Brown picks up momentum with three stakes wins
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After a frustrating start to the meet, things are turning around for trainer Chad Brown.
Brown, who started Saratoga with 5 wins and 15 seconds from his first 50 starters, has won nine races from his last 28 runners to move into second place in the standings, two wins behind Mike Maker. During that recent run, Brown earned his 2,000th career victory.
“I thought we had some horses run really well, and unfortunately we got beat in some spots,” Brown said Monday. “That’s racing. And the weather certainly didn’t help us. We had a very wet July that hampered us. Those things happen. Proud of my crew. They stayed the course and we kept focusing on entering the horses in the right spots and horses are starting to find their way into the winner’s circle more often now.”
Brown won three stakes last week: Friday’s Grade 2 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame with Public Sector, Saturday’s $120,000 Lure with Flavius, and Sunday’s $120,000 De La Rose with Regal Glory.
Public Sector, a Great Britain-bred son of Kingman owned by Seth Klarman, received a sweet inside trip under Flavien Prat, won by a length and earned an 88 Beyer Speed Figure. He will likely target the Grade 3, $200,000 Saranac on Sept. 4, Brown said.
Flavius, a 6-year-old son of War Front owned by Juddmonte Farms, was a front-running winner of the Lure. Those tactics were suggested by Prat, who had ridden the horse to a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita earlier this year.
“In California, he thought he had him in good position and he wouldn’t pass another horse,” Brown said. “[Prat] came to the paddock, and he said if it’s okay I might want to let him roll out of there. I said do what you want to do, and he rode a brilliant race and the horse really responded.”
Flavius, who earned a career-best 103 Beyer Speed Figure, will point to the Grade 3, $1 million Mint Million Mile, formerly the Tourist Mile, which Flavius won last year. That race is Sept. 6 at Kentucky Downs.
On Sunday, Regal Glory showed a powerful turn of foot to get up in the final jump to win the De La Rose by a half-length. She equaled her career best with a 96 Beyer Speed Figure.
“She was impressive,” Brown said. “It looked like she had a little too much to do late in the race and she showed a lot of heart to get up in time. I’m proud of her effort.”
The Grade 1 First Lady at Keeneland in early October is Regal Glory’s long-term goal.
Perhaps the most meaningful victory to Brown over the weekend was the maiden score Sunday by the 2-year-old filly McKulick. Brown named that daughter of Frankel after Mary McKulick, the first employee Brown hired when he went out on his own after leaving the employ of Bobby Frankel at the end of 2007. Mary McKulick died last fall due to lung cancer shortly after she retired.
“She was my right hand, really close friend of mine,” Brown said. “Worked hand in hand with me every step, building the company from when we started with 10 horses and maybe five or six employees. Through the years, she was instrumental helping me build the company, somebody I really relied on and trusted as much as someone could trust someone.”
Brown said he asked owner Seth Klarman if he could name a 2-year-old after McKulick, and it turned out to be a daughter of Frankel.
McKulick won a 1 1/16-mile maiden race by 1 1/2 lengths and earned a 73 Beyer Speed Figure.
“It’s really a great moment when things work out that way,” Brown said. “She’s a nice horse. Hopefully, she goes on and wins some significant races and carries on Mary’s legacy.”