Chili Flag broke through at the top level in the Grade 1 Just a Game on Friday for Brown. (Janet Garaguso)
Belmont Stakes Racing Festival Notes
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After three days of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival that saw his runners produce a 4-1-1 record from 26 starters, Chad Brown reported that all is copacetic with his stable stars.
“All came out well and I have not decided on definite races for any of them,” said the four-time Eclipse Award-winner for Outstanding Trainer.
Among his outstanding performances were a pair from Klaravich Stables’ arsenal of talented sophomores, Grade 1 Champagne runner-up General Partner and Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks fourth Ways and Means.
The former returned for the first time since a sixth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to defeat older horses going one mile in the Saturday opener. The five-length victory in a smart time of 1:35.24 begat a 101 Beyer Speed Figure. The latter was a one-sided winner of a Thursday allowance out of the same Wilson Chute, finishing up the mile in 1:35.90 and earning a 104.
Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb and Michael E. Kisber’s Chili Flag broke through at the top level in the Grade 1 Just a Game on Friday, landing her third consecutive graded stakes. It was a record-extending seventh victory in the race for Brown and opened doors to even more Grade 1 opportunities this summer, including the nine-furlong Diana on July 13. Much the same can be said for at least a half-dozen others among the famed ‘Murderers’ Row’ of Brown-trained turf fillies and mares, including Juddmonte’s Just a Game runner-up and defending Diana champ Whitebeam.
Klaravich color-bearer Randomized returned to winning ways and underlined her affinity for The Spa in Saturday’s Grade 1 Ogden Phipps, her fifth career win and second at the top level. One would assume that—all things considered—last year’s Grade 1 Alabama presented by Keeneland Sales winner will surely have the Grade 1 Personal Ensign on Travers Day, August 24, on her radar.
Speaking of the Travers, Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets third-placed beaten favorite Sierra Leone likely and intuitively has that race circled, though nothing has been confirmed by connections. Upstate-born and -based Brown seeks his first Travers trophy.
