Brown leans toward Allen Jerkens for Chancer McPatrick

Dual Grade 1-winner Chancer McPatrick earned both his first win around two turns and his highest Beyer Speed Figure from Daily Racing Form to date, a 94, for a determined head victory in Thursday’s $135,000 Curlin, a nine-furlong route at Saratoga for sophomores who had not won a graded stakes at one mile or over in 2025.

Trained by five-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown for Flanagan Racing, the son of McKinzie rebounded from a distant seventh over a muddy track in the seven-furlong Woody Stephens (G1) on June 7.

Click here for Saratoga entries and results.

Ridden in the Curlin by Irad Ortiz, Jr. for the first time in the afternoon, Chancer McPatrick stalked the pace with inside position through the first half-mile before advancing in the turn while favored stablemate Strategic Focus made a bold move to take command from the pacesetting Crudo before flattening out. So Sandy made his move to challenge down the center of the track and bumped with Chancer McPatrick right at the wire, but Chancer McPatrick would not be denied and got his head down in a final time of 1:49.71.

While Chancer McPatrick has now won around two turns, Brown said a cutback in distance could be preferable to a stretch-out to 10 furlongs in the Travers (G1) on Aug. 23. The logical place to do so would be the seven-furlong H. Allen Jerkens Memorial (G1) on the same day, a race Brown has won three times with Practical Joke in 2017, Jack Christopher in 2022 and with Domestic Product last year.

“He’s fine, it was a gutsy performance and I’m glad to get him back on track,” Brown said of Chancer McPatrick. “I don’t know which direction we’re going, but I’m probably leaning towards the Allen Jerkens. I’m not sure he wants to run much farther than (the Curlin). I’ll talk to the owner about that.”

Practical Joke and Jack Christopher both won the Jerkens when cutting back from nine furlongs, and Brown said the same tactic may work for Chancer McPatrick. 

“Cutbacks have worked for me in that race. It’s going to be a tough race, but we’ll see,” Brown concluded.

Strategic Focus was favored in the Curlin off a nine-furlong optional claiming effort on June 6 here that saw him disqualified and placed second, awarding him a 102 Beyer. He made his eye-catching move in the second turn of the Curlin, but stalled once he made the front and was defeated a half-length.

Brown said he has no immediate plans for the son of Gun Runner’s next start.

“He looks good, and I don’t know (what’s next). I may try an equipment change, and he came back looking fine, but when he made the lead, he just dropped the bridle,” Brown explained. “When he made the lead in his last start, he had some steering issues. There’s something with this horse when he makes the lead, and I’m going to have to figure that out.”

On Friday, Brown sent out several trainees to breeze over the Oklahoma turf training track, including multiple graded stakes-winner Zulu Kingdom, who NYRA clockers caught covering a half-mile in 49.70 seconds in company with Grade 2-placed Early Adopter.

Zulu Kingdom, a sophomore son of Ten Sovereigns, was last seen posting a three-quarter-length victory over Capitol Hill in the Manila (G3) on July 4. The Grade 1-winning ridgling is pointing to the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (G1) on Aug. 1.

“Excellent, he’s on target for the Hall of Fame,” Brown said of the work. “He looks good.”