Brown running the barn in Saturday stakes

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – In his quest to repeat as the Eclipse Award winner for outstanding trainer, Chad Brown might be able to look back at year’s end and point to this Saturday at Gulfstream Park as when it all started.

Brown has numerous live runners entered on a blockbuster card that includes nine stakes, all but one of them graded. Practical Joke will challenge the favored Irish War Cry when he represents the Brown stable in the day’s highlight, the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth, but even before then, Brown might well have already visited the Gulfstream winner’s circle a few times.

Brown, who won 42 graded stakes in 2016 to earn his first Eclipse, has won three graded stakes this year, all in February at Gulfstream. He has at least one runner in every stakes here Saturday except the Grade 3, $100,000 Fred W. Hooper, for which Greenpointcrusader and Bird Song were the top names expected when entries for the entire card were drawn Wednesday afternoon.

Here’s a look at where Brown stands in those other seven races:

◗ Wake Forest, the winner of the Grade 1 Man o’ War last May at Belmont Park, figures to be favored in the Grade 2, $200,000 Mac Diarmida at 1 3/8 miles on turf.

“He’s doing great,” Brown said early Wednesday from his winter base at the Palm Meadows training center. “Our early goal is to get a couple of races in him and try to win the Man o’ War again.”

Brown said Mr Maybe, the beaten favorite in the recent W.L. McKnight, also was likely for the Mac Diarmida.

◗ Brown seemed particularly enthused about Olorda, who will return from a layoff of more than 10 months in the filly-and-mare counterpart to the Mac Diarmida, the Grade 3, $150,000 The Very One at 1 3/16 miles on turf.

“She’s training fabulous,” he said. “Unfortunately, she came up with a hind-end injury last June and needed extended time off. But she’s come back great, training like herself – or even better.”

◗ Eloquent Riddle, still eligible for a first-level allowance, will return from a 100-day layoff for owner-breeder Juddmonte Farms when she faces Pretty City Dancer in the Grade 2, $200,000 Davona Dale for 3-year-old fillies at a mile.

“The mile off this layoff might be a little far, but I didn’t see anything else for her, and actually, I think we could be okay,” said Brown.

◗ Brown is bypassing the Grade 3, $150,000 Canadian Turf at a mile with Night Prowler in favor of running Projected, a Juddmonte homebred making his U.S. debut and his first start in 18 months.

“I’m very excited to get him started,” said Brown. “He’s a really nice horse, and a gelding now, which I think has really helped him.”

◗ Mizz Money, making her first start for Brown after being purchased in the Keeneland November sale, has a tough assignment, facing Catch a Glimpse in the $100,000 Sand Springs, a one-mile turf race for fillies and mares.

“She’s put together a nice string of works,” said Brown. “I felt like it’s time to get her started. She could be in for a good year.”

◗ Ticonderoga figures as a solid favorite for Brown in the Grade 3, $100,000 Palm Beach at 1 1/16 miles on turf after finishing fourth with a tough trip last November in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

“He got a little freshening after the Breeders’ Cup,” he said. “We were considering just training up to the Transylvania [on April 7 at Keeneland], but he was training so sharp and everything came together quicker than I thought, so I just thought we’d get started here.”

◗ India Mantuana, a recent private acquisition, will make her first start for Brown in the sister race to the Palm Beach, the Grade 3, $100,000 Herecomesthebride. The speedy filly previously was trained by Antonio Sano.

“I like her,” said Brown. “She’s done really well in the mornings. This looks like a logical spot for her.”

In regard to India Mantuana’s running style, Brown said: “We’re not going to change too much. We’ll place her wherever she’s comfortable and take it from there.”