Brown moves up ranks with 12th win
Louisville, Ky. Chad Brown continues to climb up the Breeders’ Cup standings.
The 39-year-old Mechanicville trainer won the $2 million Filly & Mare Turf with Sistercharlie (3-1) at Churchill Downs on Saturday. That gave Brown, who won a Breeders’ Cup race here on Friday, his 12th career win in the prestigious event. That win also moved him into a third-place tie on the all-time list of trainer wins with Europe’s Aidan O’brien.
Sistercharlie, ridden by John Velazquez, rallied down the center of the stretch to just get past favored Wild Illusion (5-2) and win by a neck. Sistercharlie was one of five horses Brown entered in the 13/8-mile race. The others were A Raving Beauty (third), Fourstar Crook (7th), Santa Monica (10th) and Thais (13th).
“This horse, when you watch the replay, she really lunges at the wire,” Brown said. “She knows exactly where the wire is, and if she’s anywhere close to that lead near the wire, she’s going to win.”
Sistercharlie, a 4-year-old, is owned by Peter Brant. She has won six of 10 career starts on the grass, four of five this year. All three of her wins this season have been Grade I’s, including the Diana at Saratoga.
Sistercharlie was timed in 2:20.96 and paid $8.60, $4.20 and $3.40.
Wild Illusion, who balked at going into the starting gate, paid $4.80 and $3.40 and A Raving Beauty returned $6.40.
Sprint: The dream season for Promises Fulfilled, owned by Voorheesville’s Bob Baron, ended when his speedy colt set wicked fast fractions and then had to settle for fourth in the $2 million Sprint, a race won by defending champion Roy H. Roy H became the 18th horse in the 35-year history of the Breeders’ Cup to win the same race twice. Roy H is trained by Peter Miller, who also had a repeat winner earlier in the card with Stormy Liberal in the Turf Sprint. Promises Fulfilled, who had won the Grade I Allen Jerkens and Grade
III Amsterdam at Saratoga last summer, set early fractions of 21.35 for the quarter-mile and 44.21 for the half-mile in the six-furlong race. Roy H, ridden by Paco Lopez (his first Breeders’ Cup win), swept past Promises Fulfilled, and Distinctive B, another Miller horse, and drew off to win. The final time was 1:08.24. Whitmore finished second and 3-5 favorite Imperial Hint was third.
Distaff: Monomoy Girl clinched the Eclipse Award for top 3-year-old filly — she probably had it clinched way before this — when she had her own way in the $2 million Distaff. Ridden by Florent Geroux and trained by Brad Cox, Monomoy Girl won her sixth race in seven starts this year, five of them Grade I’s. The only blemish on her season was in the Cotillion at Parx when she won the race but was disqualified and placed second.
This was the first Breeders’ Cup win for Cox, who had saddled three other Breeders’ Cup horses in his career. Wow Cat, trained by Chad Brown, finished a fast-closing second.
Turf: Enable made history as she became the first horse to ever win the $4 million Turf after taking the prestigious Arc de Triomphe in France. Enable won a duel with fellow 3-year-old filly Magical to win the 11⁄2-mile race by three-quarters of a length.
Turf Mile: Expert Eye ($13.80) closed strongly to get by Catapult and win the $2 million race for 3-year-olds and up.
Dirt Mile: Mr. and Mrs. William Warren’s City of Light dominated the $1 million race, drawing off to win by 23⁄4 lengths for trainer Mike Mccarthy and jockey Javier Castellano.
Turf Sprint: Stormy Liberal (7-1) repeated in this race, winning a prolonged stretch duel with 2-1 favorite World of Trouble. The final margin of victory was a neck.
Filly & Mare Sprint: The Breeders’ Cup opener was one for long-shot players as Shamrock Rose (25-1) edged Chalon (14-1) by a head in the $1 million race. Anonymity (31-1) was third.