Lieutenant Colonel pointed to Gotham Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Right now, the most accomplished healthy 3-year-old dirt horse in trainer Chad Brown’s barn is Majestic Affair, a multiple stakes-winning sprinter who was scheduled to run in Saturday’s $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes at Aqueduct until that race failed to fill.

However, Brown has enjoyed a productive winter in south Florida with his 3-year-old crop, winning several maiden races on dirt. Among the most impressive was Lieutenant Colonel, who won his debut by a head over the three-time starter Great Stuff. Brown is planning to give Lieutenant Colonel the chance to jump onto the Triple Crown trail in the Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes on March 7 at Aqueduct.

“The horse has had one breeze since his debut win, and I’ve been very happy with the way this horse has exited that race,” Brown said by phone Wednesday from Florida. “He’s scheduled to breeze back on Monday, and if the horse works well and comes out of the breeze well, I’m planning to fly the horse up on Tuesday.”

Lieutenant Colonel, a son of Colonel John, won his debut going a mile, not an easy distance for a first-time starter to be successful. Under John Velazquez, Lieutenant Colonel pressed the pace from the inside, put away two challengers, including the Brown-trained Performance Bonus, and held off a late run from Great Stuff, who rallied down the center of the track.

Lieutenant Colonel covered a mile in 1:38.31 and earned an 87 Beyer Speed Figure.

“It helps that it’s around one turn at Gulfstream, but certainly it takes a talented horse to win first time out going a mile on the dirt, in my opinion,” Brown said. “This horse has always shown talent right along as we trained him all winter. We were certainly pleased to see him run to his workouts in the morning.”

Lieutenant Colonel, owned by Paul Braverman and Harvey Clarke, worked four furlongs in 49.80 seconds Tuesday at Palm Meadows, the training center in south Florida.

A total of 35 3-year-olds were nominated to the Gotham, a 1 1/16-mile race that offers 85 qualifying points toward the Kentucky Derby on a 50-20-10-5 basis to the top four finishers.

Among those under consideration for the Gotham are the top four finishers from the Withers – Far From Over, El Kabeir, Classy Class, and Tencendur – the Sam F. Davis Stakes winner Ocean Knight, Blame Jim, Combat Diver, and Dontbetwithbruno.

Winkfield will be brought back

While Brown did nominate Majestic Affair to the Gotham, he said Wednesday he plans to keep the horse sprinting for now, which is why he wanted to run him in Saturday’s Jimmy Winkfield Stakes. However, the six-furlong race drew only four entrants Wednesday, and thus it was not carded by the racing office for Saturday.

Andrew Byrnes, the stakes coordinator for the New York Racing Association, said Wednesday that plans are to use the race, hoping to get a fifth entrant Thursday, when entries are taken for Sunday’s card. If that doesn’t happen, then the race could be brought back for March 6 or March 8.

Majestic Affair has won 4 of 6 starts, including the Fred “Cappy” Capossela Sakes here Jan. 2 and the Frank Whiteley Jr. Stakes at Laurel Park on Jan. 29.

Cousin Stephen eyes Stymie

Brown scratched Cousin Stephen from last Sunday’s $100,000 Evening Attire Stakes to run Monday at Parx in a third-level allowance race that he won by 6 3/4 lengths and for which he earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure.

That was the second straight allowance win for Cousin Stephen, who could be pointed to the $100,000 Stymie Stakes at Aqueduct on March 22.

“It’s nice to see him put together two good races in a row,” Brown said. “Hopefully, he turned the corner and matured. Certainly it was the best number of his career. He got a 100 Beyer. I would definitely like to run this horse in a stakes in New York next time out.”