Five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown arrives annually at Saratoga Race Course's Oklahoma training track with a strong contingent of racing's top performers, and this year is no exception. The 46-year-old native of nearby Mechanicville currently has seven grade 1 winners stabled at Saratoga, with five of them hitting the work tab this weekend.
Leading the charge were last-out topflight winners Raging Sea and Spirit of St Louis, who posted their first works since their respective wins on Kentucky Derby weekend at Churchill Downs.
Alpha Delta Stables' Kentucky homebred Raging Sea was last seen upsetting the La Troienne (G1) May 2 off a six-month respite, besting a field that included reigning Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna. The race marked the second time Raging Sea has defeated a champion, adding to a score in the Personal Ensign (G1) last summer at the Spa over Idiomatic, the champion older dirt female of 2023-24.
Raging Sea posted her first breeze back May 16, covering a half-mile in :49.25 in company with Alpha Delta Stables' grade 3-winner Occult. Raging Sea is being pointed to the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) June 6 at the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga, while plans for Occult are still to be determined.
"Raging Sea is doing fine, and she's on target for the Ogden Phipps," Brown said. "She came out of the race well and settled in here fine. She's had a good history here. For her to win a grade 1 off the layoff, I was pretty impressed. She's had a great career so far. Hopefully she continues it."
Also on Friday, Brown worked a pair of grade 1 winners for Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables in Ways and Means and Randomized, the former a last-out third in the Derby City Distaff (G1) May 3 and the latter a last-out third to Raging Sea in the La Troienne. The two each worked a solo half-mile with Ways and Means covering the distance in :50.23 and Randomized in :51 flat.
Brown said he was pleased with the work from both horses as Randomized targets the Ogden Phipps and Ways and Means points to the $300,000 Bed o' Roses Stakes (G2) June 6 at the Festival.
"Randomized might have needed her run, and in the past, she's done better with a race under her belt," Brown said. "Ways and Means is doing fine."
On May 17, Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, and Richard Schermerhorn's dual grade 1-winner Spirit of St Louis covered a half-mile solo in :49.25. The New York-bred son of Medaglia d'Oro was a last-out winner of the Turf Classic (G1T) May 3 at Churchill, his second grade 1 coup this year after taking the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1T) in January at Gulfstream Park.
Spirit of St Louis has posted a superb 11-3-0 record from 16 starts that includes an additional six stakes wins in New York with earnings of $1,809,250. The 6-year-old gelding is now pointing to the $1 million Manhattan (G1T) June 7.
"He did fine (in the work) and came out of his big win in good shape, so he's headed to the Manhattan," Brown said. "He's certainly overachieved, he's a very solid horse and I respect him a lot. He's developed into one of the top turf horses in the country, which would have been hard to believe a couple of years ago. He's doing good."
Rounding out the group of grade 1 winners to breeze this weekend was Flanagan Racing's Chancer McPatrick, who had his second work since a sixth-place finish in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) April 8 at Keeneland. The McKinzie bay covered a half-mile solo in :51.50 May 18.
Brown said he has no immediate plans for the winner of last year's Hopeful Stakes (G1) at Saratoga and Champagne Stakes (G1) at Belmont at the Big A. Plans are also to be determined for multiple grade 1-winner Carl Spackler, who Brown noted is doing well.
Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, William Strauss, and Michael Caruso's Zulu Kingdom is also stabled at Saratoga and is yet to return to the work tab since a 1 1/4-length win in the American Turf (G1T) May 3. It was the third graded score for the Ten Sovereignsridgling after juvenile wins in the With Anticipation (G3T) at Saratoga and the Pilgrim Stakes (G2T) at Belmont at the Big A.
Brown said Zulu Kingdom is eyeing a start in the $300,000 Pennine Ridge Stakes (G3T) June 7.
"He missed a little bit of time with a foot issue, but I think we have it resolved," Brown said. "He's back on the track now, so we'll see if we can still make the Pennine Ridge."
Brown is hopeful to win his first Belmont Stakes (G1) this year with Amo Racing USA's Hill Road, a gutsy three-quarter-length winner of the Peter Pan Stakes (G3) May 10 at Belmont at the Big A. In victory, the son of Quality Road had his entry and starting fees to the Belmont Stakes waived.
Brown said the bay colt is still stabled at Belmont Park, and will be for the foreseeable future.
"He's happy at Belmont right now, so I'll let him work next weekend down there," Brown said. "I'm in no rush to bring him up because he's doing fine there."
Along with Hill Road, Brown's Belmont string also includes Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner and last year's champion 3-year-old colt Sierra Leone. The Gun Runner bay worked a sharp five furlongs in 1:00.80 Sunday, his fourth work at Belmont since shipping north from Payson Park Training Center in late April.
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
