Risk Taking will take New York road to Kentucky Derby, Brown says

Four years ago, trainer Chad Brown used the New York path to the Triple Crown races for Cloud Computing, who won the 2017 Preakness after skipping the Kentucky Derby.

This year, Brown again is utilizing Aqueduct’s path to the Triple Crown with Risk Taking, who jumped onto the Kentucky Derby trail with a 3 3/4-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes. The win was his second straight going 1 1/8 miles at Aqueduct, which is why Brown said it makes sense to keep Risk Taking in New York and point to the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 3. The Wood, like the Withers and Risk Taking’s maiden victory in December, is a 1 1/8-mile race.

“I don’t think it makes sense to attempt to move the horse out of the environment where he’s thriving,” Brown said from Florida, where he has the bulk of his stable split between Palm Meadows and Payson Park.

Risk Taking, a son of Medaglia d’Oro owned by Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables, was only 4 1/2 lengths off a modest pace under Eric Cancel before making a move around the far turn. He was able to run by Capo Kane, the Jerome winner who again was drifting in the stretch, and opened up late despite switching back to his left lead.

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Risk Taking covered 1 1/8 miles in 1:51.91 and earned a career-best 89 Beyer Speed Figure.

“He didn’t have to run the fastest race he’ll ever run [Saturday],” Brown said. “I think he’s a work in progress. He’s finally really turned the corner and is well on his way in his development now.”

Brown said the Withers became the next step for Risk Taking shortly after he won his maiden going nine furlongs on Dec. 13 at Aqueduct. That victory followed defeats sprinting on dirt at Belmont in October and going long on turf at Aqueduct in November.

“With his running style, he’s not a horse I thought would like Gulfstream and backing up to a mile and a sixteenth I didn’t see that in his future,” Brown said. “Once you get out to that mile and an eighth, and do well at it, you don’t want to cut back. The sole purpose of leaving him there was the Withers. It’s nice when a plan comes together.”

Though he hasn’t won a Derby, Brown knows the type of horse it takes to win the race. He believes there is “room for improvement” for Risk Taking, improvement he will have to demonstrate in the Wood to legitimize himself as a Derby horse.

“We’ve been there a few times, have some experience with it,” said Brown, who is winless with five starters in four runnings of the Derby. “It looks like we have a horse that will get the distance, let’s start there. He has the right pedigree. As this crop starts to identify itself from coast to coast we’ll see soon if he’s good enough.”

In winning the Withers Risk Taking earned 10 qualifying points to the May 1 Kentucky Derby. He will likely need a top-three finish in the Wood Memorial to get enough points to make the race.

In 2017, Cloud Computing didn’t even race until Feb. 11, winning a six-furlong race over Aqueduct’s now defunct inner track. He followed that with a second in the Grade 3 Gotham - then a two-turn, 1 1/16-mile race - and a third in the Wood Memorial. Though Cloud Computing had enough points to run in the Derby, Brown passed and pointed to the Preakness, a race he won by a head over Classic Empire in the final jump.

In Risk Taking, Brown said he has “a horse that has two mile-and-an-eighth races under his belt on a track that’s not fast. I think that’ll serve him well for his seasoning and experience.”

While Risk Taking will await the Wood Memorial, Brown and Klarman will still be represented in the Grade 3 Gotham on March 6 with Highly Motivated. A son of Into Mischief, Highly Motivated won two of three starts at 2, including the Nyquist Stakes going 6 1/2 furlongs at Keeneland on Nov. 6.

On Saturday, at Payson Park, Highly Motivated worked a half-mile in 49.20 seconds.

“I watched him train and it was a nice, strong work, his best of this year,” Brown said. “We put him back into training after a little break. After what I saw, he’s definitely on track for the Gotham.”

In his first start against winners, Overtook rallied from last to finish second in the Withers. Trainer Todd Pletcher said he is “pleased with the progress he’s making.”

Pletcher said there are no firm plans for Overtook’s next start. His maiden victory did come in a one-turn-mile race at Aqueduct, so the Gotham could be a possibility.

Capo Kane, who won the Jerome going a one-turn mile here in January but faded to third, beaten five lengths, in the Withers, is headed for the Gotham.

“I believe we’re going to go for the Gotham going a mile, the one turn, and try to get some more Derby points and hopefully we do good,” Capo Kane trainer Harold Wyner said Sunday. “I think yesterday the track got him beat, it was favoring closers all day, speed wasn’t holding and he got a little tired the last 70 yards. I thought he ran a very good race.”