Brown's trio looms large in Ballston Spa

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There is something appropriate about trainer Chad Brown having three of the six entrants in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Ballston Spa Stakes at Saratoga. He has won three of the last six runnings of this 1 1/16-mile turf race for fillies and mares.

A Raving Beauty heads Brown’s trio in this year’s Ballston Spa, which will be run as race 12, immediately following the Travers. In three starts in this country, A Raving Beauty has won the Grade 1 Just a Game and Grade 3 Beaugay while finishing a tough-luck third to stablemate Sistercharlie in the Grade 1 Diana. In the Diana, A Raving Beauty had to check hard at the quarter pole behind a tiring Hawksmoor. She attempted to come on again in the stretch.

“Tough trip, turn the page, focus on the next one,” Brown said. “Gave her plenty of time to recover from the trip she had. I love the way she’s training.”

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A Raving Beauty has been training with the likes of Sistercharlie and Rushing Fall, who last weekend won the Grade 2 Lake Placid impressively.

Quidura has run only once this year, losing an allowance race by a neck to stablemate Fifty Five. Quidura acted up in the paddock prior to that race, so Brown decided not to ship her out of town for a graded stakes opportunity and to wait for this.

Off Limits has yet to regain the form that made her a Grade 1 winner and Eclipse Award finalist last year. She is winless in three starts this year, including a fourth in the Just a Game behind A Raving Beauty and Proctor’s Ledge.

Proctor’s Ledge went 2 for 2 at Saratoga last year and came into the Diana highly regarded by her trainer, Brendan Walsh, but she finished fifth with an uncomfortable trip.

Hawksmoor, fourth after setting the pace in the Diana, and Indian Blessing, a British-bred and -based filly who has won 2 of 9 starts, complete the field.

KEY CONTENDERS

A Raving Beauty, by Mastercraftsman
Last 3 Beyers: 101-100-98

◗ She is 2 for 3 in the U.S. with a troubled third in the Diana to Sistercharlie, who came back to win the Grade 1 Beverly D. at Arlington Park on Aug. 11.

◗ Has fired three straight bullet works over the Oklahoma turf course.

Proctor’s Ledge, by Ghostzapper
Last 3 Beyers: 97-97-97

◗ Beaten 2 1/2 lengths in the Diana when boxed in early by John Velazquez aboard Sistercharlie. Velazquez now gets aboard Proctor’s Ledge, with whom he has a win and a close second to A Raving Beauty.

“We got him on our team this time,” Walsh said. “I’d rather have him with me than against me.”

Off Limits, by Mastercraftsman
Last 3 Beyers: 96-99-93

◗ Beaten only 1 1/2 lengths in the Diana, and Brown said she would benefit from firm ground.

“She’s training as well as she has all season,” Brown said. “If the turf is firm, that’s really the key for her. I could see her running a really good race.”