Guarana returns as standout in allowance

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After a slow start to the Churchill Downs spring meet, the Chad Brown stable is getting on just fine. Victories by Dunbar Road, Altaf, Per Capita, and Royal Flag have offset an 0-for-6 start as the four-time reigning champion trainer continues with his first meet-long foray at Churchill.

While Brown has been in New York, preparing for the reopening of Belmont Park while transitioning his huge stable out of Florida, assistant Whit Beckman is overseeing 24 horses on the Churchill backside.

“I’ve had a race marked for every horse we’ve sent to Churchill,” Brown said recently by phone. “We’ve had quite a few excluded, which has been a little frustrating but not unexpected. We’ll keep rotating horses in and out, depending on which ones get to run.”

Among the more notable recent arrivals was Guarana, who figures as a huge favorite in the featured eighth race Thursday when she makes her 4-year-old debut. The Ghostzapper filly won back-to-back Grade 1 races, the Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks, when entrenching herself among the divisional elite last year, but she was withheld from the Breeders’ Cup following her first career defeat in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx Racing in September.

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Given plenty of time to regroup, Guarana returned to the work tab at Palm Meadows in late February and now has 12 breezes to her credit ahead of an $85,000 third-level allowance at seven furlongs. Tyler Gaffalione will be aboard the Three Chimneys homebred from post 6.

“It looks like a really good spot for her to come back in,” Beckman said. “I think this will set her up for a big campaign this year.”

Eight other fillies and mares are entered against Guarana, although one of them, Unique Factor, is likely to scratch after finishing fourth Saturday in the Winning Colors. The remaining challengers appear well matched, with Abounding Joy, Peruvian Appeal, Sunny Dale, and Please Flatter Me all capable of filling out the vertical wagers.

The only other allowance on a nine-race card directly precedes the Guarana comeback as race 7. It’s an $81,000 first-level turf route that drew a full field of 10 3-year-olds and up. Scabbard resurfaces as a first-time gelding and looks to get back on form for Eddie Kenneally.

Both allowances are part of the Single 6, which has a $162,029 jackpot carryover. The sequence spans races 4-9 and starts with maiden-special 2-year-old fillies going 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf.

Possible thundershowers and a high of 84 are in the local forecast for Thursday.

The latest Brown triumph came in an $83,656 allowance Sunday, when Royal Flag held sway for her third straight win, giving the trainer a 4-for-14 record at the 26-day spring meet.

First post every day at the spectator-free meet is 1 p.m. Eastern.