Brown's Big Three chase last Breeders' Cup hurrah

Trainer Chad Brown searches for one last hurrah with three of the game’s brightest turf stars at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

Rushing Fall, Sistercharlie (IRE) and Uni (GB) each own a Breeders’ Cup victory. They have combined for 17 Grade 1 wins and earnings of $8,889,883.

“You can make a Hall of Fame case for all three of those horses,” said Brown.

Indeed, you can. And another Breeders’ Cup win would help seal the Hall of Fame deal for any member of his Big Three in their career finales.

Rushing Fall might have done enough already even if she does not deliver as the 5-2 favorite from post six in the Filly & Mare Turf for jockey Javier Castellano. The six-time Grade 1 winner joins Beholder and Lady Eli as the only females in the modern era to win Grade 1 races at 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Her latest Grade 1 was particularly memorable because she defended her title in the Jenny Wiley at Keeneland while setting a course record of 1:39.02 for the 1 1/16-mile contest. Her first Grade 1 occurred at the Breeders’ Cup, in the Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Six-year-old Sistercharlie, who has only a pair of third-place finishes in two starts this season, will need to reach back to her glorious past if she is to threaten her stablemate in the Filly & Mare Turf. She is 6-1 in the Filly & Mare Turf and will have John Velazquez aboard from post two. The seven-time Grade 1 winner captured this event two years ago to earn the Eclipse Award as champion turf female and took third in 2019.

Sistercharlie rattled off six consecutive Grade 1 triumphs for owner Peter Brant in a torrid stretch that began with the Diana at Saratoga on July 21, 2018, and closed with the Flower Bowl at Belmont Park on Oct. 6, 2019. She is the top earner among Brown’s Big Three, with $3,746,003 in purses.

Uni, also 6, dusted males in last year’s Mile, leading to the Eclipse Award. She is back to battle the boys again. She allayed fears that she had lost a step or two when she rebounded from a perplexing seventh-place finish in the Aug. 22 Fourstardave at Saratoga by successfully defending her title in the Oct. 3 First Lady at Keeneland. She is listed as the 5-1 second choice from post 12 with Joel Rosario aboard. Ivar, a tepid top choice at 4-1, starts just to her inside for Joe Talamo.

An indication of how much Brown has targeted the Breeders’ Cup for his three veterans is that they have made a combined eight starts this season. Rushing Fall and Sistercharlie have not competed since they came in first and third, respectively, in the Aug. 23 Diana at Saratoga.

Brown’s history suggests he will have his horses as ready as they can be. He has gained 15 Breeders’ Cup victories, including three last year.

Bob Edwards, who owns Rushing Fall in the name of e Five Racing Thoroughbreds, noted the quality the barn’s horses keep whenever they work together.

He said of Rushing Fall, “She’s been sparring with Uni and some of the great horses in Chad’s barn. She might have time off from the (starting) gate, but she’s been working with Grade 1 winners and Eclipse winners.”

Brown’s Big Three played a huge role in his ability to sweep the Eclipse Award as the leading trainer in North America the last four years. He will sorely miss them as they go off to their second careers as broodmares.

“They are hard to replace, but it is part of professional sports. Players retire,” he said. “If you are a college coach, they go on to the draft and you say, ‘Wow, what a class I had. How do I do it again?’ You have to. You go and recruit and, in some way, they come.”

For Brown’s powerhouse operation, they always do.