Fifty Five extends Brown's winning streak in Plenty of Grace

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Among the three Grade 1-winning turf mares who exited trainer Chad Brown’s barn at the end of 2018 was Fourstar Crook, a New York-bred who gradually worked her way into a consistent open-stakes performer.

Among the stakes-winning turf females from 2018 who remained in Brown’s barn this year is Fifty Five, a New York-bred who has the look of a consistent graded stakes performer.

On Sunday, Fifty Five kicked off her 5-year-old campaign with a relatively easy 1 3/4-length victory in the $100,000 Plenty of Grace Stakes at Aqueduct. It was the fourth consecutive victory in this race for Brown. Last year, Brown won it with Uni, who would end her campaign with a Grade 1 victory.

Fifty Five finished second to Uni in this race last year. She would go on to win three of six starts, including the John Hettinger and Ticonderoga stakes – both for New York-breds – at Belmont last fall.

On Sunday, Fifty Five was the 1-2 favorite against four rives in the Plenty of Grace. Settled at the back of the pack early under Irad Ortiz Jr., Fifty Five moved into contention around the turn, swung three wide in the stretch and easily went by the pacesetting Coffee Crush inside the eighth pole.

Conquest Hardcandy rallied to get second by a neck over Coffee Crush. Thais, also trained by Brown, got fourth, followed by Silent Sonet.

“Everything fell perfect for her. Saving ground, I was able to tip her out easy, not much traffic, and she responded really well,” Ortiz said.

Fifty Five, a daughter of Get Stormy owned by Peter Brant, covered the mile in 1:36.10 and returned $3.

“It worked out really well. She had a really good trip. Irad rode her well; perfect first race for her to move forward off of,” Brown said.

Brown said Fifty Five most likely will be pointed to the $125,000 Mount Vernon at Belmont on May 27 before getting a chance at open company later in the year.

When asked if there is a comparison to Fourstar Crook, who won the Grade 1 Flower Bowl last year, Brown said, “If you look at [Fifty Five’s] numbers, she’s not far away from her, if not as fast. So, hopefully she’ll have her chance at a really big race this year.”

Fifty Five improved her record to 8-3-5 from 17 starts and increased her lifetime earnings to $716,288.