Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
BELMONT Brown sees promising signs from Rushing Fall
ELMONT, N.Y. – Had things gone differently last month at Churchill Downs, Rushing Fall might be in England this week preparing for a start in Friday’s Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Instead, following her neck loss to Toinette in the Grade 3 Edgewood, Rushing Fall is home in New York getting ready for a summer campaign. Where that campaign resumes is not yet decided, but on Sunday Rushing Fall gave trainer Chad Brown confidence she is heading in the right direction with a sharp five-furlong workout over the Belmont turf course.
Working in company with Elysea’s World, Rushing Fall went five furlongs in 1:01.06, getting her final three furlongs in 35.64 seconds. It was her fourth – and most impressive – workout since her defeat seven weeks ago.
“She’s definitely starting to show her former self,” Brown said of Rushing Fall, who won her first four starts including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. “I was very impressed with the work.”
Brown said he will either train Rushing Fall into the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Oaks on July 7 or get her ready for the Grade 3, $150,000 Lake George on opening day of the Saratoga meet, July 20.
Brown already has Significant Form and perhaps Mighty Scarlett, second and third behind La Signare in the Wonder Again, pointing to the Oaks.
Meanwhile, Analyze It, Brown’s runner for the Grade 1, $1.2 million Belmont Derby on July 7, worked four furlongs in 48.78 seconds on Sunday in company with Projected.
Analyze It is coming off a neck loss to Catholic Boy in the Pennine Ridge on June 2.
“He’s headed to the derby,” Brown said. “I’m going to give him a try at a mile and a quarter. His number came back good from that race. He’s going to have to prove he can go that far, but I will say this: I thought he ran into a really good horse that day who I respect.”
Going into the Pennine Ridge, Analyze It had not run in nearly two months, since winning the Grade 3 Transylvania on April 6 at Keeneland. Brown added that he may not have had Analyze It “as fit as I thought” to run 1 1/8 miles off that break.
Analyze It will be Brown’s only Belmont Derby starter. Brown confirmed that Gronkowski, second in the Belmont Stakes, will not run in the Belmont Derby and remains on schedule for the Jim Dandy at Saratoga on July 28.
Meanwhile, Brown said that Instilled Regard, the Kentucky Derby fourth-place finisher who recently joined his barn, has begun light training at Belmont. Brown does not yet have a plan for Instilled Regard, who under Jerry Hollendorfer won the Lecomte at Fair Grounds before finishing fourth in the Louisiana Derby, Santa Anita Derby, and Kentucky Derby.
Instilled Regard was given 30 days off following the Kentucky Derby. Owner Larry Best opted to transfer the horse to Brown for an East Coast summer and fall campaign.
“He came to me in really good condition,” Brown said. “Obviously, Jerry did an outstanding job with that horse. Getting a horse from him you know you’re always going to get something in good condition.”
Uni gets back to work
Uni, who was forced to scratch out of the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at Santa Anita on May 26 due to illness, worked a halfmile in 48.56 seconds Sunday over Belmont’s turf course. She went in company with Quidura, the Grade 1 Diana runner-up who is now with Brown after previously being trained by Graham Motion.
Brown said there are no immediate plans for Uni, who had to spend several days in a California clinic before returning to the East Coast a few weeks ago.
“It really hit her hard,” Brown said. “She seems to be getting her weight back. It’s nice to get her back breezing.”
Brown said that Uni wouldn’t run before the Fourth of July.
Firenze Fire to Dwyer
It’s been quite the Belmont spring-summer meet for trainer Jason Servis, who has won with 12 of his 24 starters including four stakes wins.
He hopes the good times continue the remaining four weeks, especially on July 7 when he plans to run Firenze Fire in the Grade 3, $300,000 Dwyer Stakes going a mile.
The last time Firenze Fire raced a mile at Belmont, he won the Grade 1 Champagne last fall.
Firenze Fire finished 11th in the Kentucky Derby. Has worked twice since, including a five-furlong move in 1:01.40 on June 11 under Irad Ortiz Jr.
“We gave him some time off, nothing major, 10 days,” Servis said. “He had a good breeze the other day with Irad.”
In the Dwyer, Firenze Fire is expected to meet fellow Kentucky Derby alums Enticed (14th) and Magnum Moon (19th).
◗ Pablo Fragoso won last Friday’s second race aboard longshot Luzinski, but the stewards weren’t satisfied with his ride.
The stewards fined Fragoso $500 for misuse of the whip, striking his mount more than five times without giving the horse a chance to respond, and excessive use of the crop. The stewards had previously warned Fragoso on whip abuse.