Maybe the fifth time would be the appeal for coach Chad Brown.
Brown got here into the Oct. 5 Champagne Stakes at Aqueduct with 4 victories in New York’s famed 2-year-old stakes and a quartet of Breeders’ Cup Problem Sequence spots within the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile introduced by TAA related to these victories.
But when Brown popped the cork on the Champagne for a fifth time with Flanagan Racing’s unbeaten Chancer McPatrick, it got here with a seemingly unusual request for a change in his luck on the World Championships.
You see, Brown’s lone win within the Juvenile got here in 2017 when Good Magic gained the Grade 1 stakes as a maiden who was second within the Champagne.
His 4 Champagne winners both misplaced or did not make it to the race.
“Sarcastically, the one time I’ve gained the Juvenile is once I obtained beat within the Champagne,” Brown stated. “That is our fifth Champagne win and the primary 4 didn’t win the Juvenile, so hopefully that is the 12 months I can truly win the Juvenile with a Champagne winner.”
Something can occur within the Nov. 1 Juvenile at Del Mar — the place Good Magic gained the Juvenile — however for the time being it definitely seems Brown has one of many horses to beat on the World Championships in a extremely proficient and superior McKinzie colt who’s now 3-for-3 with a win within the Hopeful Stakes additionally on his résumé.
“I’ve gone to the [Juvenile] earlier than with horses who’ve gained [the Hopeful and Champagne] however this horse appears to be in a special class. Together with his superior psychological improvement and his laid-back demeanor, it seems like he’s dying for extra floor. I’m not positive if I had that with the opposite horses this early. I believe he’s a novel horse for this specific race,” Brown stated.
Despatched off as a heavy favourite ($3.10) within the one-turn mile, $500,000 Champagne, Chancer McPatrick was final within the discipline of 9 on the backstretch earlier than rallying 5 extensive on the flip, collaring runner-up Tip High Thomas leaving the eighth pole, and drawing clear by 2 3/4 lengths.
“After I made that transfer exterior, he type of made a transfer then he switched off once more after which regrouped and made one other run. It’s good to see that he has just a few runs into him. That’s a very good signal,” jockey Flavien Prat stated.
Chancer McPatrick lined the mile in 1:36.51 beneath Prat whereas racing in a way that bodes nicely for his dealing with of two turns within the 1 1/16-mile Juvenile.
“He runs his race like he’s a 12 months older than he’s. He runs like an skilled 3-year-old. He has an extended, sturdy run,” Brown stated in regards to the colt bred by Rigney Racing. “The way in which he completed up and the way in which he relaxes, I don’t see two turns being an issue.”
James Bakke and Gerald Isbister’s Tip High Thomas was a sport second in his second profession begin. R and H Secure’s Mo Plex was one other 4 3/4 lengths again in third.
Scottish Lassie Provides Coach Abreu First Graded Winner
Scottish Lassie took over as the sector turned for residence and powered away impressively to win the $400,000, Grade 1 Frizette Stakes by 9 lengths Oct. 5 at Aqueduct, giving coach Jorge R. Abreu his first profession graded victory.
Scottish Lassie had completed third in her Sept. 1 debut at Saratoga. Despatched off at 6.50-1 as a maiden within the one-mile Frizette, she was bumped firstly, then raced in third early, stalking the tempo set by Sorority Stakes winner Social Fortress, who went by quarter-mile splits of :22.81, :46.20, and 1:11.73.
Ridden by Jose Lezcano, Scottish Lassie hit the entrance with a few quarter-mile to go. Underneath a hand journey, she widened her lead progressively by the lane and crossed the end line in 1:36.73.
“I felt comfy turning for residence when Jose appeared again to his inside and he knew no person was coming. I felt very comfy after that, and he or she simply stored on opening up,” stated Abreu, who co-owns Scottish Lassie with Sportsmen Secure, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Photographs End, and Corms Racing Secure.
Snowyte completed second, and it was one other 6 1/2 lengths again to Social Fortress in third.
The win gave first-crop sire McKinzie his second grade 1 winner, becoming a member of Chancer McPatrick, winner of the Sept. 2 Hopeful Stakes and the Champagne Stakes one race after the Frizette Saturday.
Abreu saddled his first starter in 2016 and has hit the board in two Breeders’ Cup races. He skilled Stellar Agent to a third-place end within the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf after which Jody’s Pleasure ran second for him, overwhelmed only a neck, in final 12 months’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Barring setback, Abreu could have an opportunity to raised final 12 months’s end, because the Frizette was a Breeders’ Cup Problem Sequence race, offering the successful connections with entry charges, journey bills, and a assured spot within the gate for the $2 million NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
“I had actually excessive expectations of this filly since day one,” Abreu stated. “I anticipated her to run a very good race in the present day as a result of Jose [Lezcano] was breezing her and he or she was breezing excellent all alongside. However I didn’t know she was going to win by this margin.
“I used to be anticipating a very good race in the present day. I do know folks didn’t imagine — not in her, in me — as a result of that is the primary time I’ve ever gained a graded stakes. You want the standard to win these sorts of races, and I assumed I had the horse.”—Pete Denk
Carson’s Run Rallies From Final to First in Jockey Membership Derby
West Level Thoroughbreds and Steven Bouchey’s Carson’s Run didn’t compete in all three legs of the New York Racing Affiliation’s sequence of turf races for 3-year-old males, skipping the primary leg of the sequence, the July 6 Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes. However he made his presence felt within the ultimate two races of the sequence.
He gained the Aug. 11 Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes, the center leg, and Oct. 5, took the sequence finale in rallying from final to seize the $500,000 Jockey Membership Derby Invitational Stakes at Aqueduct.
Dylan Davis, who piloted Carson’s Run within the Saratoga Derby, was once more within the irons Saturday, and the chestnut 3-year-old Cupid colt responded for him simply as he did practically two months earlier. Carson’s Run exploded down the stretch of Saturday’s 1 3/8-mile turf race to take over in midstretch and maintained a secure benefit to defeat stablemate Deterministic by three-quarters of a size. The latter raced in visitors and got here up the fence to seize second
El Rezeen was an in depth third.
Christophe Clement trains the highest two finishers.
“Each of them progressed by the 12 months. I wasn’t positive if they might each keep the mile and three-eighths, however the way in which they ran there is no such thing as a problem with the space,” Clement stated. “It’s going to be loads of enjoyable subsequent 12 months.”
If both of Clement’s duo races once more in 2024, it’ll almost certainly come within the Nov. 30 Hollywood Derby for 3-year-olds at Del Mar, the coach stated. They may alternatively be freshened and pointed towards races in 2025.—Byron King
