Chad Brown Sweeps the Long Island Handicap
Turf trainer extraordinaire, Chad Brown, entered three horses in the $200,000 Long Island Handicap (G2) and they were sent to the gate as three of the top four betting choices at Aqueduct. The mile and a half turf race for fillies and mares was that easy to handicap as two French-bred Brown runners Goldy Espony, the second choice 3.70-1, and Danza Cavallo, the 3.05-1 favorite, took the top two places.
It turned out that the race was basically over shortly after the starting gates opened. Jockey Kendrick Carmouche, who has made a big impact in New York since the Saratoga meeting, broke alertly with Goldy Espony and hustled her right to the front. Jose Ortiz was aboard Danza Cavallo and they were able to secure the second spot out of the gate.
Out on the lead, Carmouche and Goldy Espony were able to maintain a very comfortable lead of about a length for most of the race. Ortiz had his hands full with Danza Cavallo, who was a bit rank and was throwing around her head while racing on the rail. Eventually Ortiz got his horse to settle down and they fell back to third position.
A slow pace of 25.28, 51.38, and 1:17.09 coupled with an uncontested lead gave Goldy Espony a gate-to-wire victory. Brown has had a lot of success with this daughter of the Irish sire Vespone since she came to America in the summer of 2014. They won the Waya (G3) on the lead at Saratoga this year, but she developed some foot problems after finishing ninth in the Glens Falls (G3) on September 5. Clearly Brown solved those problems as she was back to top form in this her fourth win in five starts in 2015.
About the winner Brown said, "She had some foot issues we were dealing with and thankfully we got them all fixed up. Kendrick gets along really well with this filly. He's able to set a slow pace and wire them again. She's had a great season.”
Danza Cavallo inherited second position when Courtesan began to fade after a mile. This daughter of the Japanese sire Sunday Break was able to then hold off the late charge of Gotachancetodance.
“Danza Cavallo ran well,” said Brown about his second place finisher. “A mile and a half might be a touch far for her. She was just tucked in behind the eventual winner the whole way. I thought she had a good trip. She had dead aim on her heading for home and Goldy just had more. [With] Danza, it would be nice if we could just cut her back a touch. We still think she has some nice races ahead of her."
In the end the Chad Brown, French-bred duo, paid $43.40 for a $2 exacta bet. Goldy Espony returned $9.40, $5.20, $4.00, while Danza Cavallo returned $3.80, $3.10.
The final time for the twelve-furlongs was 2:31 and the winning margin was 1¼ lengths. Goldy Espony’s career stats now stand at 14: 7-1-2 and with the winner’s purse of $120,000 her earnings increase to $523,628.