Rice ties Brown for training title in final race of the meet
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When Linda Rice won the first race of the Saratoga meet on July 13, she was asked if she could finish the meet as leading trainer.
“Unlikely,” Rice said.
When Rice won the last race of the meet Monday with Lt. Mitchell, the unlikely became reality as she finished in a tie atop the trainer standings with Chad Brown. Both won 35 races at the 40-day meet.
For Rice, it was her second Saratoga title as she won the 2009 meet outright with 20 victories. For Brown, it was his sixth title and third straight.
Rice trailed Brown by five wins with 20 races remaining at the meet. But Rice won three races Sunday. Rice had eight horses in seven races Monday and won the $150,000 Bernard Baruch with Pioneering Spirit, coming back on nine days’ rest. She didn’t win again until Lt. Mitchell took the finale by five lengths over the Brown-trained Fake Celebrity.
Brown, after winning Sunday’s first with Weigh the Risks, lost the last 10 races in which he had starters, finishing second six times. Brown, who started 183 horses at meet, had 41 seconds. Brown led all trainers in purse money won with $5,487,693.
Rice, who started 147 horses at the meet, had 31 seconds. Her horses earned $2,640,777 at meet.
“We felt good going into today’s card but you never feel good enough,” Rice said. “You always wish the race had gone for this horse, for that horse. There’s always a lot of winding curves getting to a good meet like this. We got off to a good start and it just continued.”
Rice has now won five straight New York Racing Association meet titles, starting with the 2022 Aqueduct fall meet. She won the 2023 Aqueduct winter, Aqueduct spring, and Belmont spring/summer meet titles.
Brown was the leading stakes trainer at the meet with 11, including Grade 1 victories in the Diana, Alabama, and Saratoga Derby.
“It was a great meet and I’m proud of my team,” Brown told the New York Racing Association publicity department. “My team persevered through the weather - we had a record number off-the-turf races and second-places - and they were still able to grind out a tie for the win, which is amazing.”
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Brown’s primary client, Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables, was leading owner with 22 wins, tying the record set by Ken and Sarah Ramsey in 2013.
Irad Ortiz Jr. won his fifth Saratoga jockey title with 62 wins, 25 more than his brother Jose.
- additional reporting by Mike Welsch
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