Newspaperofrecord likely to get break before Churchill Downs Distaff Turf Mile

ELMONT, N.Y. – Having posted career-best efforts twice in three weeks, Newspaperofrecord will likely get a brief break before attacking a series of prestigious one-mile turf races for fillies and mares later this year, trainer Chad Brown said Sunday.

Newspaperofrecord returned to her Grade 1-winning form Saturday, cruising to a three-length victory in the Just a Game at Belmont Park. Never rank or difficult to handle, Newspaperofrecord got away with a relatively soft pace and kicked clear of the competition to record the victory. It was her first Grade 1 score since she won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Churchill Downs in 2018. She is 5 for 8 overall for owner Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables.

“I’m so happy for the horse first and foremost and of course for Mr. Klarman,” Brown said. “He had every opportunity to sell her as a broodmare and just move on if he thought she was just a good 2-year-old only, and he stayed with her and committed her for the season and let our team work with her, and she really responded well. She never looked better, trained better; there’s a lot of different people went into working with her to make that happen.”

After going 3 for 3 at 2, Newspaperofrecord went 0 for 3 at 3. She has won both the Just a Game and Grade 3 Intercontinental this year. She earned a 105 Beyer Speed Figure for the Just a Game, two points higher than her figure for the Intercontinental, which was run June 6.

“She certainly ran career tops in every relevant figure,” Brown said. “I’m sure she’s going to have some space between now and her next start.”

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While Brown didn’t totally discount running Newspaperofrecord in the Grade 1, $400,000 Fourstardave on Aug. 22 at Saratoga, that race would be too close to the Grade 2, $500,000 Churchill Downs Distaff Turf Mile which will be run on the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby Day card at Churchill Downs. Grade 1 stakes such as the First Lady at Keeneland the Matriarch in November at Del Mar also are long-term goals.

Among the horses Newspaperofrecord beat in the Just a Game was her stablemate Uni, the champion female turf horse of 2019 who finished third. Uni had not run since winning the Breeders’ Cup Mile last November at Santa Anita and missed some training time this spring due to a splint bone injury.

Rain fell during Saturday’s card, which may have taken some of the firmness out of the Belmont turf.

“She’s run okay with some give in the ground in the past, but her brilliant performances have been on very firm ground,” Brown said. “I’m okay to draw a line through that and really use it as a first race back and move forward.”

If the turf is firm, Uni could be a candidate for the Fourstardave, a race in which she finished third in 2019.