Brown triple tough as he seeks fourth straight Just a Game

ELMONT, N.Y. – An interesting battle of barn mates is on tap in Saturday’s Grade 1 Just a Game when the speedy Newspaperofrecord faces the late-running champion Uni in the one-mile turf race for females at Belmont Park.

Both Newspaperofrecord and Uni are trained by Chad Brown, who also send outs Regal Glory as he looks to win his fourth consecutive Just a Game.

Uni, the champion female turf horse of 2019, will be making her first start since she beat Got Stormy and 11 males in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita last Nov. 2.

Uni missed some time during the spring with a minor splint issue but she has been training for three weeks with Sistercharlie, the 2018 female turf champion.

“This will probably be her most challenging race first off the layoff,” Brown said. “She’s maybe a work or two shorter than I normally would have prepared her, but she worked and more than hung around with a champion on Sunday, so everything should be fine.”

Uni, who will break from post 6 under Joel Rosario, has a devastating turn of foot that has helped her win 10 of 18 career starts and seven of eight over the last two seasons.

“She’s not very big, but she’s extremely talented with the best turn of foot of any horse I’ve ever trained,” Brown said. “We’ve had some really good ones and nobody was quicker than her.”

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Newspaperofrecord was dominant at 2 but disappointing last year at 3. She came off a 13-month layoff to win the Grade 3 Intercontinental Stakes by four lengths here on June 6. She is coming back three weeks off a career-best effort and must stretch out to a mile over what is expected to be firm ground. Her best races have come on ground with give in it.

“I think a mile is well within her range,” Brown said. “I just don’t see firm turf as a problem, I really don’t. I think it’s circumstantial that all of her better races have come on soft. . . . There aren’t a lot of opportunities only going a mile or shorter that are meaningful races. We need to give it a shot. I’m confident she’s going to run another good race.”

Regal Glory has run her best races at a mile, winning last year’s Lake George and Penn Oaks, races restricted to 3-year-olds. She did run a career-best Beyer Speed Figure when second to Newspaperofrecord in the Intercontinental.

“She’s taking a huge step up in class,” Brown said. “Even if she were to get a piece of it, her value would increase. She was gaining on Newspaperofrecord, albeit into a really fast pace.”

Beau Recall finished second to the Brown-trained Rushing Fall in last year’s Just a Game. She came out of that race to win the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon at Del Mar before finishing second in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive at Del Mar.

In her lone start this year, Beau Recall finished ninth, but was beaten only 2 1/4 lengths, in the Grade 3 Mint Julep at Churchill Downs on May 30.

“Last race, she didn’t get to do a whole lot of running,” trainer Brad Cox said. “She was trapped inside, never got a clear run down the lane. I’m hoping she’ll get a clean trip. She’ll have to move forward.”

Beau Recall will break from the rail under Jose Ortiz, who won on the mare the only other time he rode her, in the 2019 New Orleans Ladies at Fair Grounds.

Got Stormy beat Uni in last year’s Fourstardave Handicap. She is winless in three starts this year, including a six-length loss to Rushing Fall in the Grade 3 Beaugay here on June 3. Got Stormy was taken out of her game that day, chasing the loose-on-the-lead Rushing Fall.

She figures to get a more patient trip on Saturday under Luis Saez.

Valedictorian, winner of the Grade 3 Eatontown at Monmouth last year, and Zofelle, third in the Grade 3 Mint Julep last out, complete the field.

The Just a Game goes as race 10 on an 11-race card and is the last of four stakes that includes the Grade 2 New York, Grade 2 True North, and the Grade 3 Vagrancy Handicap.