Keeneland news: Brown barn readies formidable stakes contingent
Trainer Chad Brown, who is rolling toward a fourth consecutive $20 million year in stable earnings, is ready to pick up where he left off last spring when he won four graded stakes at Keeneland.
Brown has six runners entered in Saturday’s three Grade 1 races. Those horses arrived at Keeneland midweek under the care of assistant Whit Beckman.
The First Lady (G1) trio of 5-year-olds A Raving Beauty, Quidura and 6-year-old Off Limits are all multiple graded stakes winners as is the 6-year-old Almanaar in the Shadwell Turf Mile (G1).
Almanaar will be joined in the Shadwell by Analyze It, the lone 3-year-old in the field of 14.
A winner of his first three starts, including a Spring Meet tally in the Transylvania (G3) here, Anaylze It has finished second in his next three starts, losing in photos each time.
“He made the lead so easy and then to get caught late was frustrating,” Beckman said. “This is a good spot and he has run well here before.”
Prior to the Shadwell Turf Mile, Brown will send out Standar Deviation in the $500,000 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1). Standard Deviation will break from post position 14 in the 1 1/16-mile race.
“The 14 spot is not ideal,” Beckman said of Standard Deviation, who won his lone start by 2¾ lengths at Saratoga at 7 furlongs in a race taken off the turf.
“There had been a lot of rain at Saratoga, and he entered in case it came off the turf,” Whitman said. “He has breezed well on the dirt, and he’s a Curlin out of an A.P. Indy mare.”
Next week, Brown figures to have two major stakes players with Fierce Scarlett in the JPMorgan Chase Jessamine (G2) and Rushing Fall in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Presented by Lane’s End (G1).
Winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) last year, Rushing Fall is scheduled to arrive here Sunday, according to Beckman.
DIVISIDERO RETURNS FOR ANOTHER TRY IN SHADWELL TURF MILE
Gunpowder Farms’ Divisidero, a game fourth in last year’s Shadwell Turf Mile (G1), will try again in the same race on Saturday. The 6-year-old son of Kitten’s Joy is coming off a fifth-place effort in the Ricoh Woodbine Mile (G1) after taking the Arlington Handicap (G3) in July and finishing third in the Fourstardave (G1) in August.
Divisidero is trained by Kelly Rubley, a former school administrator who obtained her trainer’s license in 2014 after working as an exercise rider and assistant to others. She accepted Divisidero into her stable following last year’s Shadwell Turf Mile when his connections reasoned the horse would thrive in the tranquil setting of Fair Hill training center in Maryland where he can enjoy outdoor leisure time in a small paddock area.
“He goes out every day to have some fun before he trains,” Divisidero’s exercise rider, Pedro Nazaro, said Friday morning. “If the ground is dry, he will go in the paddock where he can eat some grass, but if it is too wet he will go in the smaller round pen.”
Divisidero’s conditioning alternates between gallops on Fair Hill’s all-weather track and the turf surfaces. In the afternoons, a handler takes him out again for 15 minutes of grazing.
In 21 career starts, Divisidero has a 6-3-4 record and has earned $1,317,019. When previously trained by Buff Bradley, he won such races as the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (G1) twice and American Turf (G2) at Churchill Downs.
EUROPEAN RUNNERS TAKE AIM AT FIRST LADY
Saturday’s 21st running of the $400,000 First Lady (G1) will feature a distinctive European flavor with Godolphin’s Crown Walk (GB) and Mr. P.K. Siu’s Indian Blessing (GB) crossing the pond for the 1-mile grass test.
The First Lady is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race with the winner receiving a fees-paid berth into the Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) to be run at 1 3/8 miles at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.
“Grade 1s are hard to come by,” said Jimmy Bell, president of Darley America, before Crown Walk trained on the main track under Emile Eddaou. “She has raced at that level of competition and European form has held up well here.”
Crown Walk, the lone 3-year-old in the field of 10, has compiled a record of 4-2-2-0 on turf. In her most recent race, she was second in the Prix Rothschild (G1) at Deauville on July 29 on a course labeled good to soft.
“She has run well on soft and heavy ground and judging by driving around this morning, there is a pretty good chance of that tomorrow,” Bell said.
Trained by Henri-Alex Pantall, Crown Walk will be ridden by Mike Smith, who won the First Lady in 2001 with Spook Express (SAF) and in 2010 with Proviso (GB).
The 4-year-old Indian Blessing will be making her second U.S. start for trainer Ed Walker. She was third in the Ballston Spa (G2) at Saratoga in August. According to exercise rider Charles Guet, the lure of a Grade 1 was a big reason for the return to the States.
“There are not that many Grade 1s for fillies, and she has always been better the second part of the year,” Guet said. “So why not try again?”
Indian Blessing has trained two mornings here, and Guet says the filly is equally adept on firm or soft going.
“She doesn’t necessarily need soft footing,” Guet said the morning after overnight rain saturated Keeneland. “But I don’t think she wants it too heavy.”
Feargal Lynch will have the mount Saturday.