mackinnon went 3 for 6 as a 2-year-old with a third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. He is 0 for 3 this year, most recently finishing sixth, beaten 2 3/4 lengths in the Del Mar Derby.
Brown said the ownership group, which includes Little Red Feather Racing and Madaket Stables, wanted to move the horse to the East Coast where there are more opportunities.
“The horse came in in fine shape from Doug and we’ll see what we can do with him,” Brown said. “I know this was a race they were looking at.”
Flavien Prat rides from post 7.
Limited Liability has twice finished in front of Unanimous Consent this year, most recently by a neck in the Virginia Derby. Limited Liability was last early on in that race and had to squeeze between horses in the stretch and was beaten just 2 1/4 lengths by Capensis.
“I was a little disappointed in his race there,” McGaughey said. “I’m not sure if this race will suit him either because of pace, but it is the next logical spot.”
Limited Liability will break from post 10 under Jose Ortiz.
Celestial City has shown improvement in two starts since getting blinkers. He finished in a dead heat for second behind Annapolis in the Saranac at Saratoga. Annapolis came back to win the Grade 1 Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland. Celestial City came back to win an allowance here by a head on Sept. 24.
Jose Lezcano rides from the rail.
Trainer Neil Drysdale will send out St Anthony, a gelding by Noble Mission who won a stakes at Santa Rosa in August and who most recently was fourth in the Gun Runner Stakes at Kentucky Downs going a mile.
“He ran well at Kentucky Downs. It was speed favoring that day. Horses in front of him were one-two-three all the way around,” Drysdale said. “He was the only horse to make up ground and he didn’t break that well.”
Javier Castellano rides from post 5.
Grand Sonata, Constitutionlawyer, Nantasket Beach, and Wicked Fast complete the field.
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