Brown takes two shots at fifth Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup win

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Chad Brown will be seeking to extend his own record for wins by a trainer in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup when represented here Saturday by McKulick and Dolce Zel in the final Grade 1 race of the fall meet.

Brown already has four wins in the QE II, a 1 1/8-mile turf race expected to get a sizable field when entries were drawn Wednesday. At least 10 3-year-old fillies will start in the $600,000 race, with Pizza Bianca, winner of the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar, one of the other likely favorites. The full roster of invitees is Bellabel, Cairo Memories, California Angel, Dolce Zel, McKulick, New Year’s Eve, Paris Peacock, Pizza Bianca, Skims, and Vergara.

Brown added to his record total in the First Lady last Saturday when In Italian gave him his fifth straight win in the Grade 1 race and sixth overall.

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Isolate is privately sold

Isolate, a winner of two sprint stakes this year, including the restricted Tale of the Cat at Saratoga in August with a 100 Beyer Speed Figure, is not in contention for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint after recently being sold to private interests in Saudi Arabia, according to Tom Amoss, who formerly trained the 4-year-old colt.

Isolate, a Florida-bred by Mark Valeski, won six of 12 starts after being purchased for $70,000 by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing as a weanling in 2018. His latest race resulted in a nose defeat in the Sept. 17 Louisville Thoroughbred Society at Churchill Downs.

* Kimari, headed for a clash with the boys in the Nov. 5 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, went an easy five furlongs Monday morning at Keeneland in 1:03 in her first work since she won the Sept. 25 Gallant Bloom at Aqueduct with a career-high 106 Beyer. Wesley Ward trains the 5-year-old mare for a partnership that includes the Coolmore group.

* Nest, the runaway leader of the 3-year-old filly division, was scheduled to leave New York by van Wednesday and arrive here Thursday ahead of her next start in the Nov. 5 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, trainer Todd Pletcher said Monday. Irad Ortiz Jr. rides the Curlin filly for a three-way partnership led by Eclipse Thoroughbreds.

* Just as with the first Saturday of the meet, this coming Saturday will be followed in the evening by the University of Kentucky hosting another college football game at nearby Kroger Field. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. as the Wildcats host Mississippi State.

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