SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It’s very rare for one trainer to saddle four horses in any stakes race. It’s even rarer when that particular event is carded around these parts on the turf and that trainer is not Chad Brown.
But that will be the case Wednesday at Saratoga when trainer Horacio De Paz sends out four of the nine likely starters in the $125,000 Suzie O’Cain, including likely favorite Awesome Czech. De Paz’s potent quartet also features stakes-placed Munny Grab, likely pacesetter Red Burgundy, and the lightly raced but promising Downtown Channel. The Suzie O’Cain will be run at 1 1/16 miles on turf for 3-year-old New York-bred fillies, weather permitting, and is the second leg of a pick six that starts with a carryover of $107,459.
“I feel lucky if I get to start four horses here in one day, let alone four in one race,” De Paz said with a laugh. “I don’t recall ever having done that before.”
Awesome Czech has improved on a steady basis since De Paz first put her on turf to win her maiden last fall at Aqueduct. She also is coming off the two best races of her career with the two highest Beyer Speed Figures of any member of this field, excluding Landed, who is entered for the main track only. She posted a 79 Beyer in her fourth-place finish against open company when launching her 2024 campaign in the Wild Applause Stakes and earned a 78 for her victory when returning to statebred competition under allowance conditions earlier this meet.
“She really needed that race in the stakes at Aqueduct and she also needed to go further than a mile,” De Paz said. “It was nice to see her come back to win in allowance company versus New York-breds. She came out of race in good order, and I’m looking forward to running her in this spot.”
Munny Grab also has improved from a Beyer standpoint since De Paz first put her on grass to finish fifth in the Memories of Silver Stakes this spring at Aqueduct. She is coming off a similarly strong effort when rallying from last to finish third against older, second-level statebred allowance company here July 24.
“She won a couple of races on dirt, but she really seemed to take a liking to the turf once I finally tried her on it,” DePaz noted. “And I thought that was a very gutsy effort against older fillies last time. She finished up very well.”
Red Burgundy has not started since finishing a tiring eighth against open stakes competition in the Chelsey Flower last fall at Aqueduct. She will race with the blinkers off in her 2024 bow.
“I think I brought her back a little too quick in that stakes last year,” De Paz said. “And to complicate matters, she and Awesome Czech kind of interfered with each other’s trip during the race. I took the blinkers off because she’s been training very forwardly without them. I wouldn’t dismiss her coming off the freshening.”
Downtown Channel will be making only her fourth start and first in a stakes in the Suzie O’Cain.
“It’s somewhat of an ambitious spot, but the race she won over this track on Belmont weekend was pretty impressive,” De Paz said. “She just needs to continue to improve, although being by English Channel, we might not see the best of her until she’s six or seven.”
The De Paz quartet could face their stiffest challenge from Summer Whirl, a late-running maiden winner here just 18 days earlier for trainer Graham Motion; Boxed Wine, who rallied to be third behind Awesome Czech in the pair’s most recent meeting; or stakes winner Brocknardini, who is making just her second start since capturing the Selima by 2 1/4 lengths in her 2-year-old finale last fall at Laurel.