Off to strong start at Saratoga, Chad Brown looks ahead

Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown enjoyed a stellar Saturday at Saratoga, winning a record-extending ninth Grade 1, $500,000 Diana with defending victor Whitebeam and the $175,000 Kelso (G3) with Carl Spackler.

In victory Whitebeam became the eighth horse to win the historic event in back-to-back years, joining Miss Grillo in 1946 and 1947, Tempted in 1959 and 1960, Shuvee in 1970 and 1971, Hush Dear in 1982 and 1983, Glowing Honor in 1988 and 1989, Forever Together in 2008 and 2009 and Brown-trained Sistercharlie in 2018 and 2019.

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Brown, a disciple of the late Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, was keen to credit his team for their dedication to their craft and the success they help to routinely deliver in Grade 1 events at Saratoga. The first of Brown’s impressive 154 Grade 1 wins dates to the 2011 Diana with Zagora and includes past Diana winners Dacita in 2016, Lady Eli in 2017, Sistercharlie in 2018 and 2019, Rushing Fall in 2020 and In Italian in 2022.

“One of my assistant trainers, José ‘Baldo’ Hernández, has been here for every single one of our Grade 1 wins, and he’s an important member of the team,” Brown said. “Kriss Bon, the exercise rider for Whitebeam, rode Rushing Fall, and there are several team members underneath them that have been here for 15, 16 years in all different positions from hot walkers to grooms, riders, assistant trainers. It’s very rewarding. It’s really the Frankel way. We don’t have much turnover here.”

Brown said he truly appreciates the bond developed with longtime staff members like Hernández and Bon, who are hands-on with his valuable stock day in and day out.

“It’s a great working relationship to know where the horses are at,” Brown said. “When you’ve worked here this long, that feedback matters a little bit more the longer you’ve been on our team.”

Whitebeam, a 5-year-old Caravaggio mare, made the lead under Flavien Prat and hit the three-quarter-mile mark in a comfortable 1:13.76, opening up by 1 1/2 lengths at the stretch call and kicking on to the wire to score by three-quarters of a length over closing Moira with a final time of 1:48.14.

Gina Romantica, owned by Peter Brant and one of the five Brown trainees in the Diana, closed well and missed place by a nose. The other Brown trainees included fifth-place Coppice, eighth-place Fluffy Socks and ninth-place Chili Flag, who closed to win the Just a Game (G1) last out at Saratoga.

Brown joked after the race he was “all in” on Whitebeam from the half-mile onward.

“Yes, and a little bit on Gina making a move on the turn, because she wasn’t too far away, but the rest of them had their work cut out for them,” Brown said. “Whitebeam really showed up. Yes, she had things her own way, but she did kick home and really extended herself and got to the wire first, which was terrific to see. It was so nice to see Gina Romantica come back into form. It was unfortunate she lost that bob for second against another really good horse, but she was right there.

“Coppice ran much better. She had the most challenging trip of all of them. Although she was well positioned early, when the pace didn’t materialize it worked against her, because she started to pull a little bit. It was a challenging trip, but she was full of run under the wire. I think she’s set up for a good season.”

Brown noted Fluffy Socks and Chili Flag were compromised by the moderate tempo.

While some of his quintet being pointed to the $300,000 Ballston Spa (G2) on Aug. 22, Brown said he may look at trying one or more against the boys in the $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap (G1) on Aug. 10, a one-mile test for 3-year-olds and up offering a win-and-you’re-in berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 2 at Del Mar.

Chief among potential Fourstardave possibles would be Gina Romantica, who closed to finish fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile in November at Santa Anita when she was just one length behind victorious Master of The Seas.

“Chili Flag and Whitebeam are certainly horses you could consider for the Fourstardave depending who is running and such,” Brown said. “Gina Romantica was only beaten a little over a length in the Breeders’ Cup Mile by Master of The Seas, so I guess it’s in play. We’ll see.”

With the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf being contested at 1 3/8 miles in November at Del Mar, it will be interesting to see the path certain contenders take in the months ahead.

One Brown trainee that is definitely pointing to the Fourstardave is Carl Spackler, who tracked pacesetting Talk of the Nation throughout the one-mile Kelso for older horses before putting a head in front at the stretch call and taking command for good inside the final sixteenth to secure the half-length win under regular pilot Tyler Gaffalione.

The victory was a redemptive one for e5 Racing Thoroughbreds-owned Carl Spackler, who entered from a fifth-place finish in the Poker (G3) on June 8 at Saratoga as a follow-up to a gutsy head score when wide in the listed Opening Verse in May at Churchill Downs.

“He ran terrific. I was so happy to see him come back into form,” Brown said. “Now that I was able to observe this race yesterday and tie it into his training and his affinity for Saratoga, I have to believe that his race during Belmont Stakes week here where he didn’t fire must have been a bit of a hangover from that challenging trip off a layoff at Churchill.

“Yesterday we saw a horse that was fully over that race and back to his normal self. Tyler rode a great race. He made a good move in the first turn to reposition himself in the two path, and that was really the winning move.”

Brown not only trained two stakes winners on the card, he also conditioned the sire of a third stakes winner at Saratoga on Saturday. Mo Plex, a New York-bred son of Complexity, won the $175,000 Sanford (G3) for trainer Jeremiah Englehart.

Complexity has 12 winners from 16 starters putting him atop the freshman sire list in winners, progeny earnings with $648,991 and graded-stakes winners with one. He leads Vekoma by one winner with four fewer starters.

Complexity was purchased for $375,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September yearling sale. Campaigned by Klaravich Stables, the son of Maclean’s Music was an impressive debut winner in September 2018 at the Spa en route to a three-length score in that year’s Champagne (G1) at Belmont Park.

“Complexity was a horse that was so good to us,” Brown said. “He won the Champagne, and he was a brilliant winner first time out at Saratoga. He was a very precocious horse and a very likeable horse.

“I’m so pleased that the horse is off to such a good start at stud. We’ve had several graduates of our program that are off to really good starts at stud. It’s great personally, and it’s great for our business for different owners and breeding farms to see that we can make good stallions here. We’ve made plenty in a short time with horses like Complexity, Good Magic and Practical Joke. These horses are off to really good starts, and we have others in the pipeline with Jack Christopher, Early Voting and Zandon.”

Brown said the early success for Complexity is particularly special as he and his team were there through nearly all of the horse’s progression in a career that included a win in the 2020 Kelso (G2) at Belmont Park as part of a 10: 5-1-0 record for purse earnings of $616,350.

“We did buy Complexity as a yearling and developed him from yearling up, and it’s very rewarding for the whole program,” Brown said. “It’s so great to see and know that we’re doing a lot of things right. And for the industry to see, particularly major breeding farms and owners, that if part of their business plan is paying for their operations by creating stallions, that we’re certainly a good option.”

Another Brown trainee making strides towards a stallion career is Sierra Leone, who worked a half-mile solo in 48.4 seconds Sunday over the Oklahoma training track in preparation for a start in the 1 1/8-mile, $500,000 Jim Dandy (G2) on July 27 at Saratoga.

“It was more of the same. I’m liking what I’m seeing. He worked super, very similar to his last couple of works, and he galloped out with a lot of energy. I couldn’t be happier with the way he’s moving,” Brown said.

Sierra Leone captured the Risen Star (G2) in February at Fair Grounds and followed in April with a victory in Keeneland’s Blue Grass (G1). He was a close runner-up to Mystik Dan in the Kentucky Derby in May ahead of a third-place finish in the Belmont Stakes.

Campaigned by Peter Brant, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg and Brook T. Smith, Sierra Leone had worked in company training up to the Belmont but has worked solo leading into the Jim Dandy.

“In observing the horse as he’s changed and matured with more races under his belt, I wanted to change a couple things about my approach with him,” Brown said. “Minor changes, and that was one of them. I wanted to see how he reacted to it, and I’m very pleased with how it’s going.”

Brown said Sierra Leone is training forwardly into the Jim Dandy, which will serve as a prep for the Spa’s $1.25 million Travers (G1) on Aug. 24.

“The horse has remarkable consistency with his physical and mental constitution. He’s remained the same the whole season,” Brown said.

Domestic Product, owned by Klaravich Stables, also is heading to the Travers day card with an eye toward a start in the seven-furlong, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial (G1).

The talented colt won the Tampa Bay Derby (G3) in March ahead of a 13th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. He landed second in the listed Pegasus on June 15 at Monmouth Park, the local prep for Saturday’s Haskell (G1), but returned instead on short rest to dominate the one-turn-mile Dwyer (G3) on July 6 at Belmont at the Big A in place of stablemate General Partner.

His sire, Practical Joke, won the 2017 Dwyer two starts before a win in that year’s H. Allen Jerkens.

“I subbed him in there, and he ran the best race of his career, certainly. It makes sense to keep him at one turn at this point,” Brown said. “Now that he has had two races in three weeks, I’ll freshen him up and run in the Jerkens. It worked with the sire.”

Brown, a six-time leading trainer at the Spa, has three wins at the current meet, which is good for a tie for the lead with Hall of Famers Mark Casse and Bill Mott and his former assistant Cherie DeVaux.