‘Brown Battalion’ continues to grow
Turf or dirt, long or short, well, you name it and trainer Chad Brown has contenders for the major prizes at the upcoming Saratoga thoroughbred meeting.
He sent out Practical Joke to win the $400,000 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park last Saturday, highlighting another 3-year-old to go with his Preakness Stakes winner Cloud Computing.
Brown also swept the $1 million Belmont Oaks in a 1-2-3 finish with New Money Honey, Sistercharlie, and Uni on turf.
Winner of the Hopeful Stakes last year, Practical Joke was making his first start since a respectable fifth in the Kentucky Derby on May 6.
Brown pointed to the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 30 as the
likely next start for Practical Joke. The $1 million Haskell is at 1 1/8 miles and is often a stepping stone to the Travers Stakes, which goes on Aug. 26 at 1 ¼ miles.
Brown has Cloud Computing penciled in for the $600,000 Jim Dandy, also at 1 1/8 miles, at Saratoga on July 29, the major local prep for the Travers.
The historic Dwyer is often referred to as the race that opens the second season for the top 3-year-olds in New York. Inaugurated in 1918 and run for the 100th time, many of its contestants have gone on to win the Travers.
Beginning with Man o’ War in 1920, winners of both races include Whirlaway (1941), Native Dancer (1953), Battlefield (1951), Quadrangle (1964), Damascus (1967), and Holy Bull (1994).
Just looking at Whirlaway’s race record that year leaves one breathless.
The fifth winner of the Triple Crown won the Kentucky Derby on May 3, the Preakness on May 10, an allowance at Belmont Park on May 20, the Belmont Stakes on June 7, the Dwyer on June 21, a Special Event Stakes on July 15 at Arlington Park, finished second in the Arlington Classic on July 26, the Saranac at Saratoga on Aug. 6, and the Travers on Aug. 16.
His Travers victory was described in the charts as “easily.”
Apparently, it was, for trainer Ben Jones shipped him back to Arlington Park for the American Derby on Aug. 23. Whirlaway won by 2 ½ lengths, described in the charts as “speed to spare.”
The Dwyer honors the memory of owners Mike and Phil Dwyer, who were dominant owners in the late 19th century.
Stakes races of the 19th century at Saratoga won by the Dwyer Bros., often multiple times, were the Alabama, BadenBaden, Beverwyck , California, Clarendon Hotel, Congress Hall, Excelsior, Foxhall, Grand Prize, Iroquois, Kenner, Kentucky, Merchants, Saratoga Cup, Saratoga Stakes, Summer, Tennessee, Travers, United States Hotel, and Virginia.