New York raiders set sights on Virginia Derby

New Kent, Va.

Trainer Chad Brown has saddled graded stakes starters on turf at 17 tracks since 2019 with wins at 15 of them, but none of them have occurred at Colonial Downs.

The New Kent track will play host to the $300,000 Virginia Derby (G3) on Tuesday and with it Brown's first starter since Colonial reopened in 2019. The trainer's presence is always an imposing one, especially coming off a summer in which the Brown operation won a third of the graded stakes on turf at Saratoga.

Klaravich Stables' Unanimous Consent is the 3-1 morning line favorite for the 1 1/8-mile Virginia Derby, entering the race off the only loss of his career when fourth behind Emmanuel in the Pennine Ridge Stakes on June 4 at Belmont Park.

The Brown-trainer Almanzor colt had company on the ride from New York, however, as a pair of Racing Hall of Fame trainers are taking their Virginia Derby shots as well: Todd Pletcher sends Capensis while Shug McGaughey ships Limited Liability, who actually finished ahead of Unanimous Consent in the Pennine Ridge.

Both Pletcher and McGaughey have had success at Colonial since the 2019 reopening. Pletcher is 4-for-7, including 2-for-3 in stakes while McGaughey is 9-for-36 but 0-for-4 in stakes.

Overall since 2019, horses who made their last start at either Belmont Park or Saratoga Race Course are 4-for-21 in turf stakes at Colonial Downs. The last to do it was Red Knight, who won the Colonial Cup in July with Horacio Karamanos up for Mike Maker. That pair will team with Camp David for that Pioneerof the Nile colt's turf debut.

The closest entrant to a "local" among the top contenders might be Royal Patronage. The Wootton Bassett colt tried Grade 1 company in his first two American starts but now ships to this Grade 3 event from trainer H. Graham Motion's Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland with jockey Joel Rosario retaining the mount.

"This is definitely a step back in class and the distance will help as will adding Lasix," Motion said. "I wish perhaps I had skipped the Saratoga (Derby), as he had a lot of racing, but it's great to have Rosario back."

In fact, with Saratoga closing Monday, all the invaders gets so-called "big-name" riders: the aforementioned Rosario stays with Royal Patronage while Manny Franco is on Unanimous Consent and Jose Ortiz on Limited Liability. The only change is Irad Ortiz is on Capensis because his brother stayed with the McGaughey.

The Virginia Derby is race 10 on the 11-race card that features several other stakes. The lone Pick 5 of the day ends starts in race 6 at 4:05 p.m. EDT, features a 12 percent takeout, and ends with the Virginia Derby at 6:14 p.m EDT. First post is 1:45 p.m. EDT.