With two seconds and a 3rd within the Kentucky Derby Introduced by Woodford Reserve since 2018, coach Chad Brown has excessive requirements for his high 3-year-olds.
“We’re a bit lighter this 12 months with 3-year-olds,” Brown stated Jan. 15. “Now that I’ve come very shut within the Derby with horses like Sierra Leone [second by a nose last year] and Good Magic [second in 2018], the bar is excessive when it comes to my expertise of what it takes when you intend to win the race. Then once more, the most effective horse doesn’t all the time win.”
Brown continues to be hopeful that his greatest 2-year-old might be his premier Triple Crown candidate.
Twin grade 1 winner Chancer McPatrick, who was sixth because the 2-1 second alternative within the 2024 FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile introduced by TAA, is delayed after minor ankle surgical procedure, however Brown believes the March 8 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby and April 5 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland are life like targets.
The Tampa Bay Derby gives Kentucky Derby qualifying factors on a 50-25-15-10-5 scale to the highest 5 finishers whereas the Blue Grass is value 100-50-25-15-10 factors. Flanagan Racing’s Chancer McPatrick already has 10 factors for profitable the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes in 2024.
“I need to try to make the Tampa Bay Derby after which the Blue Grass, simply because it’s handy and shut and I’m attempting to make up floor with him,” stated Brown, who might be prepping the son of McKinzie for his 3-year-old marketing campaign at Payson Park in Florida. “The Tampa Bay Derby may very well be a great conditioning race for him.”
Winner of final 12 months’s Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes, Chancer McPatrick has received three of 4 begins for earnings of $535,000.
Brown stated Three Chimneys Farm’s homebred Aviator Gui, runner-up within the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes, had a slight setback and may very well be pointed towards the Feb. 15 Risen Star Stakes for his 3-year-old debut. The Risen Star, received final 12 months by Sierra Leone, at Truthful Grounds is the primary of seven 50-25-15-10-5 preps for the Could 3 opening leg of the Triple Crown.
With the son of Uncle Mo out of the image for the Feb. 1 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack, Brown stated Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith’s Treaty of Rome (Uncle Mo), second within the Jan. 4 Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream Park, and Jan. 3 New York maiden winner Uncle Hulka (Uncle Mo) are potentialities for the 1 1/8-mile check.
The Withers is a 20-10-6-4-2 Kentucky Derby factors race.
“Hopefully we are able to get them on the path and begin selecting up some factors,” Brown stated.
