Brown's turf quartet looks tough to separate in Lake Placid

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Chad Brown’s quartet of 3-year-old fillies entered for turf in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Lake Placid Stakes at Saratoga have combined to win three stakes this year. While that’s not surprising, it is noteworthy that none of those horses were favored when they won.

As was the case in the Grade 3 Lake George here July 21 – when Brown-runners finished 1-2-4-5 topped by 5-1 winner Surge Capacity – Brown has four of the eight runners entered for turf in the Lake Placid, scheduled for 1 1/16 miles. So, who might the value of the Brown quartet be Saturday?

Aspray was 4-1 when she won the Hilltop Stakes going mile May 19 at Pimlico. She did it with an eye-catching turn of foot that brought her from 11 lengths back to a half-length in front at the wire. Brown tried her in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks at 1 1/4 miles, and though Brown was confident in her ability to get the added distance, it didn’t happen as she finished fourth.

:: Get Saratoga Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day.

“After the race, [Flavien] Prat came back and was adamant that she needed a cutback with some pace in front of her, and I do agree with him,” said Brown, who has won four of the last five runnings of the Lake Placid. “This is where we ended up.”

Brown was impressed with what Aspray did in the Hilltop.

“Hard to win on that course at a mile from where she was,” Brown said. “I was very surprised she got up in time.”

Prat will be aboard again from post 2.

At 5-1, Surge Capacity was the longest price of Brown’s four Lake George entrants. She was coming off a debut win at Monmouth just a month earlier.

“She ended up getting a really good trip, saving all the ground inside, but she handled the turf well and adjusted to the pace,” Brown said of Surge Capacity’s Lake George run. “She has a lot of natural speed. I’d expect her to be very forward in this race again.”

Tax Implications was 9-2 when she finished second to the Brown-trainee Liguria in the Wild Applause Stakes at Belmont in June and 7-2 when second to Surge Capacity in the Lake George. Brown said Tax Implications has come back from some minor injuries last year to run well in two starts this year.

“The mile and a sixteenth is a little bit of a question mark for her, but she couldn’t be doing any better so we’ll see,” Brown said.

Prerequisite is cutting back in distance after a runner-up finish to European invader Aspen Grove in the Belmont Oaks. Though the pacesetter in her last two starts, Brown expects Prerequisite to be following horses under Irad Ortiz Jr. on Saturday.

“On the cutback you’d think that maybe she’d have someone in front of her,” Brown said.

Trainer Todd Pletcher has entered the pair of Junipermarshmallow and Soviet Excess. Junipermarshmallow won her first two starts but has not been out since her victory in the Wait a While Stakes on Dec. 10 at Gulfstream.

Pletcher said Junipermarshmallow needed time off after the Wait a While, but added she’s grown up physically during her time off.

“She was pretty good to do what she did [last year], and I really liked the way she breezed on the grass,” Pletcher said. “She’s giving up some recency, but I like the way she’s doing.”

Soviet Excess, third in the Wild Applause, could be part of the pace that also is likely to include Heavenly Sunday, the Grade 2 Edgewood winner at Churchill Downs in May, and Gloria’s Princess, a recent allowance winner at Ellis Park.

Leave No Trace, winner of the Grade 1 Spinaway last year, and Undervalued Asset, a recent allowance winner trained by Brown, were both entered to run if the race is transferred to the main track.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.