Chancer McPatrick due for clean trip in Champagne
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Chancer McPatrick has won each of his first two starts, and he hasn’t had a clean trip in either one of them. Saturday, he’ll break from the outside post in a field of 10 2-year-olds looking for Grade 1 glory in the $500,000 Champagne Stakes at Aqueduct.
The Champagne, one of four graded events on a 12-race card, will be the last Grade 1 race of the year run on the New York Racing Association circuit. It offers a fees-paid berth into the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to be run Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
Chad Brown, trainer of Chancer McPatrick, has won four of the last seven runnings of the Champagne. In 2017, his Champagne runner-up, Good Magic, would go on to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar.
Chancer McPatrick, a son of McKinzie, won his debut by a length at Saratoga, a race in which he dropped himself back to last down the backside, rallied widest of all, then switched back to his left lead late, but still got up.
Five weeks later, in the Grade 1 Hopeful, Chancer McPatrick hit the side of the gate, which caused Flavien Prat’s foot to come out of the irons. He quickly recovered and again rallied wide to outfinish the heavily favored Ferocious by a half-length.
“Both of his starts, he had challenging trips, ran like an experienced horse,” Brown said. “He’s well ahead of the curve mentally for his age group.”
Brown chose the one-mile Champagne over Saturday’s Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, a race that would have given Chancer McPatrick a chance to run 1 1/16 miles around two turns, to cut down on the amount of shipping the horse might have to do this fall.
Brown believes Chancer McPatrick’s athleticism is another big check mark in his favor.
“He has a nice athletic frame to him this horse,” Brown said. “He’s not a heavy horse, he’s not a small horse either, he takes care of himself, he’s agile.”
Chancer McPatrick will again be ridden by Prat.
Trainer Todd Pletcher is a six-time Champagne winner who last year won the BC Juvenile with Fierceness after that horse finished seventh behind Timberlake in the Champagne. Saturday, Pletcher will send out Tip Top Thomas and Uncaged.
Tip Top Thomas, a son of Volatile, was a neck winner of a six-furlong maiden race Aug. 24 at Saratoga. Uncaged, a son of Curlin, came from off the pace to win a six-furlong maiden race in the mud Aug. 1 at Saratoga. Uncaged had been considered for the Breeders’ Futurity, but the same owners opted to run Tenacious Leader in that race.
Mo Plex, a New York-bred son of 2018 Champagne winner Complexity, is 3 for 3, including a victory in the Grade 3 Sanford Stakes in his lone start against open company. Despite his unblemished record, Mo Plex has been difficult to handle, getting out in all of his races.
Trainer Jeremiah Englehart is once again changing bits on the horse, moving to a more severe Houghton bit to give jockey Manny Franco more control. He also is adding a drop noseband. The horse had been ridden in his three previous starts by Irad Ortiz Jr., who is riding Tip Top Thomas in the Champagne.
Englehart said Mo Plex has run straight in his workouts with the new equipment but he noted the horse was not trying to get out in the mornings prior to his previous races.
In the Champagne, Mo Plex will be stretching out from six furlongs to a mile for the first time.
“I felt like he wouldn’t have a problem going further, you just never know ’til you run it,” Englehart said. “My thing with him was freshen him up a little bit before this race. He looks great.”
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Smoken Wicked, trained by Dallas Stewart, was part of a strong early pace in the Hopeful and did stick around to finish fourth. He came from off the pace to finish third in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special.
J J Zo Zo, a New Jersey-bred , won the Smoke Glacken Stakes at Monmouth Park in his most recent start. Lethal Speed (Gulfstream Park), Vekoma Rides (Aqueduct), Colonel Bob (Parx), and Executive Order (Saratoga) are all coming out of debut wins.
The Champagne goes as race 8 on a 12-race card that begins at 12:05 p.m. It is the last of four consecutive stakes that includes the Grade 3 Jockey Club Derby, the Grade 3 Belmont Turf Sprint, and the Grade 1 Frizette.
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