Chad Brown

Sierra Leone Tops Red-Hot Renewal of Jockey Club Gold Cup

Just how deep is Sunday's running of the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga, a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in a little more than two months' time? Well, six of the eight remaining horses--GII Charles Town Classic winner Banishing (Ghostzapper) will be scratched--have recorded at least one Beyer Speed Figure of 104 or higher this year and three of the entrants are already Grade I winners this term. It is the very definition of a hot race. The field is led by...

[ Read More ]
Saturday Racing Insights: Well-Bred Maidens Go Saturday, Fulls To Authentic And Life Is Good Included

4th-ELP, $100K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 2:16 p.m. ET. Peter Blum homebred ELITE (Into Mischief) makes her first start for trainer Rodolphe Brisset. Out of Flawless (Mr. Greeley), the 2-year-old is a full-sister to current sire Authentic. Also drawn in the same race is Gary & Mary West homebred Fashion Designer (Into Mischief), who is trained by Brad Cox. Her dam Beach Walk produced current sire Life Is Good and GSW Most Wanted (Candy Ride {Arg}). Woodslane bred Sister Troienne (Munnings) is a Brian Lynch trainee whose own dam is...

[ Read More ]
Sovereignty Can Help Mott Break New Ground In Travers

There really isn't a whole lot that trainer Bill Mott has left to accomplish in the Thoroughbred business. Since recording his first graded stakes victory with Heatherten--who also gave him his first Grade I success--for owner John Franks some 41 years ago, the 72-year-old has saddled the winners of over 150 top-level contests with superstars of either sex, such as Taylor's Special, Theatrical (Ire), Paradise Creek, Fraise, legendary dual Horse of the Year Cigar, Ajina, Escena, Wekiva Springs, Favorite Trick, Dream Supreme and her son Majestic Warrior, Drosselmeyer, To Honor...

[ Read More ]
Strategic Focus at Saratoga
Saratoga Notebook, Presented by NYRA Bets: Brown Taking a Travers Shot with Strategic Focus

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - A year ago, trainer Chad Brown thought he had his best chance ever when he ran 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) in the $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes. The best he could do as the 8-5 favorite was a third-place finish. Brown accepted the verdict and vowed that he would keep trying to win the Midsummer Derby, a race he grew up with. The 46-year-old Brown grew up in the shadow of Saratoga Race Course, in nearby Mechanicville, so, of course, the Travers is the...

[ Read More ]
Sunday's Racing Insights: Don't Fret Quality Road, Guitarist Set To Open On Saratoga Stage

6th-SAR, $100K, Msw, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, 4:06 p.m. ET. Amo Racing went to $900,000 to acquire GUITARIST (Quality Road) at last year's Keeneland September Sale. Sent to trainer Chad Brown, the colt is out of GISP Bernina Star (Harlan's Holiday), who was a $1.2-million buy for Don Alberto at the 2019 Keeneland November Sale while Sheza Shining Star (Curlin) was in-utero. Guitarist's dam is a half-sister to GSW National Flag (Speightstown) and SW Perfect Flight (Uncle Mo). Under the first-time starter's third dam we find GISW & MGISP Eddington (Unbridled)....

[ Read More ]
Saratoga Notebook Presented By NYRA: Sickness Will Force Brown's Ways and Means To Miss Ballerina

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY -- She would have been the likely favorite in next Saturday's $500,000 GI Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. But that point is moot now. 'TDN Rising Star' Ways and Means (Practical Joke) won't run. Trainer Chad Brown delivered the news Thursday morning at his barn on the Oklahoma Training Track. "Unfortunately, she got sick," Brown said, sitting at his desk in his office. "She's sick, she's not running. Next question. There is nothing to talk about. She's going to miss the race." Brown was forced to...

[ Read More ]
Whitney Champ Sierra Leone Back Among World's Best In Longines Rankings

Off his late heroics in the GI Whitney Stakes at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 2, Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) once again cracked the LONGINES World's Best Racehorse Rankings. Owned by Peter Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg and Brook Smith, last year's Eclipse Champion 3-year-old rolled from the back of the pack as is his style to take the Whitney by a length. The Chad Brown trainee is now rated 120 on the 2025 list. Topping the chart at 127 is still a three-way tie between Field...

[ Read More ]
Fastest Maidens, Presented by Taylor Made, for August 5-11

5. DEEP LEARNING, SAR, 8/8, 1 1/16m (turf) 'TDN RISING STAR' (VIDEO) Beyer Speed Figure-84 (f, 2, by Cairo Prince--Dovima, by Union Rags) O-Klaravich Stables. B-Tony Dardis, Dell Ridge Farm, Ken Donworth and Desmond Ryan (Ky). T-Chad Brown. J-Flavien Prat. Deep Learning's debut generated the highest Beyer so far this year among 2-year-old turf fillies, and stacks up well with some of Brown's past stars. Five of his six GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winners also launched their careers in Saratoga 1 1/16-mile turf maiden races--and her 84 Beyer...

[ Read More ]
Saratoga Maidens Presented By Keeneland: Deep Learning Passed Her Tests In Saratoga Maiden Special

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY -- There a was an easy-to-embrace educational angle to Deep Learning (Cairo Prince)'s victory in the third race Friday at Saratoga Race Course. In her career debut Klaravich Stables' 2-year-old filly dealt with some bumping exiting the gate leaving her a bit farther off the early pace than trainer Chad Brown expected. With a patient ride by Flavien Prat and an impressive finish, Deep Learning scored by 3 1/4 lengths over Beach Ballad (Omaha Beach). She completed the 1 1/16 miles $100,000 maiden special weight contest on...

[ Read More ]
Saratoga Notebook, presented by NYRA Bets: Whitney Day Ranks Right Up There as One of Brown's All-Time Best

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- There have been some days for trainer Chad Brown. Some real big days. Remember Arlington Million day in 2019? He won all four graded stakes races, including all three GI races. He has won a bushel full of Breeders' Cup races in his career; more than once he has had multiple winners. Brown has a pair of GI Preakness Stakes on his resume. What happened Saturday might just trump them all. At his hometown track, Brown blitzed his competition, winning four races, capped off by the...

[ Read More ]
Week In Review: 'Rising Stars' From Last Season Now in Different Orbits at The Spa

There was a brief window of time about 15 months ago when 'TDN Rising Stars' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) and Fierceness (City of Light) were well established sophomores on the Triple Crown trail, and they were joined by an intriguing new shooter, Deterministic (Liam's Map), who suddenly had "wiseguy" appeal for the 2024 GI Kentucky Derby based on just two well-spaced lifetime starts. Deterministic, too, had been named a 'Rising Star' as a juvenile off an Aug. 12, 2023, debut dirt sprint victory at Saratoga for trainer Christophe Clement. But...

[ Read More ]
Excellent Truth, Dynamic Pricing Work Sunday Over Oklahoma Turf Training Track

Grade I winners Excellent Truth (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}) and Dynamic Pricing (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) went out Sunday morning and worked five furlongs together over the Oklahoma turf training track as the former continues preparations for an expected tilt in the GI E. P. Taylor Stakes Aug. 16 at Woodbine.. With the turf training track listed as firm, the pair cleared the five panels in 1:02.13 and left their conditioner very happy with what he saw from them. "They did a little five-eighths on the turf, really outstanding,"...

[ Read More ]
X

Never miss another story from the TDN

Click Here to sign up for a free subscription.