Lewis Bay goes from minor player to major contender

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Like virtually every other trainer with a horse pointing to the Kentucky Oaks, Chad Brown figured to be running for second money with Gazelle Stakes winner Lewis Bay. But the stunning news Sunday night that Songbird would miss the Oaks due to a temperature changed the thought process completely.

With the defection of Songbird, Lewis Bay becomes one of many who figure squarely in the mix in a probable full field for the May 6 Kentucky Oaks.

“Obviously, it’s disappointing that a horse that great has fallen ill because it can happen to anyone – it’s a trainer’s worst nightmare,” Brown said. “We’re not in any way happy that the horse got sick. I feel bad for the connections. We were going to run in the Oaks anyway, thinking we were running for a minor award at best, which we were fine with. Now, we’re squarely in the mix, I feel, with our improving filly.”

Lewis Bay, a daughter of Bernardini, had her last day training in New York on Monday, galloping once around the Belmont Park main track. She was scheduled to ship to Kentucky on Tuesday along with Shagaf, one of two horses Brown plans to run in the Kentucky Derby.

Lewis Bay has two wins at the Oaks distance of 1 1/8 miles. At 2, she won the Demoiselle by 1 3/4 lengths. In her second start at 3, Lewis Bay won the Gazelle by 1 1/2 lengths.

“She’s still learning,” Brown said. “She’s made the front in both the Gazelle and the Demoiselle, and she’s idled a little bit and waited down near the wire. I think in both those races at a mile and an eighth, there’s been more in the tank. She’s an improving filly. She’s very honest. She seems to take her racetrack with her wherever she goes.”

Lewis Bay and Shagaf were scheduled to leave Belmont at around 6 a.m. Tuesday for a flight that would get to Louisville, Ky., later that morning. They were to be joined at Churchill Downs by Blue Grass Stakes runner-up My Man Sam, who was scheduled to van from Keeneland on Tuesday. All three are expected to have two breezes over the main track at Churchill.