Brown might work Kathynmarissa at Keeneland in advance of BC Filly and Mare Turf
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ELMONT, N.Y. - Kathynmarissa emerged from her three-quarter-length victory in Thursday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Flower Bowl Stakes in good order, trainer Chad Brown said Friday morning. Brown is toying with the idea of shipping Kathynmarissa to Keeneland early enough to get one workout over that turf course prior to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Oct. 31.
“I’m thinking about that,” Brown said Friday in his Belmont Park office. “Normally, I always do everything here, but I’m still in transition here. The track’s good, the facility’s great, and if the race was anywhere other than Keeneland I would do all my work here. This year, with Keeneland being sort of convenient - I have a barn there - it’s not a normal Breeders’ Cup situation where I don’t have a barn, like in California. There’s a chance I could get her over there and give her a work over that turf course.”
Kathynmarissa gave Brown a ninth victory in the Flower Bowl. He hopes Kathynmarissa can give him a fifth Filly and Mare Turf. She will try to duplicate what Stephanie’s Kitten did in 2015, winning the Flower Bowl at Belmont and the Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland.
Though the Flower Bowl was run four days later than scheduled due to a nor’easter that postponed last weekend’s programs, Brown doesn’t feel that will inhibit her preparation for the race.
“The rescheduling of the race costs us a few days of time to recover, but the result was good so I’m not going to complain about it,” Brown said. “At the end of the day, if she wins or loses the Breeders’ Cup, I don’t now that it’s going to be dependent on those four days. She’s going to have to show up and run another big one and she’s going to have to do it on four days less rest.”
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Kathynmarissa earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure for her Flower Bowl win.
Brown also won Thursday’s Grade 3 Winter Memories with Shelzawa, who beat Sister Troienne by three-quarters of a length for her third consecutive win. That was Shelzawa’s sixth race this year. Brown said he thinks Shelzawa could have a big 4-year-old year and he’s not sure whether to run her in a race like the Grade 3 Pebbles on Nov. 21 or give her a break and point to a 4-year-old campaign.
Shelzawa earned an 86 Beyer Speed Figure.
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