Miss Teheran can keep Brown rolling in Friday allowance
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Last weekend was something of a pick-me-up for the Chad Brown stable. After a relatively quiet start to his winter, particularly in Florida, Brown not only emerged with a Kentucky Derby prospect when Risk Taking romped in the Withers at Aqueduct, but the four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer won three other races of note.
Boston Post Road, a 3-year-old filly, was an eye-catching debut winner Sunday at Gulfstream Park, less than 24 hours after Brown won a couple of filly-mare stakes, the off-turf Suwannee River at Gulfstream with Great Island and the Grade 3 Endeavour at Tampa Bay Downs with Counterparty Risk.
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Given that recent surge of momentum, Brown might as well go ahead and win another one Friday at Gulfstream with Miss Teheran, who will come heavily favored in the race-9 feature, a $48,000 allowance at a mile on the grass. With leading jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, Miss Teheran is part of a full field of 12 fillies and mares competing under a second-level condition.
Miss Teheran, a beaten last-out favorite in a Santa Anita stakes, is among a sizable group of horses Brown hopes will step up this year to fill a vacuum created when Grade 1-winning mares Rushing Fall, Sistercharlie, Uni, Newspaperofrecord, and Guarana were retired following stellar careers.
“We’re looking for just a few horses to fill some of those shoes, and if they can, we’ll be good,” said Brown.
Although he’s been hot with his New York string, sporting a 12-for-26 record at the Aqueduct winter meet through Monday, things were a little slower during the first two months of a Gulfstream championship meet, which began Dec. 2. Prior to the Suwannee River, Brown had won with six of 43 starters (14 percent), a rather low strike rate for a record-shattering trainer.
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Miss Teheran, an Irish-bred 5-year-old, figures to reenter the stakes ranks soon if she can get through this test Thursday. With Beyer Speed Figures of 91 and 88 from her last two starts, she’ll draw major tote support. She perhaps will have Jezebel Kitten, My Gal Betty, Choate Bridge, and Sun Summers as her main challengers.
One other full-field allowance (race 7), a first-level turf mile for 3-year-olds, also is part of a solid 10-race card. Whattmakessammyrun, with Luis Saez riding from post 12, could be a slight favorite for trainer George Weaver.
First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern on Friday, when sunny skies and a high of 81 are in the local forecast. Both allowances are part of the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (races 5-10), which can be expected to offer a guaranteed pool approaching $1.5 million, assuming the jackpot isn’t emptied before Friday by a unique winning ticket.