Browning calms down
L
OCEANPORT, N.J. - An attitude adjustment has Browning moving in the right direction for trainer Tim Hills.
The 3-year-old Browning makes her second straight appearance on turf Thursday in the $40,000 first-level allowance feature for fillies and mares at Monmouth Park.
Browning has the outside post in the eight-horse field going five furlongs. Elvis Trujillo has the return call on the filly, who earned a career-best 78 Beyer Speed Figure last time out in a second-place finish.
From the start of her career, Browning has been a handful.
"She's always had the pedigree of a distance horse and the mind of a sprinter," Hills said. "She's a very aggressive horse, training and running."
After earning one win in her first four starts, all sprints, Browning was given more ground in a mile and 70-yard allowance race at Monmouth on June 21. Browning set the pace before fading to fifth, beaten 15 1/4 lengths in an experiment that didn't pan out.
It was time to regroup.
"After that race, we decided to concentrate on getting her to calm down in her training," Hills said. "We did a lot of jogging the wrong way on the track, very little breezing or galloping the right way. We schooled her in the paddock several times."
The low-key approach had the desired effect.
"In her last race, she was perfect in the paddock," Hills said. "She never acted up but she was always really wired, always on it. When she got behind the gate, I was watching her and she was standing by herself watching the other horses load without a pony. She stood like a statue and watched very calmly as everybody loaded. I figured she was going to run well, and she did."
Browning could get another favorable pace scenario. As in the last race, Browning has an outside post while Songandapsalm, who can really motor through the early fractions, again breaks to her inside. David Cohen again has the task of trying to ration Songandapsalm's speed for trainer Terri Pompay.
May Explode adds Lasix for owner-breeder-trainer Henry Carroll, who beat Browning last time out with How Bout Tonight. May Explode is a daughter of Smoke Glacken, Carroll's Eclipse Award-winning sprinter in 1997.
Louie Rivera Jr. has the return call.
Trainer Alan Goldberg equips Parquet with blinkers following a pair of thirds since her maiden win in late May at Delaware Park. She has hit the board in all three races since transitioning to the turf after posting a trio of sixth-place finishes to start her career.