Team Brown Hits Worktab for Super Saturday Stakes

Trainer Chad Brown had ample representation on Belmont Park's worktab on Saturday, as he sent out five horses who are under consideration for TVG Super Saturday stakes.

 

Next Saturday, September 27, Belmont will host six graded stakes worth a total of $3.4 million.

 

Topping the list is the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational, a 1 ¼-mile race for 3-year-olds and up. This morning, Brown's pair of Jockey Club Gold Cup contenders - Thomas Coleman's Zivo and John D. Gunther's Last Gunfighter - breezed five furlongs in company in 59.50 seconds on the main track.

 

Zivo won the Grade 2 Suburban Handicap over the Jockey Club Gold Cup's course and distance in July before finishing fourth in the Grade 1, 1 1/8-mile Woodward on August 30 at Saratoga Race Course. Last Gunfighter, a four-time graded stakes winner, was sixth in the Woodward.

 

"I thought they breezed terrifically," said Brown. "They went together, were equal. I thought they both breezed great."

 

Zivo is probable for the Gold Cup, and Brown and Gunther will make a final decision on Last Gunfighter's status later this week, the trainer said.

 

Ken and Sarah Ramsey's Real Solution and Stephanie's Kitten together traveled five furlongs on the turf in 1:01.92. Real Solution is aiming for the Grade 1, $600,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational at 1 ½ miles, with Stephanie's Kitten pointed toward the Grade 1, $600,000 Flower Bowl Invitational for fillies and mares at 1 ¼ miles. Both have already posted Grade 1 scores on the Belmont Park turf course, with Real Solution having won the Grade 1 Knob Creek Manhattan in June and Stephanie's Kitten taking the 2013 Grade 1 Longines Just a Game.

Also probable for the Flower Bowl is Alterite, who is owned by Martin Schwartz. Alterite, victorious in the 2013 Grade 1 Garden City at Belmont, breezed five furlongs in 1:01.30 in company with Minorette, who is on target for the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup.

 

Source: NYRA Communications