Chad Brown

ELMONT, NY -- Peter Brant's 'TDN Rising Star' In Italian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) took her customary spot on the front end and never looked back en route to a dominating 3 3/4-length wire-to-wire tally as the 1-5 favorite in Friday's GI Just a Game S. at Belmont Park. Last year's GI Del Mar Oaks heroine and G1 Coronation S. runner-up Spendarella (Karakontie {Jpn}) was second; Wakanaka (Ire) (Power {GB}) was third. In Italian left the gate from her rail draw running beneath Irad Ortiz, Jr. and led through an opening...

ELMONT, NY - After canceling Thursday's card at Belmont Park amid poor air quality issues, there is optimism that live racing will return with Friday's 11-race program featuring a trio of Grade I events. Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief), last seen pulling off a dramatic 10-1 upset with first-time blinkers in the GI Kentucky Oaks, will take on seven rivals in the GI Acorn S. "She's doing great and hasn't missed a beat since she came out of the Oaks," trainer Brendan Walsh said. "This was the obvious next step for...

ELMONT, NY - A pair of stakes races, led by the featured GII Wonder Again S. for 3-year-old fillies on grass, will raise the curtain on the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival Thursday afternoon. Repole Stable's Spansive (Karakontie {Jpn}) will put her perfect two-for-two record on the line for Todd Pletcher while making her stakes debut in the eight-deep Wonder Again. Trainer Chad Brown will have three chances for his fifth Wonder Again win. He will saddle 5-2 morning-line favorite Revalita (Fr) (Recoletos {Fr}), a rallying second in the GII...

4th-Belmont, $90,000, Msw, 5-28, 3yo/up, f/m, 7f, 1:25.06, ft, neck. VIRTUAL REALITY (f, 3, Cloud Computing--Miss Malibu Style, by Malibu Moon) had been on the work tab religiously since the middle of February, and put it all together here at first asking, finishing best of the inexperienced runners in the field. Breaking inward at the jump, Manny Franco was able to correct her but wound up three wide before jostling with eventual third-place finisher Ms. Solveig (Bernardini) as that one steadily inched closer to the rail. The bumper cars came...

5th-CD, $120K, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m, 6 1/2f, 2:45 p.m. PUMPKIN SCONE (Into Mischief), a $1.25-million Keeneland September Yearling purchase by Spendthrift Farm, debuts for Brad Cox from the outside gate on Sunday. Bred in Kentucky by the China Horse Club, the bay filly is out of Embellish the Lace (Super Saver), who has also produced three-time winner and fellow $1.25-million KEESEP graduate Tap the Faith (Tapit). Pumpkin Scone hails from a female family which includes GI Travers S. hero Afleet Express (Afleet Alex) and MGISP My Miss Sophia (Unbridled's Song),...

11th-CD, $120K, Msw, 3yo/up, 6 1/2f, 5:58 p.m. Consigned by Denali Stud at the '21 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling sale, CUSP (City of Light) went to OXO Equine for $725,000. Trained by Paulo Lobo, the bay colt's dam Swingit (Victory Gallop) also produced MGSW Travel Column (Frosted) and MGISP Neolithic (Harlan's Holiday). He lines up opposite the widely-drawn WinStar homebred and Brad Cox trainee Paddington (Curlin), whose GISP dam Sea Island (Pulpit)--out of GISP Resort (Pleasant Colony)--counts GII Peter Pan S. hero Sightseeing as a full-brother. TJCIS PPS 5th-BEL, $90K, Msw,...

Some two years ago, Randall Lane, the chief content officer for Forbes, and Bob Daugherty, an investor and educator, met for dinner and the conversation turned to horse racing. Both are fans of racing and they started to talk about why the sport isn't nearly as popular as the four major sports. The answer, they concluded, is that in baseball, basketball, football and hockey, the sports center around teams, leagues and standings. People fall in love with their teams, they root for them, they pay to see them play, they...

Sunday morning's work tab at Churchill Downs featured a trio of trainer Brad Cox's GI Kentucky Derby runners who recorded their first breezes since running on the first Saturday in May. At 5:30 a.m., third-place finisher Angel of Empire (Classic Empire) recorded a half-mile move in :49. The colt, owned by Albaugh Family Stables, is possible to run in the GI Belmont S. June 10. Shortly after, Verifying (Justify), who finished 16th in the Derby, worked a half-mile in :49.60. At 7:45 a.m., Gary and Mary West's Hit Show (Candy...

Following his win the in GI Preakness S. Saturday, trainer Bob Baffert said that National Treasure (Quality Road) and Sir Barton S. winner Arabian Lion (Justify) would stay at Pimlico for a few more days this week and may go on to New York for races on the Belmont S. program June 10. Though he did not rule out Arabian Lion, he said National Treasure was a more likely candidate for the 1 1/2-mile Belmont S. Baffert said he did not want to send the colts back to his base...

Aspray (Quality Road) remained perfect after stepping up into stakes company for the first time as she collected the victory from off-the-pace in the Hilltop S. A debut maiden breaker in an off-the-turf affair by 2 1/2 lengths as the favorite at Tampa Bay Downs Jan. 14, she was able to try the grass there Mar. 22, serving as the chalk once again and defeating optional claimers by the same margin. The bay filly, off at 4-1 here, was content to settle towards the rear of the field as 9-1...

Continuing on the heels of a stacked card Friday, Pimlico offers a robust eight-stakes offering Saturday, led by the $1.5 million GI Preakness S. With GI Kentucky Derby winning Mage (Good Magic) looming as the one to beat, the race suffered a notable blow Friday with the defection of Godolphin's 'TDN Rising Star' First Mission (Street Sense), shaving the field back to seven. Having not only showed a recency in form but also the ability to win at the highest level, none of the chestnut's rivals can really make the...

10th-Monmouth, $55,850, Msw, 5-14, 3yo/up, 1 1/16mT, 1:41.13, fm, 5 lengths. PROGRAM TRADING (GB) (c, 3, Lope de Vega {Ire}--Dreamlike {GB}, by Oasis Dream {GB}) debuted here under Lasix as the 3-1 choice in this finale to the Sunday card. The bay colt settled into a comfortable spot third along the rail past the grandstand and into the first turn. Losing a spot down the backstretch, the Chad Brown trainee took aim at the leaders around the far turn, sported a strong set of gears when given his cue, and...