'TDN Rising Star' and MGISW Chancer McPatrick (McKinzie), winless in three prior runs this season, got back on track with a hard-fought win in Thursday's Curlin S. at Saratoga.
The rail-drawn, 4-1 chance raced in an inside fourth through an opening quarter in :24.27. He was under a ride on the far turn, began to fire in the stretch and fought on gamely while bumping between rivals to outbattle longshot So Sandy (Omaha Beach) by a head. It was another half-length back to his favored Chad Brown-trained stablemate and 'Rising Star' Strategic Focus (Gun Runner) in third.
Last year's GI Hopeful S. and GI Champagne S. winner finished second in the GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby Mar. 8, sixth in the GI Blue Grass S. Apr. 8 and turned back to finish a disappointing seventh in the seven-furlong GI Woody Stephens S. in the mud June 7. The $260,000 FTKJUL yearling turned $725,000 OBSAPR juvenile finished in a dead-heat in his last two.
“What's proven is that he really likes a dry Saratoga track now,” Brown said. “He's 3-for-3 on a dry track at Saratoga. He showed a lot of heart, as he did in his previous two starts on dry tracks at Saratoga. They were very courageous efforts in his maiden and the Hopeful.”
Brown continued, “I thought my other horse was just going to run off the screen. He galloped past the leader, and it looked like he got to the eighth pole and just stopped. And then here comes Chancer and it was a good battle down to the wire. It seemed like when he got bumped, it emboldened him to come back.”
Brown added, “Surely our dream would be to try to get him out to a mile and a quarter and hope for dry weather on Travers Day if he's a horse for course.”
CURLIN S. PRESENTED BY CASAMIGOS, $135,000, Saratoga, 7-24, (C), 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:49.71, ft.
1–CHANCER MCPATRICK, 124, c, 3, by McKinzie
1st Dam: Bernadreamy, by Bernardini
2nd Dam: Dream Empress, by Bernstein
3rd Dam: Chinese Empress, by Nijinsky II
($260,000 Ylg '23 FTKJUL; $725,000 2yo '24 OBSAPR).
O-Flanagan Racing; B-Rigney Racing, LLC (KY); T-Chad C.
Brown; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $74,250. Lifetime Record: MGISW,
8-4-1-0, $697,875.
2–So Sandy, 120, c, 3, Omaha Beach–So Fancy, by Tapit.
($120,000 Wlg '22 FTKNOV; $535,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP).
1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Lael Stables; B-M. Abe (KY); T-Cherie
DeVaux. $27,000.
3–Strategic Focus, 120, c, 3, Gun Runner–Curlin's Mistress, by
Curlin. ($500,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP). 1ST BLACK TYPE.
O-Klaravich Stables, Inc.; B-Alter's Racing Stables, Inc. (KY);
T-Chad C. Brown. $16,200.
Margins: HD, HF, 5 1/4. Odds: 4.30, 13.00, 0.60.
Also Ran: Crudo, Fountain Lake, Hypnus. Scratched: Just a Fair Shake, Uncaged. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
What a finish! 🙌🍀
CHANCER MCPATRICK wins the Curlin Stakes presented by @Casamigos giving @iradortiz his fourth win today, this one for trainer Chad Brown. pic.twitter.com/d6Q7jKRGl1
— NYRA (🎪) (@TheNYRA) July 24, 2025
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