Chad Brown | Horse Racing Free Tips

Raging Bull Returns a Winner in Maker’s Mark

Having last tasted victory in the GI Shoemaker Mile last May, Peter Brant's Raging Bull (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}) exploded from off the pace to comfortably best 8-1 chance Ride a Comet (Candy Ride {Arg}) in Friday's GI Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland. Settled in a rail-hugging fifth behind Get Smokin (Get Stormy) through opening fractions of :22.47 and :45.65, the 7-2 chance made a big move to get into contention approaching the quarter pole, swung out three wide to take control at the head of the lane and drove clear to score by two lengths over the game Ride a Comet. Chad Brown-trained stablemate Sacred Life (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) was third.

“He was traveling so good down the backside,” said Ortiz Jr. “I was close to the leaders. I tried to stay in contact with the field. He broke sharp today. I had an advantage there. The first turn, I let him run then I slowed him down. He relaxed so well. He was like three or four lengths behind the leaders. I said I'm just gonna wait until it's time to go. By the three-eighths pole, I saw some separation, so I went for it a little early. He responded well, so I just went for it. He still had something at the end.”

“Both horses [Raging Bull and stablemate and third-place finisher Sacred Life] ran great, especially given the layoffs they were facing,” added Brown. “Raging Bull got a great trip and setup. He's much more effective with a solid pace in front of him. Irad deserves a lot of credit for getting him into the race early and securing a great spot into the first turn.”

Winning four of six to start his career as a 3-year-old, including victories in the GII Hall of Fame S., GIII Saranac S. and Manila S., the 2016 Goffs September buy recorded his first win at the highest level in the 2018 GI Hollywood Derby at Del Mar. Despite failing to score in five starts as a 4-year-old, he earned second in the GI Fourstardave H. and third in the GI Manhattan S. before getting promoted to third via DQ in that season's GI Woodbine Mile. Kicking off 2020 with a confident score at the Grade I level at Santa Anita, the French bred was a close-up third in last year's renewal of this race before finishing fifth in the Fourstardave at the Spa. A good second in the GI Shadwell Turf Mile in Lexington in October, the 6-year-old finished 10th in his latest start in the Nov. 7 GI Breeders' Cup Mile.

Pedigree Note:
Raging Bull, one of seven Group 1/Grade I winners for Dark Angel, holds the distinction of being the Yeomanstown Stud stallion's second North American Grade I winner, following Hunt (Ire) in 2018. One of two winners from four foals to race thus far out of his French SP dam, Raging Bull is a grandson of Rolly Polly was an Italian highweight filly at two and annexed both the GII Senator Ken Maddy S. and GIII Las Cienegas S. going down the hill at Santa Anita. Bought by Brant's White Birch at Goffs November in 2016, Rosa Bonheur is responsible for an unraced juvenile full-brother to Raging Bull named Bobbie D (Ire) and a yearling brother by Dubawi (Ire).

Friday, Keeneland
MAKER'S MARK MILE S.-GI, $300,000, Keeneland, 4-9, 4yo/up, 1mT, 1:33.86, gd.
1–RAGING BULL (FR), 118, h, 6, by Dark Angel (Ire)
                1st Dam: Rosa Bonheur (SP-Fr), by Mr. Greeley
                2nd Dam: Rolly Polly (Ire), by Mukaddamah
                3rd Dam: Rare Sound (Ire), by Rarity (GB)
(€90,000 Ylg '16 GOFORB). O-Peter M. Brant; B-Dayton
Investments Limited (FR); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr.
$180,000. Lifetime Record: 18-7-3-3, $1,496,750. Werk Nick
   Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Ride a Comet, 118, h, 6, Candy Ride (Arg)–Appealing Zophie,
by Successful Appeal. ($45,000 RNA Ylg '16 KEESEP; $375,000
2yo '17 OBSAPR). O-John C. Oxley &My Meadowview Farm
LLC; B-My Meadowview LLC (KY); T-Mark E. Casse. $60,000.
3–Sacred Life (Fr), 118, h, 6, Siyouni (Fr)–Knyazhna (Ire), by
Montjeu (Ire). (€50,000 Ylg '16 ARAUG). O-Michael Dubb,
Madaket Stables LLC, Wonder Stables & Bethlehem Stables
LLC; B-Mr. Viktor Timoshenko & Mr. Andriy Milovanov (FR);
T-Chad C. Brown. $30,000.
Margins: 2, HF, HF. Odds: 3.50, 8.80, 4.50.
Also Ran: Field Pass, Hit the Road, Darain (GB), Somelikeithotbrown, Get Smokin, Flying Scotsman.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Saturday’s Racing Insights: Bros to Champions Make Second Starts

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency

11th-KEE, $79K, Msw, 3yo, 7f, 6:38 p.m. ET

A pair of Pioneerof the Nile brothers to high-profile champions look to go one better off of runner-up debuts to close out the Keeneland card Saturday. John Gunther homebred Stage Raider (Pioneerof the Nile) is half to none other than Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy) as well as the ill-fated GSW The Lieutenant (Street Sense). A $950,000 Keeneland September RNA, the Chad Brown trainee was beaten 8 1/2 lengths by super impressive 'TDN Rising Star' Prevalence (Medaglia d'Oro) going this distance at Gulfstream Jan. 23. Prevalence came back and did what he had to do to take an optional claimer next out, but he settled for sixth in last Saturday's GII Wood Memorial S.

WinStar Farm and CHC Inc.'s Harvard (Pioneerof the Nile), meanwhile, was second going a furlong shorter at Gulfstream Feb. 28, good for a field's-best last-out Beyer Speed Figure of 75. Bred by China Horse Club, the Rodolphe Brisset pupil is a full to 2016 champion juvenile and 2017 GI Arkansas Derby winner Classic Empire, who has first 2-year-olds himself this season. TJCIS PPs

4th-OP, $93K, Msw, 3yo, 6f, 2:42 p.m. ET

Bob Baffert brings in Following Sea (Runhappy) for a lucrative maiden special weight try a few races before he'll be represented by the two expected favorites in the GI Arkansas Derby. Spendthrift homebred Following Sea crossed the wire second on debut behind stablemate and subsequent GI Runhappy Santa Anita fourth Defunded (Dialed In) at Santa Anita Mar. 6, but he was moved back to third by the stewards for interference. The bay was a $230,000 in utero purchase at the 2017 Keeneland November sale. His stakes-winning dam has already produced one stakes horse and is half to SW and MGSP Qahira (Cairo Prince), who is also conditioned by Baffert.

Frank Fletcher Racing and Ten Strike Racing will be represented by Brad Cox-trained firster Amazing Rocket (Into Mischief). The $500,000 KEESEP buy is a grandson of MSW Amazing Buy (High Yield). Happymac (Runhappy) was a $360,000 KEESEP yearling who RNA'd last year at OBSAPR for $800,000 following a :20 3/5 bullet breeze. The half-brother to speedy GSW/MGISP Shancelot (Shanghai Bobby) was fourth in the Saratoga mud last August–two slots behind recent GII Toyota Blue Grass runner-up Highly Motivated (Into Mischief)–and was beaten a neck after setting the pace at Keeneland in October. He's one of two to be saddled by Steve Asmussen, along with $170,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred Arms an Armor (Laoban).

Rising Empire (Empire Maker) earned the same Beyer Speed Figure–64–when finishing fourth on debut that Happymac did at Keeneland one day earlier. The half-brother to MGSW marathoner and 'TDN Rising Star' Rocketry (Hard Spun) was a $275,000 KEESEP yearling turned $700,000 OBSAPR grad off a :10 1/5 move. Terawatt (Nyquist) was a $200,000 KEENOV weanling, $300,000 FTSAUG yearling and $295,000 FTMMAY RNA (:10 1/5). He's a half to GSW Native Bombshell (War Front). TJCIS PPs

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Brown Starts Pair in Bid for Fourth Straight Jenny Wiley

As of now, the only trainer to win four straight renewals of the GI Coolmore Jenny Wiley S. at Keeneland is the late Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel. Saturday, Frankel's future Hall of Fame protege Chad Brown will have a chance to equal his feat with a pair of contenders in the 1 1/16-mile turf test.

Capturing the Jenny Wiley with Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) in 2018 and Rushing Fall (More Than Ready) in 2019 and 2020, Brown will be represented by Tamahere (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and Etoile (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}). The former punched her ticket to America with a dominant score in the Prix la Sorellina at La Teste Buch and impressively annexed the GII Sands Point S. in her North American debut before running sixth as the favorite in the GI Matriarch S. The latter, beaten less than a length when fourth in the G1 Prix de Diane Longines in June of 2019, failed to find the mark in her first two North American tries before breaking through in the GI E.P. Taylor S. when last seen Oct. 18 at Woodbine.

The morning-line favorite is Godolphin's Micheline (Bernardini). Scoring a 17-1 upset by open lengths in the Honey Ryder S. last spring at Gulfstream, the homebred was off the board in her next two before getting up late to take the Exacta Systems Dueling Grounds Oaks at 10-1 Sept. 10 at Kentucky Downs. She's kept up that good form with a second at 11-1 in the local GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S. and a conquest of the GII Hillsborough S. last out Mar. 6 at Tampa.

“I really didn't feel like I had her completely tight for the Hillsborough coming off a layoff,” trainer Mike Stidham told TDN's Katie Ritz. “In my mind, I thought maybe I was a work or two short of having her totally cranked up for that race. So the way she ran was really impressive to me, knowing what I had in her. Since that race, she's come back and worked a couple of times and her last work [Apr. 2], in :47 [1/5] was a really, really good work for her because she's not a huge workhorse. For her to work like that, she was touting me that she's sitting on ready.”

Rounding out the major challengers is Juliet Foxtrot (GB) (Dansili {GB}). A dual graded stakes victress, she looks for a belated top-level success after placing four times in Grade I company, including when third in this race last year.

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Kilroe Winner Hits the Road for First Time in Maker’s Mark Mile

The winner of four straight races and six of nine overall, including a first-ever Grade I triumph for his trainer last out, progressive Hit the Road (More Than Ready) will travel outside of California for the first time in his career to face eight rivals in a competitive renewal of the GI Maker's Mark Mile Friday at Keeneland.

Capturing his first two turf tries, the latter coming in the Zuma Beach S., as a 2-year-old, the bay ran seventh before being disqualified to last in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf and was fourth in the GIII Cecil B. DeMille S. That's the last time Hit the Road has tasted defeat, as he followed up a Santa Anita allowance score last spring with a tally in the restricted Oceanside S. July 10 at Del Mar. Given the rest of his sophomore campaign off, he's come back better than ever, dominating the GIII Thunder Road S. by 3 3/4 lengths and squeezing through a narrow opening to take the GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile S. to give conditioner Dan Blacker a career high Mar. 6 at Santa Anita.

Given the narrow nod at 7-2 on the morning line is the lone other Grade I winner in the field, Peter Brant's Raging Bull (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}). Rallying to a victory in the GI Hollywood Derby in December of 2018, the now 6-year-old has had a difficult time finding the winning thread since then, scoring just once in his subsequent 10 tries, albeit at the highest level in last spring's GI Shoemaker Mile S. at Santa Anita. The Chad Brown trainee ran a close third in this event last year and was runner-up in the GI Shadwell Turf Mile S. here in the fall before running 10th in the GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile.

Lightly-raced Darain (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) intrigues as he takes a steep class hike. Starting his career two-for-two last summer in his native land for John Gosden, he failed to hit the board in the G2 Sky Bet Great Voltigeur S. or G3 Darley S., but was a narrow second and registered a sharp allowance score in two tries for Brad Cox this winter at Fair Grounds. Somelikeithotbrown (Big Brown) also commands respect, as his twin 105 Beyers from his runner-up finish in Pimlico's GII Dinner Party S. and victory in the New York-bred Mohawk S. last fall are tied with Raging Bull's Shoemaker figure for field best.

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