Surge Capacity catches Fluffy Socks in final strides, takes Matriarch Stakes

DEL MAR, Calif. - Surge Capacity, the rookie member of trainer Chad Brown’s powerful quartet of fillies and mares, escaped a troubled trip in the nick of time to win her Grade 1 debut in Sunday’s $303,500 Matriarch Stakes on the final day of the Del Mar autumn meeting.

Surge Capacity led a sweep of the superfecta for Brown-trained runners.

Ridden by Joel Rosario, Surge Capacity ($11.40) caught 6-1 Fluffy Socks in the final strides to win by a head. Beaute Cachee (18-1) finished third, while 9-5 favorite Whitebeam faded from contention to finish fourth.

The 10-cent Brown-trained superfecta paid $106.27. The winning combination was 3-10-6-5.

Brown’s foursome collected $294,000 of the purse. Surge Capacity gave the 44-year-old Brown his sixth win in the Matriarch in the last seven years.

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Surge Capacity was stuck between the rail and a rival in early stretch before she gained a clear path under jockey Joel Rosario. She accelerated quickly to nab Fluffy Socks and finish a mile on turf in 1:33.95. Surge Capacity earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 96.

“The only bittersweet is Fluffy Socks didn’t get her Grade 1 win,” Brown said from his home in New York.

“Surge Capacity was able to get through. Whitebeam was a little closer than I anticipated. Beaute Cachee had trouble around the eighth pole.

“All four ran really well.”

Surge Capacity, who won her career debut in a maiden race at Monmouth Park in June, had her fifth start in the Matriarch, by far the least experienced filly or mare in the field of 12.

The winner of the Grade 3 Lake George Stakes at Saratoga in July and the Grade 3 Valley View Stakes at Keeneland in October, Surge Capacity was the second choice in the Matriarch.

Rosario had Surge Capacity on the inside on the turn and on the backstretch, well behind Gracelund Gray, who set an early pace of 22.80 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 45.89 for a half-mile.

Gracelund Gray had a half-length lead on the turn when she was passed by Whitebeam, who led by a half-length with a furlong remaining. Rosario kept Surge Capacity on the inside and gained racing room with more than a sixteenth of a mile remaining.

“I had to stay inside,” Rosario said. “There was no choice to go around. I was lucky.”

Whitebeam, who was within a length of Gracelund Gray early, faded in the final sixteenth to finish 1 3/4 lengths behind Surge Capacity, one of three 3-year-old fillies in the race.

“I was comfortable with where she was,” said Flavien Prat, who rode Whitebeam.

Ruby Nell, another 3-year-old filly, finished fifth for trainer Richard Mandella, the best-placed runner not trained by Chad Brown. Ruby Nell won two stakes at Santa Anita earlier this fall.

Closing Remarks, a four-time stakes winner this year, finished sixth, followed by Elm Drive, Gracelund Gray, Queen Goddess, Hamwood Flier, Wakanaka and Elounda Queen. The 3-year-old Elounda Queen was a group stakes winner in France earlier this year.

Surge Capacity, by Flintshire, has won 4 of 5 starts and earned $518,975 for owner and breeder Klaravich Stable. She was second in the Grade 2 Lake Placid Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga in August in the only loss of her career.

The Matriarch Stakes was her stakes debut against older fillies and mares, a performance that puts her firmly among the list of runners to follow in major stakes in the division in 2024.

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