By Steve Sherack
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – On one of the morning works shows leading up to the GI Kentucky Oaks, trainer Chad Brown was asked if his unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Always a Runner (Gun Runner) was, perhaps, flying into the race under the radar.
“When I work her tomorrow, they'll be talking about her,” he said confidently.
Everybody will still be talking about her after the first Friday in May now, too.
Always a Runner made it a perfect three-for-three with a powerful, come-from-behind, 1 1/4-length victory in the first Kentucky Oaks held in primetime beneath the lights before a crowd of 103,290 at a chilly Churchill Downs. Meaning (Gun Runner) completed the exacta for her leading sire. Counting Stars (Honor A. P.) was third.
The Douglas Scharbauer and Three Chimneys Farm colorbearer, a last-out winner of Aqueduct's GIII Gazelle S. at “70 percent, if I'm being generous,” per Brown, was off as the narrowest of third choices at odds of 5-1.
Always a Runner raced in a great spot in eighth beneath Jose Ortiz as 'Rising Star' Explora (Blame) showed the way through sharp fractions of :23.08 and :46.85. She began to launch with a flashy sweep approaching the quarter pole. The GII Santa Anita Oaks heroine Meaning gained a narrow advantage over GIII Honeybee S. winner Explora in the stretch, but Always a Runner was just getting going and came from over the top to win going away.
This is the first Kentucky Oaks victory for Brown and second for Ortiz, who scored in 2019 with Serengeti Empress.
“I'm so proud of this horse,” Brown said. “She's overcome so much and to be able to be rewarded this way is unbelievable. She had a very serious case of pneumonia. When horses experience things like that, we just had to take things day by day. Her career was really up in the air. I never imagined she'd get to this day.”
Ortiz added, “Around the far turn, she really started coming with a big run. She had to really work hard to get by those fillies on the lead. It's such an incredible experience to win the Oaks. It was a great day of racing and to cap it off in the Oaks, it was amazing.”
Brown will also saddle the two-for-two GII Louisiana Derby and 'Rising Star' Emerging Market (Candy Ride {Arg}) in Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby.
Pedigree Notes:
The Three Chimneys Farm-bred Always a Runner, a $1.05-million Keeneland September yearling, becomes the 14th Grade I winner for the Three Chimneys leading sire Gun Runner. Gun Runner will also be well-represented by 'Rising Star' Further Ado in the Kentucky Derby.
Always a Runner is bred on the same Gun Runner x Malibu Moon cross as the Brown-trained GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner and narrow GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Sierra Leone and MGISW Locked.
Always a Runner was produced by Three Chimneys homebred and 'Rising Star' Always Carina (Malibu Moon), a half-sister to GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Structor (Palace Malice).
Always Carina romped by 13 3/4 lengths in her first two career starts, then was a career-high second in the GII Mother Goose S. She is also responsible for a Gun Runner 2-year-old filly (RNA'd for $850,000 as a Keeneland September yearling) and a Gun Runner yearling colt.
ALWAYS A RUNNER wins the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks! 🏆 #KyOaks pic.twitter.com/wlNKEACObs
— TDN (@theTDN) May 2, 2026
Friday, Churchill Downs
LONGINES KENTUCKY OAKS-GI, $1,500,000, Churchill Downs, 5-1, 3yo, f, 1 1/8m, 1:48.82, ft.
1–ALWAYS A RUNNER, 121, f, 3, by Gun Runner
1st Dam: Always Carina (GSP, $218,800), by Malibu Moon
2nd Dam: Miss Always Ready, by More Than Ready
3rd Dam: Miss Seffens, by Dehere
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($1,050,000 Ylg '24 KEESEP). 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard'. O-Douglas Scharbauer and Three Chimneys Farm, LLC (Goncalo B. Torrealba); B-Three Chimneys Farm, LLC (KY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Jose L. Ortiz. $855,600. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $984,800. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Meaning, 121, f, 3, by Gun Runner
1st Dam: Figure of Speech (GISP), by Into Mischief
2nd Dam: Starlight Lady, by Elusive Quality
3rd Dam: Colcon, by Pleasant Colony
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($440,000 Ylg '24 KEESEP). O-Bridlewood Farm and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners; B-Stonehaven Steadings (KY); T-Michael W. McCarthy. $276,000.
3–Counting Stars, 121, f, 3, by Honor A. P.
1st Dam: Paynterbynumbers, by Paynter
2nd Dam: Ruth and Neva, by Cherokee Run
3rd Dam: Tap for Gold, by Pleasant Tap
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($13,000 Ylg '24 KEESEP; $150,000 2yo '25 OBSAPR). O-West Point Thoroughbreds; B-HRH Prince Sultan Bin Mishal Al Saud (KY); T-Mark E. Casse. $138,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, 1, NK. Odds: 5.52, 5.79, 6.57.
Also Ran: Explora, Prom Queen, Zany, Percy's Bar, Dazzling Dame, Resist, Search Party, Pashmina, Lovely Grey, Brooklyn Blonde. Scratched: Bella Ballerina, Bottle of Rouge, My Miss Mo, Nycon.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
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