Unbeaten Jack Christopher back on track after 'bittersweet' win

Louisville, Ky.

When Jack Christopher debuted an 8 3/4-length winner last August at Saratoga, trainer Chad Brown envisioned the colt racing at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

Brown spoke Saturday from the Churchill winner’s circle, but in fashion that he called “a little bittersweet.” Jack Christopher won not the 2022 Kentucky Derby, but the Grade 2, $500,000 Pat Day Mile Stakes.

“To get him to the first Saturday in May and have him roaring down the stretch and getting to the winner’s circle,” Brown said, “but not be in the race that’s a few races later, will always be in the back of my mind.”

Jack Christopher improved to 3-for-3 lifetime with his 3 3/4-length win over Pappacap in the Pat Day Mile. His only start between that race and his maiden win was a Champagne Stakes (G1) score last October at Belmont Park.

After being bumped out of the gates, Jack Christopher stalked pace setter Pappacap through the first six furlongs. He edged ahead by the three sixteenths pole and drew off to win comfortably under jockey Jose Ortiz.

“Cutting back to one mile brought my horse’s A game today,” Ortiz said. “I heard Flavien (Prat on Pappacap) asking for more and he wasn’t getting anywhere. So I was confident and waited longer so I had plenty horse for the end.”

The Derby card win may have carried bittersweet feelings for Brown but it can serve as a useful bridge for Jack Christopher between a winter on the shelf and bigger targets later in his 3-year-old season.

Jack Christopher was scratched out of November’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile the day before the race. He then underwent surgery later in the month on his left shin.

“(Dr. Larry Bramlage) came up with a plan for this horse and said, ‘This is what you need to do and should prevent you from having to stop in the future,’” Brown said. “We decided to do it and it gave him plenty of time.

“It was a big team effort, all of the rehab with the horse and the training at Payson Park with my team and such, right into the winner’s circle today. A lot of people contributed to today.”

Jack Christopher did not return in time to make the Kentucky Derby trail. His stablemate Zandon instead became Brown’s best Derby prospect, winning the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) and running a hard-fought third Saturday behind Rich Strike and Epicenter.

For Jack Christopher’s comeback, Brown wanted “a race that allowed him to stretch his legs a little bit and get him comfortable at some point in the race, protect him moving forward.”

Brown did not identify a next-race target for Jack Christopher. He noted “a distance quandary” leaving the race for a colt that has never gone further than a mile, but who the trainer thinks is capable of doing so.

“Do you cut him back?” Brown asked. “Do you stretch out? I’m very confident the horse can stretch out. But I’m not going to make any prediction that he’s definitely going to get a mile and a quarter. That’s a lot to ask. I won’t rule it out. But I certainly think he’ll go further than a mile.”

Brown compared considerations of Jack Christopher’s optimal racing distance to similar talks that took place around Ghostzapper. The trainer worked with that Hall of Fame horse while an assistant to the late Bobby Frankel.

Ghostzapper was a Grade 1-winning sprinter as a 3-year-old in 2003, winning the Vosburgh Stakes at Belmont Park. He stretched out in 2004 to 1 1/8 miles in Belmont’s Woodward Stakes (G1) and to 1 1/4 miles for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Lone Star, winning both.

“I never he thought he could go a mile-and-a-quarter until Frankel told me, ‘Watch,’” Brown said. “OK, what do I know at that point?

And like Jack Christopher, Ghostzapper had a start-and-stop nature to his early career. He went through extended layoffs after both his 2-year-old and 3-year-old seasons before earning Horse of the Year honors in 2004.

“So (Jack Christopher) reminds me a lot of that horse,” Brown said. “He’s starting to work his way up in that conversation with the same ability. He’s got a lot more to do. I think he’ll be able to handle two turns. But how far? We’ll see.”