Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Now a Kentucky regular, Brown brings big guns to meet
Shipping in to run at Keeneland used to be a seasonal thing for Chad Brown. Today, it’s mostly just a matter of vanning horses east on Interstate 64 now that Brown has set up shop just down the road at Churchill Downs.
“We’ll be set up permanently in Kentucky from now on, not counting the winter,” Brown said early this week from his New York base. “We’ll swap horses in and out a little later on this summer, according to what’s happening at Saratoga, but otherwise we’re only looking to expand our presence in Kentucky.”
Employing Whit Beckman as his top lieutenant, Brown enjoyed a productive spring meet at Churchill in Louisville, going 9-6-2 with 29 starters. With the five-day meet scheduled to start Wednesday at Keeneland in Lexington, Brown figures prominently in several of the 10 stakes to be run Friday through Sunday.
Three of the Brown horses could rule solid favorites in Grade 1 events – Raging Bull in the Maker’s Mark Mile on Friday, Rushing Fall in the Jenny Wiley on Saturday, and Guarana in the Madison on Saturday. In all, he intends to have six stakes starters while also being active in the maiden and allowance ranks.
Brown said he currently has strings at both Churchill and Keeneland, but that’s only because of the live meet at Keeneland. He and Beckman will consolidate back at Churchill once this short meet ends, then go into something of regroup mode for a few weeks thereafter.
“As Kentucky Derby week gets closer, we’ll position ourselves ahead of some of the bigger races,” he said.
Among those already eyeing the Sept. 5 Derby Day card are Instilled Regard and Rockemperor, who could both return in the Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic following their 1-2 finish Saturday in the Grade 1 Manhattan at Belmont Park.
Starting with the 2009 fall meet, Brown, the four-time reigning champion trainer in North America, has won 30 stakes at Keeneland, easily the most during that time.
Cox eyes another Ashland
It’s been a little more than two years since Brad Cox notched the first Grade 1 of his training career when Monomoy Girl won the 2018 Ashland at Keeneland. Cox sure wouldn’t mind making the 2020 Ashland his lucky 13th Grade 1 victory when he gives John Velazquez a leg up aboard Bonny South in the 83rd running Saturday.
“She’s been at Keeneland for quite a while now, training extremely well,” said Cox, referring to 10 breezes over the local surface since late April, the most recent being a five-furlong drill Saturday in 1:00.40.
Bonny South was one of four or five 3-year-old fillies expected when Ashland entries are drawn Wednesday, along with Envoutante, Swiss Skydiver, Tonalist’s Shape, and the California invader Venetian Harbor. Bonny South might actually go favored if Swiss Skydiver runs instead against males in the Blue Grass Stakes.
“She might need a setup with the pace, but she’s sharp right now,” Cox said.
The Ashland is a 100-40-20-10 points qualifier toward the Sept. 4 Kentucky Oaks. Bonny South, a Juddmonte Farms homebred filly by Munnings, became a major Oaks contender by rallying to win her last start, the March 21 Fair Grounds Oaks.
Cox’s other stakes starters at Keeneland include Juliet Foxtrot in the Jenny Wiley and Arklow in the Grade 2 Elkhorn on Sunday, closing day. Both will be making their second start after returning from lengthy layoffs at the Churchill meet.
“I think they both will benefit from their last outs,” Cox said.
Juliet Foxtrot was sixth as the favorite in the May 30 Mint Julep, and Arklow was beaten just a head as the favorite in the June 13 Louisville.
Cox said he intended to be at Keeneland on Saturday in lieu of traveling to New York to saddle Monomoy Girl, now 5, for the Grade 2 Ruffian the same day.
“With all the health scares and everything, I just think it’s best,” he said.