Chad Brown wins 6th consecutive Belmont training title
Chad Brown registered 32 victories to finish as the leading trainer at the Belmont spring-summer meet for the sixth consecutive year, while Jose Ortiz won the riding the title with 59 victories during the 48-day meet that began April 22 and concluded Sunday at Belmont Park. Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables led all owners with 11 wins.
Brown continued his dominance of this meet, extending his run as the top conditioner in every year since 2016. The four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer was 155: 32-29-30 with earnings of $3.68 million. His win total was five more than second-place finisher Christophe Clement. Rob Atras was third with 19 wins. Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher and Mike Maker each finished with 18 victories.
Among Brown’s accomplishments was a pair of Grade 1 wins on the Belmont Stakes undercard June 5, when Domestic Spending captured the Manhattan for 4-year-olds and up going 1 1/4 miles on the turf, and Search Results won the Acorn for sophomore fillies going a one-turn mile. Klaravich Stables owns both those winners.
“It takes a lot of good horses, loyal and patient owners and, of course, the team,” Brown said. “This meet wasn’t easy. We had a bad virus run through the barn, and that really hampered us from winning more races, but we were able to overcome it. We really just focused on getting through the meet and getting the horses healthy. Exiting the meet now, we were able to still win a lot of meaningful races, and it looks like the horses are nice and healthy heading up to Saratoga, so I’m really proud of the job they did of just persevering through a turbulent couple of months.”
NYRA’s year-ending leading trainer six years running saw his starters finish in the money 58.7 percent of the time during the spring-summer meet. The success continued the 42-year-old’s excellence at Belmont, since Brown has also earned a share of every Belmont fall meet title since 2012.
Ortiz entered closing day in a tie with his brother, Irad, who was serving a three-day suspension to conclude the meet. Jose Ortiz won twice Sunday to earn his first Belmont spring-summer riding crown since 2017. He piloted Spectatorless to victory in Sunday’s opener and guided Bella Sofia to a win in race 7.
Like Brown, Ortiz also was successful during Belmont Stakes week, winning both the Ogden Phipps (G1) aboard Letruska and with Drain the Clock in the Woody Stephens (G1) on June 5. The previous day Ortiz won aboard Firenze Fire to win the True North (G2).
For the meet, Ortiz compiled a 279: 59-47-46 record, finishing with a 21.2 winning percentage while tallying earnings of $4.93 million.
Following Irad Ortiz Jr.’s 57 wins was Manny Franco, who ended the meet with 52 wins. Joel Rosario (43) was the only other rider to crack 40 victories.
Among Jpse Ortiz’s other highlights were victories with First Captain (G3 Dwyer), Robin Sparkles (Mount Vernon), River Dog (Mike Lee) and Sadie Lady (Dancin Renee).
“It’s always great to win a meet,” Jose Ortiz said. “We all know Irad was out for some time; I wanted to win it, but I can only control what I can control. But it’s always good to have success here to get that momentum for Saratoga. If you are winning or running second or third with good horses here, they come back in races up there, and you’re going to ride them. Hopefully, you get a good head start on the meet.”
Klaravich Stables won its third consecutive Belmont spring-summer meet, posting a record of 57: 11-10-12 while also leading all owners with earnings of $1.39 million.
Klaravich teamed with Brown for a pair of Grade 1 wins with both Domestic Spending and Search Results, and those were the owner’s two stakes victories for the meet. Michael Dubb finished second with nine wins, and West Point Thoroughbreds was third with seven.