Brown starts year strong, with more on the horizon

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – Chad Brown already has won 24 races the first two months of the year, and his runners have earned more than $3.8 million, second among trainers to Michael McCarthy, whose City of Light won the Pegasus World Cup. He has had plenty of action so far, most notably winning the inaugural Pegasus World Cup Turf with Bricks and Mortar, and Brown’s deep stable is about to flex its considerable muscle.

Horses like Sistercharlie, the champion turf female of last year, and Newspaperofrecord – both winners of Breeders’ Cup races last fall – are progressing toward 2019 debuts. With those two, Bricks and Mortar, Raging Bull, Robert Bruce, and numerous others, Brown looks well stocked to go after his fourth straight Eclipse Award as champion trainer.

At the Palm Meadows training center here Friday morning, Brown outlined the plans for those horses and several others in his barn, and provided updates on horses who will be coming back later in the year, like Grade 1 winners Uni and Wow Cat.

Not everything has gone to perfection, though. Brown on Friday said that Patternrecognition, the Grade 1 Cigar Mile winner who stopped and finished last of 12 in the Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 26, has been retired.

“He didn’t come out of the Pegasus the right way,” Brown said of the 6-year-old son of Adios Charlie. “We’re actively seeking stallion deals for him.”

The depth of Brown’s barn is best illustrated by the fact that A Raving Beauty, Beach Patrol, Fourstar Crook, New Money Honey, and Off Limits – all Grade 1 grass winners – were retired to the breeding shed at the end of last year, but he’s got plenty in reserve for this season, plus an influx of European imports who have yet to race in this country.

Newspaperofrecord, the unbeaten winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, has commenced a work pattern designed to have her ready for the Grade 3, $250,000 Edgewood at Churchill Downs on May 3, Brown said.

Brown said that a report from England, widely disseminated in the United States, that quoted a representative of Royal Ascot claiming Newspaperofrecord was a definite go for Royal Ascot was not correct.

“I had a nice visit with their representatives when they were here recently, but in no way did we commit to Royal Ascot,” Brown said.

Brown said the New York Racing Association’s newly announced Turf Tiara, beginning with the Grade 1, $750,000 Belmont Oaks at 1 1/4 miles on July 6, appeals if Newspaperofrecord can stretch out that far, “and I think she can,” Brown said.

Sistercharlie, who won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, is pointing to the Grade 1, $350,000 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland on April 13 for her first start this year, Brown said. He said that Rushing Fall, last seen winning the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Keeneland, also is on target for the Jenny Wiley.

Bricks and Mortar, the Pegasus Turf winner, is scheduled to make his next start in the Grade 2, $300,000 Mervin Muniz at Fair Grounds on March 23. Brown said he’d like to use that race to move Bricks and Mortar along to the Grade 1, $1 million Old Forester Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day, May 4.

Raging Bull, winner of the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar in his final start last year, is slotted to return in the Grade 1, $300,000 Maker’s 46 Mile at Keeneland on April 12, Brown said.

He said that Robert Bruce, last year’s Arlington Million winner, has the Grade 1, $1 million Manhattan on Belmont Stakes Day, June 8, as his first major target, following a prep in the Grade 3, $150,000 Fort Marcy on May 4.

The 3-year-old Standard Deviation, second to Global Campaign in an allowance race at Gulfstream on Feb. 9, is not going to be pushed to make the Kentucky Derby. “He seems more suited to the Belmont, if he’s good enough,” Brown said.

Uni and Wow Cat are longer-term projects, but both 5-year-old mares have remained in training this year.

Uni closed her 2018 campaign with a victory in the Grade 1 Matriarch at Del Mar, but “wasn’t quite right after that race,” Brown said.

“She’s just begun some really light training in Ocala,” Brown said. “We’re going to target races in the summer.”

Wow Cat, a fast-finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff after winning the Grade 1 Beldame, “needed time off after the Breeders’ Cup to clean up her front ankles,” Brown said.

“She needs a little more time than we anticipated. We’ll point for the second half of the year, with our eye on the Breeders’ Cup.”