Run of graded stakes wins has Brown overflowing with Breeders' Cup candidates
ELMONT, N.Y. – Over the last three weekends, trainer Chad Brown has won seven graded stakes, run first and second in four of them, and has seen his potential roster for the Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 5-6 at Del Mar increase significantly.
The run began Sept. 25 when Pocket Square and Miss Teheran ran 1-2 in the Grade 3 Athenia at Belmont Park. It culminated this past weekend with four graded stakes triumphs, highlighted by 1-2 finishes Saturday in both the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont and the Grade 1 First Lady at Keeneland. On Sunday at Belmont, Brown won the Grade 2 Beldame with Royal Flag and Grade 3 Knickerbocker with Sacred Life. On Oct. 2, Jack Christopher won the Grade 1 Champagne and the following day My Sister Nat and Orglandes ran 1-2 in the Grade 3 Waya.
Apart from the second-place finishes in stakes that he also won, Brown had five additional runner-up finishes in graded events, including in the Oct. 3 Frizette (Gerrymander), Friday’s Alcibiades (Distinctlypossible), and Sunday’s Spinster (Dunbar Road), both at Keeneland. Portfolio Company (Grade 2 Pilgrim) and Kinchen (Grade 2 Miss Grillo) also finished second in graded stakes at Belmont for Brown.
There are still final decisions to be made on some horses, but it appears as though Rockemperor (Turf), Royal Flag and Dunbar Road (Distaff), Jack Christopher (Juvenile), and My Sister Nat (Filly and Mare Turf) have solidified spots in their respective Breeders’ Cup races. Pocket Square (Filly and Mare Turf), Portfolio Company (Juvenile Turf), and Kinchen (Juvenile Fillies Turf) also will be considered for the Breeders’ Cup, pre-entries for which have to be made Oct. 25.
Heading into last weekend, Brown already had Grade 1 winners Domestic Spending and Tribhuvan training toward the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 6. Rockemperor likely joined the roster with his 2 3/4-length victory in the $500,000 Joe Hirsch, which was not designated a Win and You’re In race for the Turf.
Rockemperor, who had come close in graded stakes last year but who had gone off form recently, delivered a strong effort Saturday, rallying from next to last to win the Hirsch over stablemate Serve the King.
Rockemperor was running with a new bit – a ring bit that gave jockey Javier Castellano more control – and without blinkers. Rockemperor had been keen in some of his more recent races, so Brown decided to remover the blinkers.
“He’s had some tough defeats,” Brown said Sunday. “He’s run really well with blinkers and without them. He’s just missed in some races and he’s disappointed us a couple of times. Yesterday, I was proud of the way the horse behaved, I was proud of how we prepared him, and I was proud of Javier and the decisions he made during the race.”
Brown said Hirsch runner-up Serve the King would likely not run in the BC Turf owing to a lack of experience in Grade 1 stakes. The Grade 2, $200,000 Red Smith at Aqueduct on Nov. 20 is a more likely race for him.
Brown also is unlikely to run Blowout or Regal Glory, the 1-2 finishers in the First Lady, in the Breeders’ Cup. Brown said Blowout doesn’t want to run as far as the 1 3/8 miles of the Filly and Mare Turf and could be considered for the Mile against males. More likely, she could train up to the Grade 1 Matriarch on Nov. 28 at Del Mar, a race in which she finished second last year. Regal Glory is pointing to the Matriarch.
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Royal Flag earned a shot at the $2 million Distaff with Sunday’s powerful 4 1/4-length victory in the Beldame, for which she earned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure. In four starts this year, Royal Flag has two wins, a head defeat in the Doubledogdare at Keeneland in April, and a third-place finish, beaten a half-length, to Distaff favorite Letruska in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga.
“I do have a lot of respect for Letruska,” Brown said. “She’s the clear leader of the division; she’ll be tough to beat. But coming within a half-length of her [in August] and our filly continuing to get a little faster and a little stronger, hopefully she can make up that half-length.”
Brown also will point Dunbar Road to the Distaff following her second-place finish to Letruska in Sunday’s Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland. Dunbar Road, beaten only three-quarters of a length by Letruska when fourth in the Personal Ensign, finished third in last year’s Distaff and fifth in the 2019 running.
Champagne winner Jack Christopher could be favored in the $2 million Juvenile. Brown said he will likely pass the $2 million Juvenile Fillies with Distinctlypossible, who was soundly defeated by Juju’s Map in the Alcibiades.
Brown’s two graded stakes victories Sunday at Belmont were part of a four-win day that has put him atop the trainer standings by one win over Todd Pletcher at the halfway point of the meet. Brown has won outright or tied for leading trainer at the last nine Belmont fall meets.