Trainer Chad Brown clinched his fifth H. Allen Jerkens Award for leading trainer at Saratoga Race Course and secured his 12th stakes triumph of the summer meet when saddling Emaraaty to his first graded win in $200,000 Bernard Baruch Handicap (G3) on closing day at the upstate New York track.
“I'm just so proud of my team and my horses,” Brown said. “So many hard-working co-workers and teammates. I'm so proud of them – they were so consistent with all of their tasks coming off a big Belmont meet. It appeared to me that we had really ran a lot of our ammunition so to speak at Belmont, but they were able to keep these horses in good form.”
Owned by Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, and Michael J. Caruso, Emaraaty has found the winner's circle four times since moving to the United States, all of which have taken place at Saratoga. The 7-year-old Dubawi gelding joined Brown's barn in the summer of 2019 and made a winning debut that July before finishing fourth in that year's Bernard Baruch – his lone loss at the Spa. He entered Monday's test from a one-mile allowance optional claiming win on August 4 over the inner turf, defeating graded stakes placed runners Floriform and Atone.
Breaking from the outermost post 6 under Flavien Prat, Emaraaty quickly joined sharp-breaking Winters Back and garnered command into the first turn to lead the strung out field through an opening quarter mile in :23.44 and a half-mile in 47.35 over the firm going.
Emaraaty registered the three-quarters in 1:11.21 around the far turn with Luis Saez in an all-out drive aboard Winters Back in second and Forbidden Apple (G3) winner City Man trying to make up ground from third. Never seriously challenged in the stretch, Emaraaty strolled home a 3 1/2-length winner in a final time of 1:41.36 for the 1 1/16 miles.
Late-charging City Man finished another 2 1/2 lengths ahead of third-place finisher Winters Back. Ocala Dream, Dynadrive and the Brown-trained Mouillage, the odds-on favorite, rounded out the order of finish.
“He's a horse that can be aggressive,” said Prat, who earned his fourth stakes victory of the meet. “Today, it didn't feel like there was a whole lot of speed, so I let him run out of there and let him run all the way to the first turn. From that point, he relaxed well and kicked home well. I think the soft ground was a good thing for him as well, so it worked out well for us.”
Brown noted the difference in Emaraaty since being gelded in December.
“This ownership group had bought him privately [from Shadwell Stud] at the end of last year and we decided to geld the horse even though he was an older horse – it's a little late to be gelding him, but we tried it,” Brown said. “He was a bit of an aggressive horse, still a bit keen as you saw, but I'll tell you, he's been a different horse since we gelded him and gave him some time.”
Brown admitted some concern over the fast fractions set by Emaraaty.
“Of course, I had another horse in the race, Mouillage. I was peeking back at him and saying, 'Well, one way or another maybe this horse will kick, and Mouillage didn't care for the turf today it looked like – he didn't kick in today,” Brown said. “I was very impressed and proud of Emaraaty that after posting those fractions, when he posted the three-quarters in 1:11, that he was able to re-break again. It was impressive.”
Bred in Great Britain by Meon Valley Stud from the Zafonic mare Zee Zee Top, Emaraaty returned $14.60 and increased his lifetime earnings to $386,443 after banking $110,000 in victory. His record now stands at 6-3-1 from 18 starts.
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