OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown is going to use many upcoming stakes at Aqueduct to prepare his horses for the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar.
Recent Grade 1 winners Chancer McPatrick, Ways and Means, and Raging Sea all will make their next starts at Aqueduct while several 2-year-old turf horses will get the opportunity to earn their way locally to Breeders’ Cup events in November.
Brown cited the logistics of shipping horses from New York to Keeneland and then having to stay in Kentucky to train as one reason why some of his horses will prep at Aqueduct as opposed to similar spots at Keeneland. Brown said he still will have a major presence at Keeneland.
Chancer McPatrick, winner of the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes on Sept. 2 at Saratoga, will make his next start in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes here Oct. 5. Brown was considering both the Champagne and the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland the same day for Chancer McPatrick and Incentive Pay, third in the Grade 1 Hopeful. However, Incentive Pay got sick and will not race again this year, Brown said Friday, making the decision to run Chancer McPatrick in the Champagne a bit easier.
“Initially, I wanted to get a two-turn race over at Keeneland, but when I started looking at the logistics of having to van the horse down there, then train them at Keeneland where I’d rather train them in New York where I’m at, I started to really lean towards the Champagne,” Brown said.
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Brown said Chancer McPatrick was scheduled to work Saturday in Saratoga and then Brown will decide whether to keep him up there or move him to Belmont Park.
Senza Parole, a 7 3/4-length debut winner on Aug. 23 at Saratoga, is scheduled to run in the Grade 1 Frizette on Oct. 5, Brown said.
Ways and Means, winner of the Grade 1 Test, will make her next start in the Grade 2, $250,000 Gallant Bloom on Sept. 29, Brown said. Brown had thought about training Ways and Means up to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, but felt the layoff from Aug 3 to Nov. 2 was too long.
“I’d like to get another race into her,” Brown said. “The layoff might be a little too much for her.”
Raging Sea, winner of the Grade 1 Personal Ensign on Aug 23, will make her next start in the Grade 2, $250,000 Beldame on Oct. 6 as opposed to the Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland the same day. The idea of shipping to again face Idiomatic – whom Raging Sea defeated in the Personal Ensign – was not appealing to Brown before the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
“Despite her great win at Saratoga, she is still going to be a bit of an outsider in the Breeders’ Cup,” Brown said. “You don’t want to bring her there gutted.”
Brown said that Randomized, winner of the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps who finished fourth in the Personal Ensign, is on the farm but is expected to race in 2025.
Brown plans to run Grade 3 With Anticipation winner Zulu Kingdom in next Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Pilgrim Stakes for 2-year-old males on turf. Brown may have as many as three 2-year-old fillies – Marvelous Madison, Opulent Restraint, and Virgin Colada – for the Grade 2, $200,000 Miss Grillo Stakes on Sept. 29.
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