NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.— Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown sent out a set of some of racing’s most recognizable turf females to work Friday over Saratoga Race Course’s Oklahoma turf training track. The quartet was led by Grade 1-winners Whitebeam, Gina Romantica and McKulick, the latter of which breezed in company with Grade 2-placed Coppice.
Shortly after 10:00 a.m., the tetrad stepped onto the turf course with Whitebeam taking off first to cover five eighths in 1:00 and 3/5 seconds, according to NYRA clockers. Gina Romantica followed soon after in 1:00 and 1/5, while McKulick, with Coppice to her inside, followed with a breeze at the same distance in 1:01 and 4/5.
“Whitebeam went great, super,” said Brown. “Then Gina Romantica went solo and I was very happy with her. It was a nice team with McKulick and Coppice, and they did just was I was looking for them to do. They’ve all been training excellent.”
All four of Brown’s trainees are pointing to Grade 1 events on Day Two [June 7] of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. Brown is slated to have five contenders in the one-mile Grade 1, $500,000 Just a Game with Whitebeam, Coppice, Gina Romantica, Chili Flag and Beaute Cachee expected to enter. In the Grade 1, $750,000 New York presented by Rivers Casino at 1 3/16 miles, Brown is expected to enter McKulick and Grade 3 Sheepshead Bay-winner Royalty Interest, who has been training at Belmont Park.
Whitebeam, who won the Grade 1 Diana last summer at the Spa, returned from a five-month respite last out to finish second by a neck to Neecie Marie in the Grade 3 Beaugay on May 11 at Belmont at the Big A. Similarly, Coppice is coming off a narrow defeat when a neck back of stablemate Chili Flag in the Grade 2 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile on May 4 in her American debut.
Multiple graded stakes-winner McKulick, who won the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational as a sophomore, seeks to add to a win this year in the Grade 3 Orchid in March at Gulfstream Park, while dual Grade 1-winner Gina Romantica looks to rebound from a distant seventh in her seasonal debut in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley in April at Keeneland.
Brown’s other two Just a Game contenders also worked in company Friday over the Oklahoma dirt training track as graded stakes-winners Chili Flag and Beaute Cachee covered a half-mile in 50.23 seconds over the fast footing.
“Those two horses went great,” said Brown. “I’m very happy. They’ve been doing very well breezing on the dirt, so I just wanted to keep them happy with what they’re doing for the maintenance work. They seem happy each week doing that, and I’m pleased with how they’ve been exiting their works.”
Chili Flag was last seen edging Coppice in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile to notch her second career graded conquest on the back of her first in the Grade 3 Honey Fox in March at Gulfstream. Beaute Cachee has also enjoyed a breakthrough campaign this year after taking the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley for her first graded score in April at Keeneland.
“They’ve both really taken a step forward this year,” said Brown.
