Tag: Chad Brown

Raging Bull will stand for an initial fee of $10,000. He owns a 5-3-4 record in 18 graded-stakes races. (Image: Gainesway Farm)

Raging Bull Retiring to Gainesway Farm After Breeders’ Cup Farewell

Raging Bull, one of North America’s leading male turf runners, will retire after the Breeders’ Cup Mile and head to his breeding career at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky. He will open his breeding career in 2022 for $10,000. The 6-year-old horse, a product of standout European sire Dark Angel, owns […]

In May, Empress Josephine won the 1,000 Guineas at 14/1. She comes back a week after running another Grade 1 as the 3/1 favorite in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup. (Image: RacingFotos.com)

What Break? Empress Josephine Back, Searching for First US Grade 1

When it comes to his Irish-bred filly Empress Josephine, the concept of “load management” is a foreign one to Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien. It’s apparently also a foreign concept to Keeneland’s morning-line author, who made Empress Josephine the 3/1 favorite for Saturday’s Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup. This, […]

Gunite showed off his versatility winning the Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga last month. He comes with 4/1 morning-line value for Saturday's Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park. (Image: Sarah Andrew)

Champagne Stakes Bubbles With Four Legitimate Juvenile Contenders

The Grade 1 Champagne Stakes predates the Kentucky Derby by eight years. In fact, the one mile juvenile test that sets the early bar for Derby prospects appeared only two years after the Civil War ended. Derby preps have to get their momentum somewhere, which is where the Champagne pours forth. Saturday’s test […]

Racing milestones, standout horses, riders and trainers and a record handle. The 2021 Saratoga meet had it all this summer. (Image: Saratoga.com)

Saratoga Closes the Gates On a Record Handle, Memorable Moments

Saratoga cracked $800 million in all-sources wagering handle for the first time in its storied history, ending its most successful summer meet with $815,508,063 in all-sources handle. That represented a 15.6% increase over the track’s previous record of $705,343,949 set in 2019. Saratoga set its new record last Wednesday, with […]

War Like Goddess captured her third consecutive graded-stakes with this commanding victory in the Grade 2 Glens Falls. She goes for her first Grade 1 score in Saturday's Flower Bowl Invitational. (Image: Coglianese Photos/NYA)

War Like Goddess Smelling Like Roses Going into Flower Bowl

As is his MO, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott brought War Like Goddess along slowly, guiding the 4-year-old filly through the class pyramid with care and an eye toward building confidence. So when War Like Goddess won three consecutive races – and 5-of-her-first-6 – Mott realized she is ready […]

Arlington Park faces a very uncertain future heading into what is likely its final high-profile turn. That's Saturday's Grade 1 Mr. D Stakes, a race formerly known as the Arlington Million. (Image: Coady Photography)

Arlington Park’s Mr. D Stakes May Send Iconic Race Into the History Book

The Mr. D. Stakes is the race made famous by another name – the Arlington Million. When you’re the first horse race offering a seven-figure purse, you want that “Million” in the title. At this point in what is a bittersweet, likely final running of the race formerly known as […]

Jolie Olimpica's last victory came 14 months ago in the Grade 2 Monrovia Stakes at Santa Anita. She is one of the favorites in the opening leg of Saturday's Cross Country Pick 5: the Grade 2 Nassau Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Cross Country Pick 5 Features Familiar Names, International Flavor

Familiar names such as Jolie Olimpica, Split Then Double and Merveilleux, along with promising newcomers like Chileno, Watasha and Volcanic play their parts in Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 wager. This week’s New York Racing Association’s Cross Country Pick 5 comes with international flavor. The wager encompasses races from Saratoga, […]

Harvey's Lil Goil (right) held off Lemista to win the Grade 3 Beaugay in May. The two tangle again in Saturday's Grade 1 Diana Stakes at Saratoga. (Image: Coolmore Farm)

Can Brown Hunt Down His Sixth Consecutive Diana Stakes Title?

The main storyline coming to you from this year’s Grade 1 Diana Stakes at Saratoga is what Chad Brown can do for an encore – times five. Yes, Brown owns the last five Diana titles and six overall. You expect Saratoga’s premier turf trainer to win Saratoga’s premier filly and […]

Chad Brown can afford to smile, after the 42-year-old trainer won his sixth consecutive Belmont Park Spring/Summer Meet training title. (Image: NYRA/Coglianese Photo)

Brown Sees Green Again, Wins Sixth Straight Belmont Park Training Title

Belmont Park continues to be Chad Brown’s world and the rest of the New York horse racing community is merely living in it. Brown clinched the Belmont Park Spring/Summer Meet training title for the sixth consecutive year, racking up 32 victories over the 48-day meet that ended Sunday. Jose Ortiz […]

The freakish speed of Life is Good returned to the track Thursday for the first time since March. When he's ready to race, Life is Good will do so under new trainer Todd Pletcher. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Life is Good Hits the Track, Hits the Road from Baffert to Pletcher

The fallout from Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s suspension from New York Racing Association tracks manifested itself again Thursday when WinStar Farm president and CEO Elliott Walden said he will send star 3-year-old Life is Good to Todd Pletcher once the horse is ready to return. That return may […]

Raging Bull won this third Grade 1 race at April's Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland. He faces non-Grade 1 competition for the first time since October 2018 in Saturday's Grade 3 Poker Stakes at Belmont Park. (Image: Coady Photography)

Raging Bull Goes All-In On Class Relief in Poker Stakes

The last time Raging Bull didn’t face Grade 1 competition came more than two years and nine months ago. It came in the Grade 2 Hill Prince Stakes at Belmont Park, and it came with a fifth-place finish – albeit by only 1 ¾ lengths. That was 13 races ago. […]

This is what the best turf router in North America looks like. Domestic Spending won his fifth consecutive race in Saturday's Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes at Belmont Park. (Image: Chelsea Durand/NYRA)

Domestic Spending Puts His Rivals in a Turf Talent Deficit

The last time Domestic Spending and Colonel Liam tried determining who was the best older male turf horse in the country, they decided nothing but what a dead-heat looks like. That came at the Grade 1 Turf Classic, on the Kentucky Derby undercard. There, Domestic Spending made the most of […]

Irish import Sovereign seeks his first victory on US soil and his first win since 2019 in Saturday's Grade 1 Man o' War Stakes at Belmont Park. (Image: Irish Thoroughbred Marketing)

Can the Man o’ War Stakes Become Sovereign Territory?

The Grade 1 Man o’ War Stakes draws its name from one of the most iconic horses in American racing history. Yet, it’s an Irish import who’s stealing all of the attention in the New York Racing Association’s first Grade 1 turf race of 2021. That would be Sovereign, who […]

Risk Taking, seen here capturing the Withers Stakes two starts ago, joins the Preakness Stakes field. (Image: Joe Labozzetta)

Brown Takes a Calculated Risk Sending Risk Taking to the Preakness

Calling an audible with an aptly named horse, trainer Chad Brown said Risk Taking will run in the Preakness Stakes instead of the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes – his original destination. Risk Taking was the morning-line favorite for the Peter Pan, a one-turn, 1 1/8-mile race on Saturday at […]

The Kentucky Derby is only Rock Your World's second start on dirt. He is the fastest horse in the field based on speed figures. (Image: Churchill Downs/Coady Photography)

Almost Back to Normalcy: Breaking Down the 2021 Kentucky Derby

Welcome to the 2021 Kentucky Derby. And welcome back to what a normal Kentucky Derby looks like. Almost. The crowds? Well, they’re back – about 40,000. That’s a quarter of what normally turns Churchill Downs into a sporting bacchanalia. But there’s people in the stands. We’ll take it. The horses? […]

Undefeated Malathaat and John Velazquez go for their fifth consecutive victory as the 5/2 favorite in Friday's Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. (Image: Keeneland Photo)

Unbeaten Malathaat Takes Favorite Status in Kentucky Oaks

Malathaat and her undefeated record earned 5/2 morning-line favorite status for Friday’s 147th Kentucky Oaks at Monday morning’s post-position draw and morning-line announcement. The 1 1/8-mile Oaks anchors Churchill Downs’ 13-race, six-stakes Friday card. The 14-filly field of 3-year-olds runs for a $767,250 first-prize check out of the $1.25 million […]

Hidden Stash has a likely Kentucky Derby berth, courtesy of trainer Chad Brown selecting only one of his two Derby qualifiers to run at Churchill Downs. (Image: Coady Photography)

Brown’s Choice Puts Derby Dominoes Into Play

The Kentucky Derby dominoes continued to fall on Wednesday as we head toward the May 1 Run for the Roses, with Chad Brown saying he intends on running only one of his two Derby prospects — Highly Motivated or Crowded Trade — in the race. Brown told Blood-Horse that Highly […]

Hit the Road scored his first Grade 1 win in last month's Frank E- Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita. He goes East in search of No. 2 in Friday's Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Turf Terror Hit the Road Goes East in Search of Maker’s Mark Mile

Hit the Road allows Dan Blacker to call himself a Grade 1-winning trainer. He also allows Blacker the luxury of having “the right horse” for a course, like in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile. And, Hit the Road allows Blacker the luxury of hitting the road – taking his […]

Weyburn (inside) held off a surging Crowded Trade to win the Grade 3 Gotham in February. The two tangle again in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial Saturday at Aqueduct. (Image: Sarah Andrew)

Wood Memorial Replaces Recent Derby History With Wide-Open Plot

Let’s dispense with the Wood Memorial history out of the gate. There are 13 Triple Crown winners, and this Grade 2 Kentucky Derby prep claims four of them: Gallant Fox, Count Fleet, Seattle Slew, and Secretariat. Eleven horses pulled off the Wood Memorial/Kentucky Derby double. You’ve probably heard of a […]