Chad Brown | Horse Racing Free Tips

Runhappy Travers Tops Super Saturday at the Spa

The GI Runhappy Travers S. is one of the summer's most highly anticipated events and for the past several years it has been the centerpiece of a Super Saturday card at Saratoga that serves as a Breeders' Cup preview. The Travers is one of five star-studded Grade Is on the 14-race card, which also includes the GII Ballston Spa S. for turf fillies.

Intriguing storylines abound in this year's eight-horse renewal of the summer centerpiece for sophomore colts, which is topped by GII Jim Dandy S. winner Epicenter (Not This Time). The GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. runner-up looks to provide Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen with his first Travers and add another bullet point to his hot young sire's resume.

“I love the race that he ran over this racetrack. I like him at a mile and a quarter,” Asmussen said. “Nothing but respect for some extremely good 3-year-olds, but I think we have the right one.”

Chad Brown's best previous Travers finish was third with Miles D (Curlin) in last year's renewal. He saddles three this year in Preakness winner Early Voting (Gun Runner); GI Toyota Blue Grass S. winner and Jim Dandy runner-up Zandon (Upstart); and impressive Curlin S. winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Artorius (Arrogate).

“The only reason I'm in this profession is from coming to Saratoga with my family as a kid,” Brown said. “It doesn't get any bigger than that, to win the jewel of their meet and the history surrounding the race. Coming to the Travers with my parents when I was knee-high is the only reason I'm here in the first place.”

Artorius is the lightest-raced horse in the field, but his late sire had just two more starts under his belt, and none in stakes company, when he powered home to a record-setting 13 1/2-length victory in this event in 2016. The last Travers winner to sire a Travers winner was 2004 victor Birdstone, who is responsible for 2009 scorer Summer Bird.

“The horse brought himself here since we got him to his debut at Keeneland,” Brown said. “Moving forward, he's always worked right on schedule, and he's done everything that we've asked him to do. He's been stretching out nicely and his first two-turn race was impressive, his best race. I have a lot of optimism that horse will be able to carry another eighth of a mile.”

Brad Cox captured last year's Travers with champion Essential Quality (Tapit) and looks to take the elusive GI Haskell Inviational S./Travers double this year with Cyberknife (Gun Runner). His phenomenal young sire could only manage third behind Arrogate in the 2016 Travers, but proved 10 furlongs was well within his wheel house when taking the GI Breeders' Cup Classic.

The feel-good story of the year could add another chapter Saturday as Kentucky Derby upsetter Rich Strike (Keen Ice) looks to rebound from a sixth-place finish in the GI Belmont S. Saturday at the Spa.

Jackie and Jack Headline Grade I Sprints

The first Grade I of the day should set the mood quite nicely as champion Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) looks to take his Saratoga record to six-for-six in the GI Forego S. The fleet-footed bay is four-for-four this year, including a sizzling last-out score in this venue's GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. July 30.

“He's immortal,” Asmussen said. “He's the only racehorse ever to win a Grade I three years in a row at Saratoga. The only horse, ever, at Saratoga.”

None of the other six competitors even come close to being able to run with the Eclipse winner on paper, but GIII Westchester S. romper Cody's Wish (Curlin) appears best of the rest.

Just 117 minutes later sophomore sprinters get their turn, but once again it looks like a one-horse affair with the presence of 'TDN Rising Star' Jack Christopher (Munnings). The speedy chestnut suffered his first loss when attempting two turns for the first time last out in the Haskell. Undefeated around one turn, including a 10-length demolition of the GI Woody Stephens S., the chestnut will be just about impossible to catch at his best.

“I thought the horse ran great in the Haskell. He ran a fast three-quarters in 1:09 and change and he fought on nicely,” Brown said. “He just didn't have quite enough late, but I thought it was a really good race. The horse has never disappointed me in a race. I'm happy to cut him back on a track that I know he likes. I hope he gets a good, clean break.”

He is joined by GII Amsterdam S. one-two Gunite (Gun Runner), winner of the GI Hopeful S. last term, and the chalk's stablemate Accretive (Practical Joke).

Short, But Sweet Personal Ensign

Clairiere | Sarah Andrew

Four of the five runners from Belmont's June 11 GI Ogden Phipps S., including regular rivals Malathaat (Curlin) and Clairiere (Curlin) face off yet again in a five-horse renewal of the GI Personal Ensign S.

Clairiere has come out on top in her last two meetings with champion and GI Kentucky Oaks winner Malathaat, edging her by a head in the Phipps and besting her in this venue's GII Shuvee S. July 24. Her dam Cavorting closed out her career with a decisive score in the 2016 Personal Ensign.

“She's racing royalty and she's in great form,” Asmussen said. “She's capable. It's within her and she continues to get better. I expect another huge race against great mares in the Personal Ensign. Letruska and Malathaat are as good as race mares can be.”

Champion Letruska (Super Saver) looks to defend her title in this event. While she was well beaten by her younger foes when folding her tent in the Shuvee, the bay did triumph over Clairiere earlier this season in the Apr. 23 GI Apple Blossom H. at Oaklawn.

GIII Molly Pitcher S. winner and Phipps third Search Results (Flatter) and Shuvee third Crazy Beautiful (Liam's Map) round out the quintet.

BC Qualifiers Coast-to-Coast

Rounding out Saturday's Grade I action at Saratoga is the Sword Dancer S., a “Win and You're In” for the GI Breeders' Cup Turf S. at Keeneland in November. When Aidan O'Brien ships one in, it's a horse worth paying attention to and he saddles Group 1 winner Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}) here. Winning the G2 Hardwicke S. at Royal Ascot June 18, he wheeled back just five days late to be fourth in the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S.

Gufo (Declaration of War) adds blinkers for this title defense and Chad Brown saddles three–Adhamo (Ire) (Intello {Ger}), Rockemperor (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) and Tribhuvan (Fr) (Toronado {Ire})–in search of his fourth win in this event.

The West Coast also plays host to a Breeders' Cup qualifier in the GII Pat O'Brien S., which grants the winner a spot in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile starting gate. Bill Mott makes the journey to Del Mar with an imposing contender in GI Carter H. winner Speaker's Corner (Street Sense), who hit the board behind the country's top two racehorses, Flightline (Tapit) and Life Is Good (Into Mischief), in his last two outings.

His biggest competition here comes from GI Bing Crosby S. and GII Triple Bend S. winner American Theorem (American Pharoah).

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Aron Wellman Talks Nest, Buying Strategies, HISA On Writers’ Room

It's a busy time of year for Aron Wellman's Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, with yearling sale season now in full swing alongside the iconic Saratoga and Del Mar meets. But Wellman and his partners are full of energy these days thanks in large part to their Nest (Curlin)–co-owned with Repole Stable and Michael House–who likely sewed up an Eclipse Award for Champion 3-Year-Old Filly with a dominant victory in the GI Alabama S. Saturday at the Spa. Tuesday, Wellman sat down with the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss Nest but also a variety of industry issues in an expansive interview.

“I felt oddly calm going into the race,” Wellman said of his mindset before the Alabama. “She just allows for us to have a lot of confidence. There's plenty of reason to be nervous when you're arguably going for a championship, but she had just thrived so much in the month between the CCA Oaks and Alabama that we went in with a lot of conviction that she was going to go out and perform well again. As far as the performance was concerned, it was nothing short of brilliant. She put on another breathtaking display, and she's just getting stronger and better and more comfortable in her own skin.”

Asked whether or not Nest will return to race as a 4-year-old, Wellman said, “We have every intention of running her back next year. Look, Eclipse is in the business of racing. And while we certainly have a program, an established pipeline of what we refer to as Eclipse fillies that we've made a habit out of developing over the course of the past decade and then selling for seven figures at auction or privately, this filly is cut from a different cloth than most of our Grade I fillies have been in the sense that she's only supposed to get better. Health, of course is always in the back of your mind, but being by Curlin out of an A.P. Indy mare, the thought of her maturing into a 4-year-old and beyond is super exciting. And Mike Repole is the ultimate sportsman. Mike House is getting up there in age and is having the time of his life. I don't want to speak for them, but I would say that having a filly that's capable of running in the races that she's capable of running in at the end of this year and through next, hopefully it's far more important than any zeros that they could add to their ledger at this point.”

The conversation turned to the sometimes rocky implementation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, and Wellman was asked for his impression of HISA's early days.

“The types of partners Eclipse attracts are interested in integrity in all respects and really, what they want most when we send a horse out onto the track is a level playing field,” he said. “Nobody's taking an edge or able to take an edge. So I don't think there's any downside to HISA. Are there going to be growing pains? Absolutely. Any initiative like this, especially in the political realm, is going to have bumps in the road, and we're seeing that. But I've got to be honest, I've been very impressed with HISA's upper management, with [CEO] Lisa Lazarus. She is willing to listen, and although change and getting it right might not be immediate and it might not be happening as fast as we all want it to be, they're trying. And we finally broke down that barrier of actually having some unified governing body as it relates to medication, at least. We've been fighting an impossible battle for decades where we've made very little progress. At the end of the day, we can't lose sight of the fact that the reason HISA is in effect is that we want to operate on a level playing field. If we keep our eye on the ball in that respect, we're going to be okay.”

Elsewhere on the show–which is also sponsored by Coolmore, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, XBTV, Three Chimneys, West Point Thoroughbreds and Legacy Bloodstock–Joe Bianca, Bill Finley and Jon Green reacted to the arrest of Chad Brown and the suspension of Jamie Ness and looked forward to a blockbuster GI Runhappy Travers S. day at card. Click here to watch the show; click here for the audio-only version or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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Epicenter Draws Six As 7-5 Favorite in Eight-Horse Travers

Winchell Thoroughbreds' MGSW and GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. runner-up Epicenter (Not This Time) drew post six in a field of eight and was installed as a significant 7-5 favorite in Saturday's 153rd renewal of the $1.25 million GI Runhappy Travers S. The Steve Asmussen pupil, last seen producing a dazzling late-to-first kick to capture the local GII Jim Dandy S. July 30, will be ridden by regular jockey Joel Rosario, who missed most of the past week of racing at Saratoga with an illness.

Given the second-choice nod at 7-2 is Gold Square's rail-drawn multiple Grade I winner Cyberknife (Gun Runner). Scoring in the GI Arkansas Derby earlier this year, Cyberknife has bounced back from a disappointing run in the Kentucky Derby with back-to-back successes in the GIII Matt Winn S. and GI Haskell Invitational S. The chestnut will look to give trainer Brad Cox consecutive Travers triumphs after his champion Essential Quality (Tapit) won the 1 1/4-mile test in 2021.

Kentucky Derby upsetter Rich Strike (Keen Ice) drew post two as a 10-1 chance. After his unforgettable closing flourish to shock the Run for the Roses at 80-1, the Eric Reed trainee famously passed on a try at the Preakness only to run sixth in the GI Belmont S. Journeyman Sonny Leon keeps the mount.

Leading trainer Chad Brown will have three starters in the Travers: Preakness hero Early Voting (Gun Runner, 8-1, post seven), Grade I winner and Derby third Zandon (Upstart, 5-1, post eight) and Artorius (Arrogate, 9-2, post five), an impressive winner of the Curlin S. July 29 at the Spa. Brown, who made news last week after he was arrested in Saratoga Springs, is looking for his first Travers victory.
Rounding out the field are Iowa Derby winner Ain't Life Grand (Not This Time, 20-1) from post three and Curlin runner-up Gilded Age (Medaglia d'Oro, 30-1) from post four.

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Artorius Has Arrogate-Sized Shadow to Outrun in Travers

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY–During a pre-season interview in early July, trainer Chad Brown offered another colt–at that point, with a low profile–to a discussion of his deep bench of GI Travers prospects: Zandon (Upstart), Early Voting (Gun Runner) and Jack Christopher (Munnings).

“I have a late -bloomer, a horse named Artorius (Arrogate), that I really like,” Brown said. “He's going to run in the Curlin Stakes. Much like the dad, he's late bloomer. I'm not saying he's a threat to win the Travers, but I'm going to tell you: he's lightly raced and he's very good. And his mother was very good, Paulassilverlining (Ghostzapper), who won two Grade Is for us. Obviously, Arrogate was a great race horse, that I didn't train. He's very well bred. He's a horse we've always liked all winter. He just got started a little late.”

Seven weeks to the day later, Artorius, will be entered Tuesday with Zandon and Early Voting in the Travers, which will be run for the 153rd time on Saturday. Following a third as the favorite in the GI Haskell S. July 23, Jack Christopher returns to sprint distances in the seven-furlong GI H. Allen Jerkens on the Travers program.

Artorius thoroughly confirmed Brown's assessment that he was of Travers quality with a 4 3/4-lengths score in the 1 1/8 miles ungraded Curlin July 29. He has continued to train well, most recently a :47.00 half-mile on Saturday, and just like his famous father did in 2016, will make his graded stakes debut in the Travers.

In what was his fifth career start, Arrogate (Unbridled's Song) cruised into Saratoga history for trainer Bob Baffert in 2016 with a stakes and course record of 1:59.36 for the 1 1/4-miles Travers. He broke the record of 2:00 set in 1979 by General Assembly over a very wet track. The Travers was the launching pad for Arrogate, who died in 2020 during his third season at stud. He followed that 13 1/2-length Travers score with wins in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, the GI Pegasus World Cup and the GI Dubai World Cup. The week of his victory in the Pegasus in an anticipated showdown with California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) that never materialized, he won the Eclipse Award as 3-year-old male champion.

Brown said that Artorius had typical 2-year-old shin issues in 2021 and had another problem that delayed his arrival to the races. He broke slowly in his first start on Apr. 16 in a six-furlong race at Keeneland and finished second. The maiden-breaker came at a mile at Belmont Park June 10 and he followed that up with what turned out to be an easy victory at nine furlongs in the Curlin.

“He's doing great,” Brown said. “His last race was terrific, first race around two turns. I was very pleased with it. ”

Brown acknowledged that it is a big ask to send Artorius into the Travers against an accomplished field whose headliner is GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike. His stablemates Early Voting, victor of the GI Preakness S., Zandon, third in the Derby after a win in the GI Blue Grass S. will be in the gate, along with Epicenter (Not This Time), second in the Derby and Preakness and the winner of the GII Jim Dandy, and GI Arkansas Derby and GI Haskell winner Cyberknife (Gun Runner).

“I'm having to step him up. He seems like he's willing to do it,” Brown said. “I don't feel like I'm doing anything to compromise his development by doing it. Yes, it's a really tough race, but he's got a nice race over this track, albeit against lesser horses than he's going to meet in the Travers. He did it the right way and came out of it the right way. The Travers is a once-in-a-lifetime for a horse to try. You only get one shot to run in it when you're three. So, if they're sound and doing well, and their numbers look like they're heading the right way, have a race over the track, which is in this particular case is possibly beneficial, and a leading jockey riding the horse, you've got to take a shot.”

Juddmonte purchased Paulassilverling from breeder-owner Vincent Scuderi prior to her 5-year-old season in 2017 and turned her over to Brown. She promptly won the GI Madison and the GI Humana Distaff. Artorius is her first foal.

“He's not real big now,” Brown said. “He'd be more of his mom's size than his father's size, but he's good combination between the two. He's got the stamina and the movement of his father, who moved like a cat. His mother was a smaller filly, not the best mover, but had a lot of heart. When you're breeding the best of the best, you hope for the best. This horse got a good blend of both, which is what you really hope for in a lot of cases when you breed Grade I horses to Grade I horses.”

An hour or so after Artorius worked alongside multiple GI winner Search Results (Flatter) Saturday, Brown said he was certain that the colt had the physical tools for the Travers and it just was a matter of timing whether he would make it to Saratoga's signature race.

“It's not a surprise at all. We always thought that he's talented enough,” Brown said. “I'd use the word “relieved” that he was able to do it. There was a small percentage chance that he'd be able to advance this quick. We knew he had the ability, but things happen. Horses have setbacks, right? Horses don't always run the way you think they're going to run. For him to actually hit all the marks and really get there, the only way was if everything sort of went right. Everything went right along the way with his works and spacing and weather, health of the horse. Everything has for this horse. I've been relieved. We gave it a shot to put him on a path to get here and he hit it.”

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