Consumer Spending on the rise for Brown
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Technical Analysis will likely be favored to give trainer Chad Brown his eighth victory in the Grade 2, $300,000 Ballston Spa Stakes on Thursday at Saratoga. But it could be another of Brown’s four entrants who is better-suited to get the job done in the 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for older females at Saratoga.
Consumer Spending, coming off back-to-back Grade 3 stakes victories at Monmouth Park, could get the right setup to give Brown his eighth Ballston Spa success since 2012.
“This horse is in contention for most-improved award in my barn for the year,” Brown said. “Physically, I’m amazed how much she’s transformed. This horse has got to be 150 pounds heavier. She’s so strong, she’s grown so much. She resembles nothing about what I remember about her her first two years. She was a horse that was hard to keep weight on.”
Brown was most impressed with the effort Consumer Spending gave to run down Not Surprisingly off a slow pace in the Grade 3 Matchmaker on July 22.
“The way she came and got that horse at Monmouth from where she was on that turf course was quite impressive,” Brown said. “Surprisingly is a nice horse.”
Joel Rosario rides Consumer Spending from post 2.
Surprisingly, trained by Shug McGaughey, is back in the Ballston Spa. She has finished behind Consumer Spending in three consecutive races, by a combined margin of 1 3/4 lengths.
Technical Analysis is a four-time stakes winner at Saratoga, including a front-running victory in this race last summer. Brown is wheeling her back in 22 days looking to take advantage of her affinity for Saratoga.
“I wish I had another week. It is what it is,” Brown said. “It’s her last year of racing for us. I think it’s worth running her on a track that she loves.”
Technical Analysis does do her best work on the lead and appears to have some pace challengers in Evvie Jets and longshot Sister Bridget.
In a game of musical jockeys, Javier Castellano, who rode Evvie Jets in her last two starts, ends up on Surprisingly. Luis Saez will ride Evvie Jets.
Fluffy Socks, another Brown entrant, was second in this race last year. She is coming off a last-place finish in the Grade 1 Diana. Irad Ortiz Jr., aboard Fluffy Socks when she won the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile, is back aboard Thursday.
Speak of the Devil, Brown’s other entrant, appears to be more of a miler. Brown said Speak of the Devil would only run if there is give in the turf course. She hasn’t raced since a last-place finish in the Grade 1 Just a Game on June 9.
Gam’s Mission, trained by Cherie DeVaux, was third, 3 1/4 lengths behind Consumer Spending, in the Matchmaker. She should appreciate the turnback to 1 1/16 miles, a distance at which she has won three times, and the expectation of more pace in this race than there was in the Matchmaker, when she was last early.
“There wasn’t really a pace to run into, and she was coming off a bit of a layoff,” DeVaux said. “I think she ran well. She seems to have gotten better with age. She’s one of those horses who doesn’t run a lot but puts a lot of energy into each race she runs in.”
Joseph O’Brien has shipped Jumbly in from Ireland. Since winning three of her first four career starts, she is only 1 for 6 the last two years, the win coming in the Group 3 Valiant Stakes at Ascot in 2022. She was beaten three lengths in the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge in June at Ascot.
John Velazquez rides Jumbly from the rail, which may be a good place to be, as the rails will be down on both turf courses this week.
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