Chad Brown

And thus the queen of flowers blooms again. 'TDN Rising Star' Leslie's Rose (Into Mischief) has rediscovered her best stride and gamely took home the GII Shuvee Stakes at Saratoga Friday afternoon. Eased up in the stretch last out June 6 in the GI Ogden Phipps Stakes when the track turned into slop she hated, it had been the most recent in a series of tough-luck jumps for the daughter of Into Mischief. Her prior three starts before then were the GI Acorn Stakes and GI CCA Oaks last year--where...

Five weeks ago, Miller Racing's Dazzling Move (Not This Time) and Alpha Delta's Raging Sea (Curlin), sent off at 12-1 and even-money respectively, met in a sloppy renewal of GI Ogden Phipps and it was the less fancied filly that finished best of the two, placing 4 3/4 lengths behind winner Dorth Vader (Girvin). Meanwhile, this season's GI La Troienne winner Raging Sea found herself 1 3/4 lengths behind the runner up that day, but has shown a definite affinity for the upstate New York oval, having won three of...

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Before this year, the last time Victor Espinoza rode at Saratoga was the summer of 2015, the year of American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile). "That was not a great memory," Espinoza said, recalling when the Triple Crown winner was upset in the Travers by Keen Ice (Curlin). The 53-year-old Hall of Fame jockey is hoping to make a better impression 10 years later as he is spending the summer at the Spa for the first ever. Espinoza, who owns 3,520 career victories, has been working the Saratoga...

Saturday at Saratoga, while stuck in Mother Nature's crosshairs, provided trainer Chad Brown a tenth GI Diana Stakes victory with Excellent Truth (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}) and saw 'TDN Rising Star' Far Bridge (English Channel) dominate the GII Bowling Green Stakes. With their charges emerging from the efforts in good shape, the connections are tentatively looking to the future. In the Brown camp, Excellent Truth's effort only served to strengthen what the conditioner already believed going into the contest--that his mare was one of the best in the country. After...

The GI Dunkin' Diana Stakes continues, as it has for nine of the last ten years, to run through the Chad Brown barn as Excellent Truth (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}) just edged out favorite She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}) in a stretch duel to take the opening Grade I of the Saratoga summer meet. While eyes and wagering dollars were on Cherie DeVaux's She Feels Pretty, Brown wielded a strong hand in stablemates Excellent Truth and Dynamic Pricing (Ire) (Night of Thunder {Ire}), the one-two finishers in the GI Just...

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Before the young horse with the easy-going disposition even stepped on the track at Saratoga Race Course Friday afternoon, just about everyone knew the story behind Dr, Agne (Into Mischief), who is out of Lady Eli (Divine Park). When the 2-year-old colt powered to the finish line and won the seven-furlong, $100,000 maiden special weight, the story came full circle. Dr. Agne, trained by Cherie DeVaux, is named for Dr. Robert Agne, who died at the age of 54 on Labor Day of 2015 after being hit...

8th-Monmouth, $51,275, Msw, 7-11, 3yo/up, 1m, 1:38.40, ft, 1 length. NEW MAGIC (c, 3, Curlin--Magic Dance {SW & GSP, $191,083}, by More Than Ready), sluggish from the gate as the 5-2 second choice, quickly found himself far out of it into the first turn as the far more experienced race favorite Bridoza (Khozan) dueled on the front with Atrocious (Ghostzapper) through the quarter in :23.63. Making an early move to catch up with the field through a slowed-down half, the Three Chimneys homebred then had to shift out wide to...

The GI Dunkin' Diana Stakes has run through the Chad Brown barn for the last three years and while Brown has two solid entries here, the race runs through the rail-drawn Cherie DeVaux starter She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}). The 4-year-old Lael Stables-owned filly has won four straight dating back to last year, including three Grade I races over several of the rivals she'll line up against Saturday. For reference her last two 1 1/8-mile races resulted in wins by a combined 8 1/4 lengths and she'll be stepping back...

SARATOGA SPRINGS - There are several reasons trainer Miguel Clement has special feelings for the 5-year-old horse Far Bridge (English Channel), who runs in Saturday's $200,000 GII Bowling Green Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. The record Far Bridge has put together makes his trainer proud. Eight wins in 17 career starts, three second- and three third-place finishes. Career earnings of $2,262,980. He is a multiple Grade I winner. "He is very consistent," Clement said outside his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track Thursday morning. "He is a hard tryer; as...

6th-SAR, $100K, Msw, 2yo, 1mT, 4:02 p.m. ET. DR. AGNE (Into Mischief), the third foal to race out of champion turf female Lady Eli (Divine Park), is set for his first start under trainer Cherie DeVaux who TDN contributor Tim Wilkin reminded us Thursday is all too familiar with the celebrated dam while an assistant for Chad Brown. A half-sister to MGSW Bizzy Caroline (Afleet Alex), Lady Eli was a $4.2-million buy for John Sikura/Hill 'n' Dale during the 2018 Keeneland November Sale. Himself a $185,000 purchase during Keeneland September...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - From her office at Barn 83 on the Oklahoma Training Track, all trainer Cherie DeVaux has to do to get a glimpse of the horse is look out the window. And she sees him, across the way, standing in his stall. "He has this big, white face looking at you," DeVaux said, and she smiles. Gets her every time. 'He' is a 2-year-old colt who goes by the name of Dr. Agne (Into Mischief). He has never run but will on Friday when he starts his...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - And now for the main event. With nine days of racing already in the books--a proper warmup by any measure, topped by the GI Belmont Stakes--the 157th season of racing at Saratoga begins Thursday with a 10-race program. It is the earliest-possible start in the calendar-driven schedule for the 40-day season that closes on Labor Day Sept. 1. With one exception in 1982, in the 45 years after racing resumed at Saratoga in 1946 following World War II, Saratoga was what eventually came to be known...