NYRA Press
Trainer Bruce Brown, who oversees a stable of 18 horses, said he is excited for a return to live racing when the spring meet gets underway on Wednesday, June 3 at Belmont Park.
“I can’t wait to get going. I’m really excited to get back to some normalcy around here,” said Brown. “It’s good to see some light at the end of the tunnel we’ve been in. Everyone realized what had to be done in order to get back to racing and did what it takes to get this all behind us.
“Now that things are opening up again, I’ll have more horses coming in soon,” continued Brown. “People had been in holding patterns, but now that we have some guidance on the future I’ll be up around 25 horses for the rest of the year.”
Windylea Farm’s Three Outlaws, bred in the Empire State by Best Foot Forward, is back in training at Belmont. The late-closing son of Goldencents hit the board in a trio of restricted turf allowances in the fall.
Out of the Tiznow mare Bojangle Now, Three Outlaws was off-the-board last out in a main-track sprint in December at the Big A. Brown said he will target turf opportunities going forward for Three Outlaws.
“He’s doing great. He was a little delayed getting in from the farm but he could run towards the end of the first condition book or the beginning of the next book,” said Brown. “We gave him one last try on the dirt at the end of last year and he made it clear he’s much better on the turf.”
The unraced Robin Sparkles, named for a fictional character on the hit T.V. series How I Met Your Mother, has breezed twice at Belmont Park. Bred in New York by Hibiscus Stable, the Elusive Quality sophomore was purchased for $30,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Preferred Yearling Sale.
Brown said the bay filly has demonstrated some early ability.
“She’s doing good. She’s just getting back going,” said Brown. “She’s a big, good-looking filly and very classy. They liked her on the farm so we’ll see how she goes once we’re a little further along with her.”
Anthony P. McCarthy’s homebred Belle of the Spa, a chestnut daughter of Pure Prize who won the Yaddo in August at Saratoga, has been retired. The talented New York-bred, out of the winning Devil His Due mare Awakened Beauty, posted a record of 12-4-1-1 with purse earnings of $225,947.
“She’s in foal to Mission Impazible and we’ll be expecting a foal out of her next year which is very exciting,” said Brown.
The veteran conditioner, who boasts more than 500 career wins, was last in the winner’s circle with former Our Sugar Bear Stable charge Mission Wrapitup on February 20 at the Big A.
The Mission Impazible sophomore, bred in the Empire State by Chester and Mary Broman, was an impressive 8 1/4-length winner at first asking last May at beautiful Belmont Park and was stakes-placed in two starts at Finger Lakes last year with a second in the Aspirant followed by a third in the New York Breeders’ Futurity.
Brown said the gelding was sold privately following the last-out win and is now in training with Chad Brown.
“We wish him well. He’s a good horse and we had a good offer for him,” said Brown.
Brown said he is looking forward to getting the meet underway and is hopeful the time off will have benefited his stock.
“We’re hoping a few of our maiden fillies, that had some seconds and thirds before things shut down, will move forward off the break,” said Brown. “Hopefully, this time off was a blessing in disguise and will let some of the horses grow and mature a little bit.”
