Newspaperofrecord runs away with Belmont's Miss Grillo Stakes

Trainer Chad Brown might have another special turf filly on his hands. 

Debut winner Newspaperofrecord ran away with the Grade 2, $200,000 Miss Grillo Stakes at Belmont Park Sunday, the same race that propelled Brown trainees Lady Eli and New Money Honey to wins in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

“I was feeling pretty good turning for home,” Brown said, “Her ears popped, and it looked like she was just galloping. You really never know until you turn them loose. She was loaded and pretty impressive, and (jockey Irad Ortiz Jr.) geared her down just in the shadow of the wire.

"Obviously, we're going to run in the Breeders' Cup, so hopefully she didn't do much today.”

Newspaperofrecord earned even-money favoritism in the Miss Grillo following her Aug. 19 debut at Saratoga. She ran 1 1/16 miles over a yielding turf course and won by 6 ¾ lengths.

The Irish-bred daughter of Lope de Vega stepped up in the Miss Grillo to face Miss Technicality, a big winner in Kentucky Downs’ Exacta Systems Juvenile Fillies Stakes, and the one-two finishers from Saratoga’s P. G. Johnson Stakes, stablemate Dogtag and Varenka. 

Newspaperofrecord broke sharp and set quarter fractions of 23.44, 48.26, and 1:12.76 up front. Dogtag, Varenka and Miss Technicality were all settled in the second half of the field. The yielding surface again proved to be no problem for Newspaperofrecord, who quickly turned away her competition.

Miss Technicality, who was fractious heading to the gate, went to the outside but could not sustain her run. Dogtag, wove through traffic and split horses to the inside of Miss Technicality, but she too could not catch up with her stablemate. Varenka was one who came closest on the rail, finishing second.

“She was relaxed the whole way,” Ortiz Jr. said. “When we broke, she went out in front and put her ears up right away. I let her relax and be happy and then I took a hold of her and tried to slow it down; 23.44 on a soft track is not easy. She's really nice.”

Newspaperofrecord couldn’t have even known she was being chased. She continued to open up and won by 6 ½ lengths, finishing the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.11.

Varenka, Stellar Agent, Dogtag, Miss Technicality, No More Fast Women, Virginia Eloise, Kitty’s Legacy and Decorated Ace completed the order of finish. Takecahrge Mirella was scratched.

The Miss Grillo makes Newspaperofrecord a perfect two-for-two for Klaravich Stables, who purchased the filly for $278,019 at the Tattersalls October 2017 yearling sale.

“She needs to go on and take the next step to do it, but she is certainly on her way,” Brown said of heading to the Breeders’ Cup. “We knew in her debut she was something special, and it's nice to see them perform in the afternoon that way if they're training brilliant in the morning.

“These horses, no matter what condition they're in, it's so rare to have a brilliant horse that when you find them, you hope they carry that on to the afternoon as this one certainly has.”