Chad Brown | Horse Racing Free Tips

Decorated Invader, Gufo Among East Coast Invaders For Saturday’s Hollywood Derby

Befitting its Grade 1 status, a field of 3-year-olds of both quality and quantity was entered Sunday for next Saturday's 79th running of the Hollywood Derby at Del Mar.

The 1 1/8-mile turf event, won by California Chrome in its initial edition at the seaside track north of San Diego, Calif., in 2014 as a springboard to Horse of the Year honors, had 13 set as the entry deadline approached Sunday morning. Among the group were five shippers from East Coast-based trainers with two from Christophe Clement and one each from Chad Brown, George Weaver and Thomas M. Bush.

Clement is sending out Decorated Invader, a winner of the Grade 2 Pennine Ridge Stakes at Belmont Park and the G2 Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga last summer and Gufo, a winner as the favorite of the Belmont Derby on October 3.

Brown is dispatching Domestic Spending, a winner of the Saratoga Derby Invitational in August by a head over Gufo; Weaver will be represented by Ever Dangerous, fresh from a win in a $150,000 stakes at Keeneland on November 6, and Bush sends Get Smokin, a wire-to-winner of the Grade II Hill Prince on a yielding Belmont turf on October 18.

Joel Rosario, who has ridden Decorated Invader for Clement for the son of Declaration of War's last five starts, was in the irons for a four-furlong workout in 51.66 seconds Sunday morning at Belmont Park. Stablemate Gufo also worked the same time and distance.

“He put in a good work,” Rosario said by phone while en route from Belmont to Aqueduct for the Sunday card. “He's doing very well and hopefully he'll make the trip well and run a good race.”

A supplemental entry, at a $3,000 cost, was Roadrunner Racing and Sayjay Racing's Strongconstitution. The Kentucky-bred son of Constitution, a $220,000 purchase at a 2-year-old in training sale last spring, was second in the Bob Hope last year and won the Let It Ride Stakes on the second day of the current meeting.

“The Let It Ride was a really good race for him and we're hoping he can step it up another notch because obviously he's going to have to against the horses he'll be up against this time,” trainer Doug O'Neill said.

The entrants, in alphabetical order with jockeys in parenthesis: California Kook (Juan Hernandez); Decorated Invader (Rosario); Domestic Spending (Irad Ortiz, Jr.); Ever Dangerous (Victor Espinoza); Get Smokin (Mike Smith); Gufo (Flavien Prat); Kanderel (Geovanni Franco); Lane Way (Drayden Van Dyke); Scarto (Manuel Franco); Smooth Like Strait (Umberto Rispoli); Storm The Court (Juan Hernandez); Strongconstitution (Abel Cedillo), and Taishan (Jose Valdivia, Jr.).

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Del Mar’s Red Carpet Stakes Has Eastern Flavor; TVG’s Hoover Savors 2019 Victory By $8,000 Claim

The field of 10 for the Thanksgiving Day featured Red Carpet Stakes includes four horses that last raced in New York or Kentucky on assignment from nationally-renowned trainers. Three of them will have elite Eastern-based jockeys that venture west only when the stakes are most plentiful and highest – as they will be through the four final days of the Bing Crosby Season.

So the Grade 3, $100,000 Red Carpet figures to be a tasty hors d'oeuvre for the feast that will follow—six graded stakes on grass in three days in what amounts to a “Turf Festival” – to the November 29 close of the meeting.

Three notable equine travelers for the 1 3/8-mile Red Carpet marathon for fillies and mares are Orglandes for one of the nation's leading trainers, Chad Brown, Woodfin for Victoria Oliver and Blame Debbie for H. Graham Motion. And Peter Miller has had California Kook, runner-up in the G1 Del Mar Oaks last summer, in training at San Luis Rey Downs for a month since returning from a fifth-place finish in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup on October 10 at Keeneland.

Irad Ortiz, Jr., No. 1 in North America for purse earnings with nearly $20 million, will ride Orglandes, a 4-year-old import from France making her third U.S. start and coming in off a win at Belmont Park on October 9. Joel Rosario, No. 2 in winnings with nearly $17 million, has the call on California Kook. Manny Franco, No. 10 with more than $11.4 million will be aboard Blame Debbie after their initial collaboration resulted in victory in the G3 Dowager at Keeneland last month.

The field from the rail with jockeys in parenthesis: California Kook (Rosario); Never Be Enough (Tiago Pereira); Colonial Creed (Flavien Prat); Orglandes (Ortiz, Jr.); Going to Vegas (Mario Gutierrez); Woodfin (Jose Valdivia, Jr.); Aunt Lubie (Victor Espinoza); Blame Debbie (Franco); Hollywood Girl (Mike Smith), and Quick (Umberto Rispoli).

When TVG commentator Kurt Hoover saw the entries come out for the Red Carpet, he took special interest in looking over the field. Partly out of professional obligation, of course, but also for sentimental reasons.

“It's a race that doesn't mean a hell of a lot to a lot of people, but it does to me,” Hoover said by phone from the Los Angeles area.

Hoover, his friend from high school days Brian Ferguson and Jeff Lambert of Del Mar, a longtime client of trainer Bob Hess, Jr., comprised the ownership group of Zuzanna, an $8,000 claim of theirs that they watched win the 2019 Red Carpet at odds of 23-1.

“I remember watching her cross under the finish line and I remember being in the winner's circle, but I don't remember going down to the winner's circle,” said Hoover. It was the first stakes win as an owner for Hoover, who said he has had pieces of four or five horses with only Zuzanna succeeding at the stakes level.

“I suggested to Bob that we enter because I thought maybe we could hit the board,” Hoover recalled. “If it hadn't been a mile and three-eighths we wouldn't have entered. We were planning on going to the Claiming Crown (event) in Florida with her.”

The traditional Thanksgiving Day feature of the Bing Crosby Season was moved to Saturday in 2019 after rains early in the week compromised the Jimmy Durante Turf Course. That resulted in Paco Lopez, arriving from the east, being able to ride Zuzanna skillfully to a 1 ½-length victory.

After more than 30 career starts, Zuzanna has recently been retired and will be sold as a broodmare in January.

For the first time in 30 years, Hoover has a Thanksgiving Day off from work. But he said he'll be watching the Red Carpet with professional and sentimental interest.

“I like John Sadler's horse Quick,” Hoover said when asked for a 2020 selection. “Her last outing was a really good effort and I think she's ready to run big. Besides Quick, I think Graham Motion's horse coming in from Kentucky, Blame Debbie, will be very tough.”

In Thursday's edition, trainer Richard Baltas has the duo of Going to Vegas and Colonial Creed. Going to Vegas comes in off a runner-up effort, beaten only a neck by Warren's Showtime, in the G3 Autumn Miss at Santa Anita. Colonial Creed was second in the Katherine Crosby Stakes on the opening day of this meeting.

“Going To Vegas ran really good last time with the blinkers off,” Baltas noted. “It's a little far for her, but if she can get the distance, who knows? Obviously she's in a little tough because she's a 3-year-old running against older, but we're going to see because she's training really well.

“Colonial Creed has never been this far either, but she's coming off the pace now more and more, so maybe she will like the distance. I think they've both got a good chance.”

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Familiar Stables, And A Few Newcomers, Converging At Fair Grounds This Winter

A deep and competitive backstretch will be that much tougher this winter when Fair Grounds opens their 149th meet Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 26, as several new trainers will make their presence felt for the first time. The who's who list is led by reigning four-time Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown, who will have 24 stalls and joins two-time defending champion Brad Cox, along with perennial powers Ron Faucheux, Tom Amoss and Steve Asmussen, in making up one of the most talented and well-stocked group of conditioners to have ever descended on Fair Grounds.

Brown, based primarily in New York for the first decade of his career, has branched out in recent years and put down roots in Kentucky this year for the first time, which created a natural progression towards Fair Grounds.

“Being in the Midwest at Churchill Downs, and with things going well, we felt it made a lot of sense to bring a division to Fair Grounds and try to establish a year-round circuit,” Brown said. “We're optimistic that we can be competitive down there this winter.”

Brown, who has long had the deepest and most talented grass horses in the country, is familiar with Fair Grounds' biggest turf stakes, the Muniz Memorial Classic (G2), as he shipped Bricks and Mortar in to win the race in 2019, in what helped kickstart a Horse of the Year campaign that ended with a win in the Breeders' Cup Turf. While he plans on taking advantage of the local turf course, he expects to be well represented on all levels.

“Right now, we're still finalizing who we're going to bring down there and what kind of horses fit best, regardless of what class or division it might be,” Brown said. “We'll look over the condition book and see, on a horse-by-horse basis, what makes the most sense. If we have a lot of horses for the same condition it makes sense to separate them. And certainly, we'll keep our clients in mind as well, as some like to race in certain spots, based on where they are located.”

Brown is based at Palm Meadows in South Florida during the winter and will still call that home, which means Whit Beckman, a Louisville native who oversaw the Kentucky division this year, will be running the shedrow at Fair Grounds.

“Whit has been with us a few years now and has done a terrific job with the Kentucky string this year,” Brown said. “He's proven himself to be an excellent horseman and will be familiar with a lot of the horses we send to Fair Grounds.”

Though the list of newcomers is clearly led by Brown, there are several other nationally recognized trainers who will have a string at Fair Grounds this winter, including Norm Casse, who will have 21 stalls, while Ignacio Correas (26), Cherie DeVaux (22), Tommy Drury (6), Austin Gustafson (22), Anthony Quartarolo (14), Kelly Rubley (15), and Shane Wilson (40) are all new faces.

A smaller presence at Fair Grounds in recent years, Keith Desormeaux (25) has upped the ante for 2020-21. He's enjoyed local success in the past, winning the Risen Star (G2) in 2013 with 135-1 longshot Ive Struck a Nerve, while Drury could bring G2 winning 3-year-old Art Collector to run in next season's handicap division.

Cox, who pulled clear late last year and won the trainer's title with 40 wins, is the favorite to win it this year and will have the maximum allotted 44 stalls, as will Faucheux, who ran second with 34 wins. Amoss (29 wins) and Asmussen (26) also have 44 stalls, as do top-10 trainers Bret Calhoun, Joe Sharp, Al Stall, and Mike Stidham.

The jockey's race was a meet-long battle last year, as James Graham booted home 63 winners to outlast Mitchell Murrill by one and Colby Hernandez by three, and the trio will again lead the way this year. Florent Geroux (56 wins), Brian Hernandez Jr. (44), Adam Beschizza (44), Shaun Bridgmohan (38), Gabriel Saez (35), and Miguel Mena (32) were all in the top-10 and will be back this winter as well.

Opening Day marks the first of 76 racing days as Fair Grounds will run through March 28. There will be over $7 million in stakes races, highlighted by the March 20, $1 million Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby. A pocket schedule, along with a complete list of the stakes schedule, can be found here: https://www.fairgroundsracecourse.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2020-2021-THOROUGHBRED-RACING-AND-STAKES-CALENDAR.pdf

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Fog of War to Stand in New York

Fog of War (War Front–Say {Ire}, Galileo {Ire}), winner of the GI Summer S. at two, will stand the 2021 season at Questroyal/Hidden Lake Farm near Stillwater, New York. The 4-year-old stands as property of White Birch Farm Inc. and Three C Stables LLC with a stud fee set at $7,000, live foal stands and nurses.

A $400,000 Keeneland September yearling, Fog of War was purchased by White Birch Farm and raced under the colors of Peter M. Brant his entire career. He was trained by Chad Brown.

Fog of War’s dam Say was a Group 3 winner in Ireland. She produced two full brothers to Fog of War– Invader, a $500,000 Keeneland September yearling who won the John Battaglia Memorial S. by 6 1/4 lengths, and Naval Intelligence, a stakes winner in Great Britain.

Fog of War’s second dam Riskaverse was a MGISW. This is the family of 2011 Horse of the Year and champion older mare Havre De Grace.

Chris Larsen commented, “I’m excited to partner with Peter Brant to bring Fog of War to stud in New York. This will give breeders access to the world’s most successful sire lines Peter and I love as well as taking advantage of the lucrative NYS breeder awards and restricted racing programs. We think Fog of War is destined to be New York State’s great sire.”

“Fog of War’s win first time out at Saratoga and his Grade I victory in the “Win and You’re In” Summer S. at Woodbine beating War of Will, showed us that he was our best colt of that crop and marked him as one of the clear favorites for the 2018 Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf,” Brant said. “Unfortunately, Fog bucked his shins and would not make the race but his undefeated 2-year-old campaign managed to show everyone his brilliant turn of foot and class. Fog of War has all the makings of a potentially high-class stallion with his conformation, pedigree and speed. I am so thrilled Fog will have the opportunity to be an exciting freshman stallion in New York and also allow White Birch Farm to be a new player in the New York State breeding and racing program.”

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