Brown thinking very highly of Always a Runner ahead of Acorn
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – She has only run three times, but Always a Runner, the Kentucky Oaks winner, has already advanced to near the top of the list of fillies Chad Brown has ever trained.
“She’s one of the best fillies I’ve had with that saddle towel on her,” Brown said.
Brown made that comment after he watched Always a Runner work a half-mile in 48.78 seconds Friday morning over the Oklahoma training track in preparation for a start in the Grade 1 Acorn next Friday at Saratoga. On its face, that final time may not impress, but considering the filly went her opening eighth in 13.90 seconds and got her last quarter in 23.03 while working on her own and without encouragement makes it more impressive.
“She flew home,” Brown said. “Another horse was going ahead of her, so [the exercise rider] let that horse get ahead of him and she broke off a little slow, but she flew home in hand and it wasn’t like he was asking her.
“She continues to impress. This filly’s got unbelievable natural ability. She definitely breaths different air, this horse.”
Always a Runner was able to win the Kentucky Oaks having made just two previous starts – a maiden race at Tampa and a Grade 3 victory in the Gazelle at Aqueduct. She comes into the Acorn, at 1 1/8 miles, still a lightly raced and relatively fresh horse.
“She came out of the Oaks, and I transitioned her into some solo works and she’s just gliding through them in first gear,” Brown said.
The Acorn is coming up a small but select field. As of Thursday, the Acorn field only included Meaning, Counting Stars, and Prom Queen, the second-, third- and fourth-place finishers from the Kentucky Oaks. Prior to the Kentucky Oaks, Meaning won the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks, Counting Stars took the Grade 2 Fantasy at Oaklawn, and Prom Queen won the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks.
On Friday, Counting Stars worked a half-mile in 47 seconds over Saratoga’s main track, the fastest of 16 moves at the distance. Trainer Mark Casse, noting that her most recent workout at Churchill Downs got interrupted by a loose horse on the track, said he wanted a strong work from Counting Starts on Friday morning.
“We let her go ahead and do a little something today,” Casse said. “It looks like she likes it there.”
Casse said Irad Ortiz Jr. will ride Counting Stars. Francisco Arrieta had ridden Counting Stars in her last six starts.
Meanwhile, at Churchill, Prom Queen worked five furlongs in 1:00, the fourth fastest of 19 moves at the distance.
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