Stars & Stripes Day 'Terrific Day' for Chad Brown Barn

Trainer Chad Brown took Stars & Stripes Day by storm, saddling back-to-back winners in the Grade 2, $500,000 Suburban Handicap and the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Oaks with Zivo and Minorette, respectively.

Deliberation on whether or not to run Zivo, who is a homebred owned by Thomas Coleman, continued right up until Saturday morning.

"We entered him to take a look," said Brown. "He was in good form. Obviously, we couldn't be happier that we entered him. He ran a great race."

Less than an hour later, Minorette took the Belmont Oaks with a perfect trip under jockey Joel Rosario, who snapped a streak of three straight stakes wins for Jose Lezcano.

"We couldn't be more pleased with Minorette; she ran to her workouts," said Brown. "She had been breezing like she was ready to run a big race and she ran exceptionally."

Brown, who also saddled Bobby's Kitten in the Belmont Derby and Last Gunfighter in the Suburban, was understandably pleased with the inaugural Stars & Stripes Day.

"Overall, it was a terrific day of racing and we were happy to be a part of such a purse-rich card," said Brown. "It was great for the whole barn; they work really hard and it was nice for them to be rewarded, as well as my clients."