Francesco Clemente, I'm Very Busy performances boost trainer Brown

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Though it hasn’t been a great start to the year for trainer Chad Brown, the performances Saturday by Francesco Clemente and I’m Very Busy at Gulfstream Park give him optimism for the future in the older male turf division.

Francesco Clemente displayed a strong closing kick to win the Grade 3, $200,000 William L. McKnight by 2 1/4 lengths. Francesco Clemente, a 5-year-old son of Dubawi, earned a 97 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance, his first U.S. stakes win.

“The horse ran to his training, he’d been doing great, he’s quite a nice horse, impressive performance yesterday,” Brown said Sunday morning.

Brown said he doesn’t plan to run Francesco Clemente again at the Gulfstream winter meet and he will look for races between 1 1/4 miles to 1 1/2 miles for him in the future.

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“It seems like that mile and a half is a good distance for him,” Brown said. “I do think with the right pace scenario he could probably drop back to a mile and a quarter if needed. We’ll see where the stakes schedule takes us.”

Keeneland hosts the Grade 2, $350,000 Elkhorn going 1 1/2 miles on April 20. There is the recently downgraded Grade 2 Man o’ War Stakes, which is likely to be run in early May at Aqueduct, presumably at 1 3/8 miles.

Meanwhile, I’m Very Busy ran the race of his life when finishing second, beaten three-quarters of a length by filly Warm Heart in the Grade 1, $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf. Warm Heart broke a 17-year course record for 1 1/8 miles, covering the distance in 1:44.45 and earning a 100 Beyer Speed Figure.

Warm Heart, trained by Aidan O’Brien for Coolmore, has been retired from racing and will be bred to Justify.

I’m Very Busy, who also earned a 100 Beyer, is a horse Brown was very high on beginning with his 2-year-old season. I’m Very Busy finished second in the Grade 2 Pilgrim and then 10th in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. I’m Very Busy had a bit of a disappointing 3-year-old season, capped by a second-place finish to Integration in the Hill Prince at Aqueduct last Nov. 18.

“He lost his way during his 3-year-old year, some of it is I didn’t manage the horse the right way and I was making some adjustments to him, trying to fix things quick,” Brown said. “Other times, it wasn’t the right type of turf, or situation, or maybe the horse needed some more time.”

Brown said he doesn’t believe I’m Very Busy wants to run farther than 1 1/8 miles and he’s not sure where he will run him next.

“I was really focused on this race,” Brown said. “I usually rest my bigger horses - very few of them do I point to a big race at Gulfstream. I didn’t look beyond it, I wanted to see how he was going to respond.”

The win by Francesco Clemente was just the second of the meet for Brown from 42 starters through the first two months of the meet.

“January’s never been a month that I’ve pointed my higher-end horses to, they’re all resting,” Brown said. “The only disappointing thing in January is we normally hold our own with a few maiden breakers. The other horses that I’ve run, it’s not like I run horses that I loved. Now, I’m starting to run horses that I think higher of and as you see, even in defeat, they’re running well. That’s all that matters.”

Didia points to Jenny Wiley

Didia, the neck winner of Saturday’s Grade 3, $500,000 Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf, was vanned back to her home base of Keeneland on Sunday and it’s expected that is where she will have her next start in the Grade 1, $600,000 Jenny Wiley Stakes on April 13, trainer Ignacio “Nacho” Correas IV said Sunday.

“She’s proven she runs very well fresh, so we’ll freshen her up a little bit,” Correas said Sunday morning as he himself was driving back to Kentucky. “It’s better to run her every six or seven weeks or a little more instead of every four weeks.”

Didia won the Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf, pressing a surprisingly slow pace under Jose Ortiz. She ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:40.90 and earned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure.

Though the Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf is an automatic qualifier for the Qatar Nassau Stakes on Aug. 1 in England, Correas said he is unsure if that race would be on Didia’s agenda.

“She really loves very firm turf, summer is key for her here,” Correas said.

Correas said he would ultimately like to get Didia to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, which this year will be run at Del Mar on Nov. 2.

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