Brown works quartet for Del Mar's Matriarch Stakes

Led by three-time Grade 1 winner Gina Romantica, trainer Chad Brown on Monday at Belmont Park worked the four fillies and mares he intends to run in Sunday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar.

Brown’s quartet for the one-mile Matriarch also includes Child of the Moon, Prerequisite, and Tax Implications. Brown has won the Matriarch four straight years and six of the last seven. Last year, Brown ran 1-2-3-4 with Surge Capacity, Fluffy Socks, Beaute Cachee, and Whitebeam.

Gina Romantica won the Grade 1 First Lady at Keeneland in October and was pre-entered for the Breeders’ Cup Mile, but was not entered due to a quarter crack.

On Monday, Gina Romantica had her third work since that issue, going a half-mile in 49.41 seconds by herself over the training track. Gina Romantica had a worker from another barn – the New York-bred 2-year-old filly maiden winner Mischief Lady – come through on her inside around the turn, but that did not appear to have any impact on the move.

“She breezed great today. She breezed solo. She had a little traffic with another horse there, but she got around it beautifully,” Brown said.

Prerequisite, runner-up in the Athenia Stakes, and Tax Implications, disqualified from third to fourth in the Dance Smartly at Woodbine, worked a half-mile together in 49.74 over the training track.

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Lastly, Child of the Moon, the Athenia winner, worked a half-mile in 49.32, getting her last quarter in 24.79 while working on the inside of the 3-year-old filly Headline Numbers and switching her leads a time or two in the stretch.

Child of the Moon wasn’t originally being pointed to the Matriarch, but Brown said her ownership group, which includes Madaket Stable and Michael Dubb, had another horse, Brisbane, get injured, thus forcing her to miss the Matriarch.

“If the pace is right, she does have a really good turn of foot, I could see her making a really good run in the stretch,” Brown said of Child of the Moon. “The only concern with her is if it’s too short.”

Brown also planned to send the 2-year-old filly Lavender Disaster to Del Mar for Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Jimmy Durante Stakes. After a good-looking debut win, Lavender Disaster was carried out – and eliminated from contention – at the top of the stretch by stablemate Marvelous Madison in the Miss Grillo Stakes on Oct. 6, a race in which Lavender Disaster finished last.

On Sunday, Lavender Disaster worked a half-mile in 49.37, breezing on the inside of Ballerina d’Oro, a maiden winner on turf who is going to try dirt for the first time in the Grade 2 Demoiselle on Dec. 7 at Aqueduct.

Redistricting, who lugged out and was pulled up in last year’s Hollywood Derby, will make a return trip to California for Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Seabiscuit on Saturday. On Sunday, he worked a half-mile in 50.11 in company with the 4-year-old Unit Economics, a recent allowance winner at Aqueduct.

“I wasn’t going to run him out there, but he’s training really good. I want to go back out there again,” Brown said.

In his lone start since the Hollywood Derby, Redistricting finished second, beaten a neck, in the Grade 3 Knickerbocker on Oct. 13 at Aqueduct.

Brown’s horses were all scheduled to fly to California on Tuesday.

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