SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown said impressive debut maiden winner Blazing Sevens is a possible candidate for the seven-furlong Grade 1, $300,000 Hopeful on September 5 at Saratoga Race Course.
Owned by Rodeo Creek Racing, Blazing Sevens was coaxed from his outside post under Manny Franco and maintained outside stalking position down the backstretch before launching a bid around the far turn. Blazing Sevens and pacesetter Bourbon Bash separated themselves from the rest of the eight-horse field with the former taking command by the stretch call and powering home a 6 1/4-length winner. He produced a 78 Beyer Speed Figure for his debut triumph.
“The most likely thing would be to run him in the Hopeful, which would be my top choice,” Brown said. “It just makes sense. There are more maidens to break here and you’re going to see a lot of nice horses debut. It seems like right now, there’s a lot more racing to go. He’ll appreciate a little extra distance and then beyond that, I think he’s really a two-turn horse. I was impressed that he was able to win going six furlong because that will be the last time he ever runs six furlongs, I’ll tell you that.”
Brown said he was pleased to see Rodeo Creek Racing proprietors John and Carla Capeck find a good horse so early in their ownership.
“They’ve only owned horses a couple years. This is the second crop of horses they’ve had, and it seems like they have a really talented colt,” Brown said.
Blazing Sevens is a son of freshman sire Good Magic, a champion and dual Grade 1-winner who also was trained by Brown. Bought for $225,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale from the Eaton Sales consignment, Blazing Sevens is the first progeny out of the dual-winning Warrior’s Reward mare Trophy Girl – a half-sister to Grade 1-winner King David.
Five races later on Sunday, Brown alumna Practical Joke, a leading second crop sire and winner of the 2016 Hopeful, was represented by debut winning filly Kaling for Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher.
“That was a nice day of racing for me to see two young stallions that we had campaigned already off to a really good start,” Brown said. “It makes me feel a little older, but it’s good to see them go on to their second career and show that they’re successful.”
Brown is also eyeing stakes action for Klaravich Stables’ Appraise (IRE), who broke his maiden in the Friday opener at 11-1 odds under Franco.
The bay son of Kodiac was a close third, sitting two lengths off the pace, as Clubhouse and Alibi Ike duked it out up front. He made a sweeping move at the top of the stretch from the three path and battled with late-closer Inflation Nation in the final sixteenth to win by a head in a final time of 1:02.40 for the 5 1/2 furlongs over the turf.
Brown mentioned the possibility of targeting the $150,000 Skidmore on August 19 at Saratoga with the Grade 1 Summer on September 17 at Woodbine as a long term goal.
“I’m not sure if I want to keep him at five and a half and run him in a stake later in the meet, which I might do, and then maybe run in the Summer at Woodbine, which is a nice race to stretch out from a sprint to a mile,” Brown said.
Appraise was bought for just over $250,000 by Mike Ryan at the 2021 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale overseas. He is out of the Captain Rio mare Champagne Or Water, a nine-furlong stakes-winner in her native Ireland.
NYRA Press Office
Photo: Blazing Sevens winning his debut at Saratoga on July 24 under Manny Franco. (NYRA/Coglianese)
