Eight years ago, Chad Brown's initial request for stalls at Saratoga Race Course was turned down. He eventually was given some barn space and won with his very first starter in the season-opening race of 2008. Now firmly established as a star, Brown–a homegrown talent from nearby Mechanicville, N.Y.– is in position to win his first training title at America's oldest Thoroughbred track.
The 148th season of racing in Saratoga Springs begins Friday with a 10-race program featuring the GII Lake George S. and the GIII Schuylerville S. By the time the 40-day meet concludes on Labor Day, Sept. 5, champions Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro) and Tepin (Bernstein) and standouts Flintshire (GB) (Dansili {GB}) and Exaggerator (Curlin) will have been put to the test at the Graveyard of Favorites, which claimed American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) last year. No doubt, a number of new stars will have emerged by closing day. Unbeaten Songbird is scheduled to run in the GI Coaching Club American Oaks on Sunday and the GI Alabama S. on Aug. 20, while Tepin may face males once again in the newly elevated GI Fourstardave H. on Aug. 13.
A total of 37 graded stakes–18 of them Grade I–are on the Saratoga schedule. The $1.25 million Whitney for older horses will be run on Aug. 6 and the $1.25 million Travers for 3-year-olds on Aug. 27. Preakness winner Exaggerator and Belmont Stakes winner Creator (Tapit) could tangle in the GII Jim Dandy S. on July 30 en route to the Travers, the historic race which may provide some clarity to a wide-open division.
The Saratoga meeting has long been one of the most competitive and prestigious in the nation. Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, 80, this week called it the toughest, and quipped that it was it was even more difficult to turn a profit running six weeks at the expensive upstate track. Hall of Fame-bound trainer Steve Asmussen agreed.
“It's not a financial decision to be here,” Asmussen said. “It's a measuring stick of where you are right now. The ultimate measuring stick. Nobody came here to get rich.”
Asmussen is a member of a much-anticipated new class that will be welcomed into the Hall of Fame on Friday, Aug. 12. The wildly popular race mares Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d'Oro) and the Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}) were elected in their first year of eligibility. Asmussen's name was taken off the ballot and his status was put on hold for two years until investigations by racing commissions in Kentucky and New York determined there was no merit to allegations of the improper treatment of horses made by PETA, the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals. Jockey Ramon Dominguez, forced to retire a couple of years shy of the qualifying requirement after suffering head injuries in a racing accident, was promptly elected after being granted a waiver by the Hall of Fame. Citing the popularity of the members of the class and expected heavy demand for seats, the Hall of Fame ceremony will not be open to the public.
Many of racing's stars of the future will be in Fasig-Tipton's annual Saratoga Sale of select yearlings with sessions on Aug. 8 and Aug. 9. Its New York-Bred Preferred Yearling Sale will be conducted on Aug. 13-14.
One of the major themes this summer is whether Brown, 37, can finally unseat perennial champ Todd Pletcher, 48, who has won six straight titles and a record 12 overall. Brown has been the runner-up at Saratoga the last five years and is in the midst of another strong campaign. He won the 54-day spring/summer meet at Belmont Park for the first time, prevailing by 13 victories over Pletcher. Brown acknowledged that the success at Belmont Park could compromise his chances of finishing on top at the Spa.
Chad Brown | Horsephotos
“I think we've planned well for Saratoga, but we haven't planned exclusively for Saratoga,” he said. “It would be nice to win. I think we have a lot of momentum going into the meet. I'd rather go into the meet as the leading trainer at Belmont than the second place finisher at Belmont. We're not at all upset with how many winners we had, but we're conscious that we need to keep it going. It's hard to keep it going, but I have the staff and the horses, I believe, to keep it going.”
Brown's roster of stakes runners is led by Juddmonte Farms' globetrotter Flintshire, winner of the G1 Manhattan S. in his lone start this year. Flintshire is headed to two Saratoga races, the GII Bowling Green H. on July 30 and the GI Longines Sword Dancer S., which he won last year, on Aug. 27. Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Wavell Avenue (Harlington) is pointed toward the GI Ballerina S. on Aug. 27 with an earlier date in either the GII Honorable Miss H. on July 27 or the Shine Again S. on Aug. 3. Brown entered four from his gaggle of graded stakes tested turf fillies in Saturday's GI Diana S. and has four 3-year-old colts, My Man Sam (Trappe Shot), Gift Box (Twirling Candy), Connect (Curlin), Economic Model (Flatter), that are candidates for the Travers preps, the Curlin S. on July 29 and the Jim Dandy.
Pletcher said Wednesday that he and Brown are friendly competitors and that the attention and coverage in the local media because of Brown's roots is a positive.
“When you've won as many training titles as we have here, you need things to motivate you,” he said. “This is one of the things we find motivating and fun. You try not to lose your mind about it, but you're always looking for new challenges and things to pick your head up and motivate you to do better. This is one of them.”
Pletcher said the only training title that is more important to him than Saratoga is Gulfstream, where his stable has won 13 straight.
“I know that when that streak ends, it's over and it's never going to happen again,” Pletcher said. “Once that streak is over, I don't have 13 in a row in me anymore.”
Pletcher acknowledged that he and his staff keep score during the meet.
“Yeah, I look at the standings. Absolutely, I look at it,” he said. “I look at the jockey standings every day. It's part of Saratoga to me.”
The Saratoga trainer's title is named for the late H. Allen Jerkens and the riding title honors Angel Cordero, Jr., who won 11 straight years and 13 in total.
“Like I've said before, Angel Cordero made winning the jockey's title, and as an overflow from that, the training title, important at Saratoga,” Pletcher said. “People take note of it more because of his streak and what he was able to do. The fact that he came up here every year and made no bones about the fact that he wanted to win it, was kind of contagious and caught on. What I think is great is that it has spilled over into the owners' category a little bit. Owners are now aware of it and want to win it. That kind of stuff is great for the business.”
Todd Pletcher | Horsephotos
Pletcher grinned when tossed a lighthearted softball question: whether his stable was up to the Brown challenge. He noted that they now work with similar numbers of horses, complimented Brown on building a powerful outfit and said he was sure Brown wanted to win.
“You factor all those things in and I think he's going to be tough to beat,” Pletcher said.
As he approached the meet, Pletcher said that his Travers prospects, Destin (Giant's Causeway) and Stradivari (Medaglia d'Oro), would likely race only at Saratoga this summer. Stradivari is on course for the Curlin and Destin, second by a nose in the Belmont, is being pointed to the Jim Dandy. Pletcher said he could not explain Rachel Valentina (Bernardini)'s fifth-place finish in the GI Mother Goose S. and wasn't sure of what her next start might be.
Trainer Mark Casse will have a full complement of 30 horses at Saratoga for the second straight year. Robert Masterson's Tepin is the headliner in the group that also features Catch a Glimpse (City Zip). Tepin has won seven in a row since finishing second in two starts at Saratoga last summer. In her most recent outing, she was a smashing winner in the GI Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot. Tepin may have her first work since the Queen Anne on Friday and Casse said it looks like she has recovered nicely from her visit to Ascot.
“She probably took it better than the rest of us,” he said. “We really won't know for sure, I guess, until we start putting put a little more work into her. Right now she seems like a very happy camper.”
Casse said the Fourstardave is an appealing target because it is a Grade I and would fit nicely into the calendar ahead of the Woodbine Mile on Sept. 17. Catch a Glimpse, whose only career loss in nine races was in the mud in her career debut at Saratoga last summer, is a candidate for the GII Ballston Spa S. on Aug. 27.
As has often been the case through the years, there is controversy surrounding the New York Racing Association and Saratoga Race Course. On June 10, the day before the Belmont, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released an audit that he said showed that NYRA had overstated its financial condition. Instead of operating at a profit the last couple of years, as NYRA has announced, he said it has lost more than $109 million in the past five years. According to DiNapoli, NYRA made the claim of a surplus because it excluded a host of expenses, including pension contributions and post-retirement health care benefit costs.
NYRA challenged the findings in its comment in the audit. In mid-July in the Albany, N.Y. Times Union, NYRA president and CEO Chris Kay wrote that the company followed accepted accounting practices and did exclude “expenses over which NYRA had no control,” like pensions and post-employment benefits. However, Kay maintained that by any measure NYRA had finished with a profit in 2014 and 2015.
The week after the Belmont Stakes, a move to end state control of NYRA failed in the state legislature. Gov. Andrew Cuomo took over NYRA early in 2012 for what was to be a three-year reorganization period. The first deadline was not met and despite the efforts of Concerned Citizens for Saratoga Racing, another extender bill was passed that will keep NYRA in state hands until Oct. 2017. A new element to the squabble emerged this year when Gov. Cuomo proposed capping revenue going to racing from the video lottery terminals (VLT) at Aqueduct Racetrack. That move could have cost an estimated $12 million annually, but it was not initiated.
NYRA will launch its television series Saratoga Live on opening day. The late afternoon program, scheduled for 4 to 6:30 p.m. ET., will be shown nationally on Fox Sports 2 and the regional networks MSG+ and Altitude. The television commitment is designed to compliment NYRA Bets, the company's first ADW national platform ventue. NYRA Rewards, which has been restricted to New York state residents, will transition to NYRA Bets on Friday. NYRA says that the date of the full, national rollout has not been determined but is expected to take place soon.
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