Brown set to put exclamation point on huge year

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It has been a career year for trainer Chad Brown, who has recorded personal bests in wins, graded stakes wins, and purse earnings. The 36-year-old conditioner looks to put a ribbon on a magnificent 2015 when he sends out top contenders in three of the four graded stakes being run Saturday at Aqueduct.

Brown will have the continually improving Matrooh in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile; Gift Box and Flexibility in the Grade 2, $300,000 Remsen; and Lewis Bay, the potential favorite, in the Grade 2, $300,000 Demoiselle. Brown would have had the likely favorite in the Grade 3 Comely Stakes but did not enter Delightful Joy after that filly developed a temperature Tuesday.

Brown came into the last week of November with 192 victories – including 31 graded stakes wins and nine Grade 1s – and $19,299,417 in purse money won. He is second only to Todd Pletcher ($24,800,216) in purse money won and ranks sixth in North America in wins. This after a 2014 in which Brown won 147 races, 17 graded stakes, and $15.3 million in purses.

Brown credited his staff and “the right group of horses” for his stable’s success this year.

“As a team, we’re real proud,” he said.

Brown’s success has come primarily on turf, but the quality of his dirt horses has improved. Matrooh, who before this year raced in England, has won 4 of 6 starts for Brown, including the Grade 3 Bold Ruler Handicap here Oct. 31. Matrooh, owned by Shadwell Stable, is 4 for 4 in races run around one turn. Matrooh is a 5-year-old gelding out of the dam Rockcide, who is a half-sister to Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide, who, like Matrooh, is by Distorted Humor.

“I thought he would stretch out over time and be effective as a graded-stakes-level horse going long,” Brown said. “Just through trial and error, we learned his best races were one turn. I’m a little surprised we ended up in this spot, cutting back a bit, but I’m not surprised at the class level he’s reaching because he always trained like a horse with a ton of ability.”

Matrooh will be taking on his toughest group to date in the Cigar Mile, which attracted Grade 1 winners Private Zone, Tonalist, and Mshawish, who is trying dirt for the first time. Those three horses will be running for the winner’s share of a $750,000 purse. Matrooh, Marking, Red Vine, and Full of Mine will be running for the winner’s share of a $500,000 purse.

Matrooh will break from post 4 under Irad Ortiz Jr. and 116 pounds, eight fewer than Tonalist (post 5) and seven fewer than Private Zone, the defending Cigar Mile winner who breaks from post 7.

Marking, who has won both of his starts, was entered but is not certain to run, according to trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. He drew the rail.

The Cigar Mile will go as race 9 on a 10-race card that begins at 11:50 a.m. Eastern.

Brown won last year’s Remsen Stakes with Leave the Light On, and this year he has probable second choice Gift Box and Flexibility in the field. In his second start, Gift Box won a 1 1/16-mile maiden race by a nose over Matt King Coal on Oct. 3 at Belmont Park, and it was 18 lengths back to the third-place finisher. Matt King Coal came back to win a maiden race last Sunday by nine lengths.

Brown, by design, waited to run Gift Box in the 1 1/8-mile Remsen.

“We always thought a lot of this horse,” Brown said. “He’s had two starts and is developing nicely. He’s a horse that continues to improve, and I think he’ll enjoy going a little further than we’ve been running him.”

Gift Box, who drew post 6 in a nine-horse field, likely will be the second choice behind Mohaymen, the winner of the Grade 2 Nashua. Flexibility, a New York-bred by Bluegrass Cat, finished second in the Nashua and is another whom Brown believes will relish two turns.

Others entered in the Remsen, which goes as the fifth race, are Donegal Moon, Sail Ahoy, Ravenheart, Hunter O’Riley, Runaway King, and Marengo Road.

In the 1 1/8-mile Demoiselle, the Brown-trained Lewis Bay could be favored over six rivals, including a trio of runners from Pletcher’s barn. Lewis Bay, a daughter of Bernardini, is coming off a six-length victory going seven furlongs Oct. 18.

“We’ll have to see how she handles the two turns,” Brown said. “That will be the question for her. I’m confident she will, but I need to see it.”

Flora Dora won the My Dear Girl division of the Florida Sire Stakes as a maiden and finished second in the Grade 3 Tempted. She breaks from the rail, while Lewis Bay drew post 2.

Outside of them are Thrilled, Mo D’Amour, Lost Raven, Invite, and Disco Rose.

Brown’s stellar 2015 likely will land him a spot as a finalist for the Eclipse Award as North America’s top trainer for the second straight year. Last year, he lost out to Pletcher, who has won the award seven times. This year, he is likely to lose out to Bob Baffert, who trained American Pharoah, the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.

“We were disappointed that we didn’t get the Eclipse Award last year, but we just moved on,” Brown said.

Brown will have plenty to look forward to in 2016, with several promising 3-year-old colts and perhaps the return of his stable star, Lady Eli, the undefeated 3-year-old filly who will rejoin his Palm Meadows barn this weekend after overcoming laminitis.

“Thankfully, it looks like she’s going to be okay,” Brown said. “Considering we lost arguably the star of the stable midway through the summer and still had a big year goes to show you the depth of our stable, which I’m very grateful for.”