Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Brown meets gold standard
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The morning after his unprecedented sweep of the two marquee races at Arlington Park, trainer Chad Brown was fondly reminiscing about the days when he worked in Southern California for his late mentor, Bobby Frankel.
“We’d be at Hollywood Park in the middle of the winter and he’d look at a horse and say, ‘That one will fit in the Beverly D.,’ or ‘That one, he’s my Million horse,’ ” said Brown, briefly mimicking Frankel’s heavy New York accent. “He was always thinking about those races.”
Brown often uses Frankel as the gold standard by which all great training feats should be measured. From 1995 to 2003, Frankel won five Grade 1 races at Arlington: the Million twice, the Beverly D. twice, and the Secretariat once. Moreover, Frankel always seemed truly happy when in town for Million week, hanging tight with his buddy Bill Thayer, the late longtime Arlington official, and making himself more accessible than usual to media and fans. When he was here in 1995, the year he was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame, Frankel asked with a grin: “The plaque is permanent, but can they update it when I do more?”
Frankel died in November 2009 at age 68. Brown, his 38-year-old former assistant, surely is bound for the Hall of Fame, and one can only imagine what his plaque will look like when he becomes eligible for election in 2032. In just seven years, he has now surpassed Frankel by winning seven of the Arlington Grade 1’s: the Million twice, the Beverly D. four times, and the Secretariat once.
It’s an amazing record punctuated by what he accomplished here Saturday, when Dacita won the Beverly D. and Beach Patrol won the Million within an hour of each other. Brown was watching via simulcast at Saratoga, where pressing business kept him while a charter flight out of Schenectady carried nearly a dozen horsemen to and from Chicago.
“I just couldn’t manage it,” he said by phone early Sunday. “I just have so much going on here with my breezers and the weather and all. I just couldn’t sacrifice the day. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there because I really do enjoy that trip to Chicago every year and I have all the respect in the world for Arlington and those great races they put on.”
Brown said he allowed himself a few whoops of joy when both horses won and that he found himself thinking of Frankel throughout the day.
“I’m a lucky guy to be in this spot,” he said. “I don’t take any of it for granted. To have success like this is a great feeling. These races are high cotton. My mentor, he absolutely loved that day of racing. I know he’d be so proud, and that’s very, very important to me.”
Beach Patrol, Dacita, and the other New York shippers were scheduled to return early Sunday to Saratoga, but mechanical problems led to a cancellation of that charter out of O’Hare International Airport. They eventually arrived Sunday night without incident.
“Everything’s good,” Brown said Monday.
Beach Patrol became just the third horse to win the Grade 1 Secretariat and Million in successive years, following Marlin (1996-97) and Kicken Kris (2003-04). He earned a Win and You’re In berth toward the Nov. 3-4 Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar with his half-length victory over 73-1 shot Fanciful Angel in the 1 1/4-mile Million, but Brown said he would have to discuss how to proceed with the colt’s triumvirate of owners: James Covello, Sheep Pond Partners, and Head of Plains Partners.
“He’s a tricky horse,” he said. “A mile is too short. A mile and a half is too long. There’s not a Breeders’ Cup race that really fits him. We’ll have to talk over how we want to go with him.”
Conversely, Dacita definitely will be pointed to the BC Filly and Mare Turf, as will the Brown runners who followed her closely to the finish of the Beverly D. Grand Jete incurred major traffic trouble before salvaging a dead heat with Dona Bruja for second, and Rainha Da Bateria closed resolutely to be fourth.
“All three fillies are under strong consideration for the Breeders’ Cup, with one prep in between for all of them, I’d say,” Brown said.
The Million was hotly contested. A mere six lengths separated the entire field, from Beach Patrol to the last-place finisher, yet there was plenty of disappointment to go around. For instance, Deauville, the 9-5 favorite, had a perfect stalking trip under Ryan Moore, but came up empty when beaten less than a length by Beach Patrol to finish third in the Million for the second straight year.
“He had his chance,” Moore said.
Ascend lost virtually all chance in the opening furlong before recovering to be fifth at 9-1. Others who were well regarded finished a bit farther back, including Divisidero (seventh at 8-1), Kasaqui (ninth at 7-1), Mekhtaal (10th at 5-1), and The Pizza Man (12th and last at 11-1).
Divisidero will cut back to turf races at about a mile, trainer Buff Bradley said. Mekhtaal, owned by Al Shaqab Racing, will now be trained by Graham Motion. The Pizza Man, the 2015 Million winner, is back at the Trackside training center in Kentucky, with his immediate future to be determined, according to a spokesman for owner Midwest Thoroughbreds.
Beyer Speed Figures for the winners of the three Grade 1’s were Beach Patrol, 100; Dacita, 101; and Oscar Performance, who won the Secretariat, 95.
Buick has fractured vertebra
English jockey William Buick reportedly will be sidelined indefinitely after suffering a fractured T-12 vertebra in his lower back.
Surgery will not be required. Buick was resting comfortably at nearby Northwest Community Hospital after being thrown from Permian at the finish of the Secretariat. Buick had been scheduled to ride Sunday in Germany.
Permian, a Godolphin homebred, was euthanized shortly after suffering a catastrophic injury to his left foreleg. The 3-year-old Teofilo colt earned $530,454 from 14 starts, all for trainer Mark Johnston.