Weep not for Chad Brown, a multiple Eclipse Award-winning trainer whose starters, dating to his career debut in 2007, have earned nearly $310 million in purses, and who, barring the unforeseen, has many good years still ahead of him. Nor is it necessary to shed a tear for John Stewart’s Resolute Racing. Stewart, a private equity baron, owns more than 200 Thoroughbreds.
Yet many felt an injustice was done Saturday at Keeneland in the Grade 1, $650,000 Jenny Wiley Stakes. The Brown-trained, Resolute-owned Excellent Truth, making her first start for connections after Stewart bought the French-bred mare at a December auction for about $1.7 million, finished second behind Choisya in the Jenny Wiley, but only after Choisya came out several paths with about a furlong of the 1 1/16-mile grass race remaining, doing so just as Flavien Prat on Excellent Truth tried to come between Choisya and eventual third-place finisher Kehoe Beach.
It was clear in live action that Prat had checked his mount, who regained momentum and was closing on Choisya again at the wire, but while Prat lodged an objection against the winner, the stewards never launched an official inquiry. And, after a relatively short period of deliberation, they judged that no foul had been committed, that the results would stand.
“It was certainly disappointing that there was no change, and it was certainly surprising there was no inquiry when Flavien took up on deep stretch,” Brown said in a Sunday phone interview. Brown felt Choisya clearly came out several paths and kept Excellent Truth from winning, and that she should have been disqualified. “That said, these things are part of being involved in professional sports. Part of that is a lot of outcomes in very meaningful events are left to some element of human error. That’s just the way it is. I’m just putting it in a compartment and moving on.”
Excellent Truth, a 5-year-old whose high-water mark during her French career came when she finished second last July – her final start in France – in the Group 1 Prix Rothschild, showed she belongs at the top of the American middle-distance older-female turf division. The mare doesn’t possess lightning-fast acceleration – Brown said Prat told him as much after the Jenny Wiley – but she should slot in competitively in races between one mile and 1 1/4 miles.
Accordingly, Brown said he’s considering both the one-mile Just a Game and the 1 3/16-mile New York, both June 6 at Saratoga, for Excellent Truth’s next start. The faster pace in the shorter race, Brown said, might provide Excellent Truth with the better setup.
In Friday’s turf Grade 1, the Maker’s Mark Mile, Brown’s entrant, the odds-on favorite Carl Spackler, left nothing to chance, turning in one of the best performances of his career – if not the very best – posting a 4 1/4-length score over the multiple Grade 1-placed Integration. Traveling like a winner from the start, Carl Spackler swept to the lead at the quarter pole without being asked and totally dominated, his 1:36.56 over a “good” course producing a 104 Beyer Speed Figure.
Brown said that both Excellent Truth and Carl Spackler, owing to weather, missed their final timed workouts before their respective starts.
“For him to run like that after a layoff and missing his last work, very proud of his effort,” Brown said.
Five-year-old Carl Spackler won the Grade 1 Fourstardave last summer at Saratoga and the Grade 1 Turf Mile last fall at Keeneland before finishing sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. Brown believes a wide draw and a wide trip led to Carl Spackler taking a step back from his peak.
Carl Spackler, like Excellent Truth, ships from Kentucky to New York, but Brown hasn’t mapped out a plan for the horse – other than getting to the Breeders’ Cup Mile in the best shape possible. The one-mile Poker, a $300,000 Grade 3 on June 5 at Saratoga, is a possibility: Carl Spackler obviously is a Grade 1 horse, but the Poker could bridge the gap between the Maker’s Mark and more important races – at one mile or a little longer.
“I think this horse will run farther than a mile if I need him to,” Brown said.
Another half-furlong, another furlong – no one was beating Carl Spackler in the Maker’s Mark.
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