Saratoga: Brown enters 4 in pursuit of 5th Lake Placid win

Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown has entered four contenders in pursuit of a record-extending fifth win in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Lake Placid for sophomore fillies traveling 1 1/16 miles over the inner turf at Saratoga.

Headlining the foursome is Surge Capacity, who enters from a graded-stakes debut score in the Lake George (G3) on July 21 over yielding Saratoga inner turf. The dark bay daughter of Flintshire and half-sister to graded stakes-winner Highly Motivated won on debut going the Lake Placid distance on June 10 over firm Monmouth Park footing.

“She’s done nothing wrong in her first two starts, she’s an exciting horse that’s lightly raced,” Brown said. “I’m hoping to see some more development from her.”

Also from the Brown stable is Lake George runner-up Tax Implications, who has finished second in all three of her prior stakes endeavors. The Mehmas chestnut broke her maiden by an emphatic 6 3/4 lengths in September at Monmouth Park before finishing second beaten one length in the Chelsey Flower on Oct. 28 at Belmont at the Big A. She returned in June to finish second beaten three-quarters of a length behind stablemate Liguria in the Wild Applause before rounding out the exacta by the same margin in the Lake George.

“She has been a bit of a hard-luck horse. She was finishing last out like maybe she can get the 1 1/16-miles, we’ll see," Brown said.

The remaining entries from Brown will see a cutback in distance from the Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1) on July 8.

Prerequisite entered the 10-furlong Belmont Oaks Invitational, where she finished a pacesetting second, from a win in the Wonder Again (G2) on June 11 at Belmont Park. There, she displayed front-running tactics for the first time and fended off a late rally from Be Your Best to win by a neck.

The Upstart bay made her career debut when fourth in a key maiden test going one mile over the Gulfstream Park turf, finishing behind next-out winners Spansive and Lake Placid aspirant Gloria’s Princess. She graduated at second asking when stretching out to nine furlongs over the Belmont inner turf on May 7.

“She’s been very honest and impressive in her development with how far she’s come. She seems to come into the race the right way and I don’t think the cutback will bother her,” Brown said.

Rounding out Brown’s quartet is Aspray, who finished an even fourth in the Belmont Oaks as the second choice. The Quality Road bay arrives from an unbeaten record in three starts, including a stakes win in the Hilltop on May 19 at Pimlico Race Course.

“She needs more pace to run at,” Brown commented. “Flavien was very adamant after her last race that we need to cut the horse back, which I agreed with.”

Trainer Brad Cox will send out Heavenly Sunday in pursuit of her second graded stakes conquest. The dark bay Candy Ride filly boasts field-high $473,133 in earnings and a consistent 6: 3-1-2 record, which includes a gate-to-wire triumph by three-quarters of a length two starts back in the Edgewood (G2) on May 5 at Churchill Downs.

Heavenly Sunday enters the Lake Placid from a half-length defeat in the Tepin on July 1 going one mile at Ellis Park, a race that saw third-place finisher Safeen come back to win the Pucker Up (G3).

“It was good – real good,” Cox said of her most recent effort. “She was second and she had had some time between that. We were using that as a filler for this. This has been our goal since the Edgewood. We’ll see how it goes.”

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher will saddle two in pursuit of his first Lake Placid conquest since Wait a While in 2006.

Junipermarshmallow is unbeaten in two starts and makes her sophomore debut after a last-out triumph in the 7 1/2-furlong Wait a White in December at Gulfstream Park. The Quality Road dark bay broke her maiden in October going 1 1/16 miles at Keeneland, defeating eventual dual stakes winner Botanical by three-quarters of a length.

Soviet Excess was a two-time winner at Gulfstream Park this spring before shipping to Belmont Park to finish third in the Wild Applause.

Completing the field is Gloria’s Princess, who makes her stakes debut for trainer Brendan Walsh, who captured this event with Proctor’s Ledge in 2017.

The gray daughter of Cairo Prince broke her maiden by 6 1/2 lengths on May 3 going 1 1/16 miles over the Churchill Downs turf before defeating winners last out in a one-mile allowance event on June 25 at Ellis Park.

Leave No Trace and Undervalued Asset have been entered for the main track only.

The Lake Placid is slated as race 7 on Saturday’s 11-race program, with a post time of 4:26 p.m. EDT.