The GII Wonder Again S., which grants a spot in the GI Belmont Oaks starting gate to the top three finishers, kicks off a race week loaded with stakes action Thursday in what NYRA refers to as the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.
Chad Brown has saddled the winners of three of the eight renewals of this event and it is of no surprise that he sends out the race favorite again this year in Klaravich Stables' two-time stakes winner Consumer Spending (More Than Ready). She is a deserving favorite after defeating GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner and recent Hilltop S. victress Pizza Bianca (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), who is now Royal Ascot bound. Her sire More Than Ready was responsible for the winner of the male counterpart of this race, GII Pennine Ridge S. victor Emmanuel.
Brown has won five of the last eight editions of the Belmont Oaks, the first leg of NYRA's Turf Tiara, and two of those victories came with Wonder Again winners Lady Eli (2015) and New Money Honey (2017).
A European-bred runner has only captured the Wonder Again once, but they have taken five of the last 10 Belmont Oaks. A European-bred, but American based contender has the best chance to upset Consumer Spending this year in Andrew Rosen homebred Skims (GB) (Frankel {GB}). The Shug McGaughey has won two of four starts and was third last out in the GII Appalachian S. Apr. 9.
“It wasn't the cleanest of trips [in the Appalachian], but I thought she ran a good race,” McGaughey told the NYRA notes team. “The winner was in front the whole way, so whether we'd have caught her or not, I don't know. She's trained really well since and we're looking forward to running her.”
A high chance of thunderstorms Thursday morning could leave the turf course a bit soft, which may change how this race plays out. Consumer Spending broke her maiden on a yielding course however, and there is a main track only entrant waiting in the wings.
There are two listed stakes for juveniles later in the card, which always draw some intrigue. John Oxley's Devious Dame, the first winner for GI Haskell Invitational S. winner, tops the fillies in the Astoria S. off a 5 1/2-length graduation in her Churchill Downs debut May 5.
Meanwhile, Wesley Ward, who has won his fair share of Tremont S. renewals, saddles the favorite in Thursday's edition in one of his early Keeneland winners No Nay Hudson (Ire) (No Nay Never). The bay graduated by four lengths in Lexington Apr. 28 under John Velazquez, who gets back aboard here.
The story is a familiar one. Seth Klarman, Chad Brown and Jose Ortiz teaming up for a win with a lightly-raced colt in the second jewel of the Triple Crown. In 2016, the duo entered the Classic with a fresh horse, and played the spoiler when Cloud Computing (Maclean's Music) upended Classic Empire to take the GI Preakness S. Fast forward to 2022, history repeated itself with the same connections snagging Pimlico's marquee race with Early Voting (Gun Runner). The colt's victory also provided a well-deserved birthday gift for his owner, who grew up three blocks from Pimlico.
“I just wanted to say how happy I am to deliver a Classic victory to one of my best friends, Seth Klarman, on his birthday,” said Brown. “It's really memorable for me.”
Klarman was also cognizant, and appreciative, of the forces propelling him back into the winner's circle on Preakness day.
“Cloud Computing was a once in a lifetime horse and now I have it twice in a lifetime which is really hard to believe it could happen again,” he said. “Only with Chad.”
Armagnac (Quality Road), a front-running winner in his most recent start at Santa Anita, didn't alter the script and went straight to the front as Ortiz opted to ease Early Voting back to second, rather than contending for supremacy, about two lengths behind. Meanwhile, favored Epicenter (Not This Time) broke cleanly but was soon pinched back by the converging duo of Happy Jack (Oxbow) and Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator), costing the favorite valuable ground. Also encountering issues early, Secret Oath (Arrogate) was also affected by the errant Happy Jack, forcing her to take up position at the back of the field going into the first turn. With the frontrunner gifted a soft :24.32 opening quarter, Ortiz opted to keep the 5-1 chance in close contact as they carved out a slightly faster half in :47.44. A motionless Ortiz, who peeked under his shoulder to see who might be coming along, finally nudging the colt into action, taking over from the fading leader turning for home. In control from there, the colt had plenty left in the tank despite drifting outward, and while Epicenter mounted a gallant run up along the inside late, he was unable to get closer than 1 1/4 lengths to the winner at the wire. Creative Minister (Creative Cause), who was supplemented to the race for $150,000, closed to be 2 1/4 lengths back in third. The filly, sent off at 5-1 facing the boys, crossed the wire in fourth.
It was the second win on the afternoon for triumvirate after Technical Analysis (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) won the GIII Gallorette S.
“Yeah, he is a very good horse out of the gate,” explained Ortiz. “He always has been. He broke well, and that was the main thing. Break good and go forward. We knew that Armagnac had speed, and he never has passed a horse on his right, and we knew he was probably going to go into the lead, and he did, but we were ready for it. We executed the plan perfectly.”
“On the back side, it just felt like we had been drilling in the morning. We had been working him just next to a horse, and he was very relaxed. I was very confident passing the 5/8 pole. I knew I was in a good spot. I took a peek back. Nobody was there. I knew my horse was ready.
He added, “I had the trip I wanted. We planned it out, we executed it with perfection, and we came out top.”
Recipe for Success
In front for most of the way, Early Voting came home a 1 1/2-length winner in his Dec. 18 debut before returning to the South Ozone Park oval with a front-running score in the GIII Withers S. going nine furlongs in the mud Feb. 5. Well supported for the Apr. 9 GII Wood Memorial, the bay had to settle for second behind Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo), who got up in the nick of time to catch him at the wire.
“When we've been working the horse We give him a target, and he rates nice. He catches them and finishes them off well,” said Brown, explaining the colt's latest defeat. “I was convinced in the Wood that he was waiting on horses which is why he got beat. He got beat by a good horse, don't get me wrong, with a good trip, but when you are doing this long enough, you can tell a tired horse from a horse that's waiting on horses. And I can see it in his work sometimes as well.”
Explaining the decision to bypass the Kentucky Derby with both of his Preakness winners, Brown explained, “With both horses it's important to know that they were coming out of the Wood, so [we gave] them time. But they're lightly-raced horses. It's not like a horse that we gave time out of the Wood that also had three starts at two and it's their sixth or seventh [lifetime] start. This a lightly-raced horse. In both cases, the Wood was only their third start.”
He continued, “So when you start participating in the Kentucky Derby enough now, you realize what a tough race it is with 20 horses. As the trainer, you have to deal with the aftermath when it doesn't work out. And sometimes, it's not pretty. Those horses need time physically or mentally, and it can really cost a good part of your 3-year-old year if you swing and miss. You could ship all the way over there or draw terrible weather. You name it..I haven't won the [Derby], but we've had a couple of close calls, and I'm a student of it. I feel like you have to have a horse with some experience, and you have to be prepared for a bad post or a bump here or there or a wet track or something.
This horse just didn't have the experience. He is out there on loose leads. He didn't have dirt in his face really. A nice horse, but to throw him in a 20-horse field would not have worked out well for him, I don't believe. It really wasn't that hard of a decision.”
Looking down the road, Brown hopes to have the colt ready to add another Classic later this summer, this time in his neck of the woods.
“[We'll aim for] a race like the [GI] Travers S. [at Saratoga],” said Brown. “I know it's a tick farther, but I don't believe he will have any trouble getting the mile and a quarter. Growing up just 20 minutes from Saratoga, Baltimore native, that was his race today, the Travers would be for me, so that would be really at the top of the list. But there will be some racing before that. We'll get him back to Belmont, assess him, train him a bit, and then start to map out a campaign that, hopefully, leads us to the Midsummer Derby.”
New York, New York
While repeating a Preakness victory for his connections, Early Voting also mirrored the feat accomplished by Cloud Computing in the 2016 renewal of the Classic race. And both colts employed a similar road to victory. While Early Voting took his first two starts, including his initial graded appearance in the Withers, Cloud Computing won his Big A debut, but was runner-up in that season's GIII Gotham S. before finishing third in the Wood. However, despite the subtle differences, both colts sought a Preakness win through the Empire State.
“Cloud Computing was another horse that wintered up [in New York],” he said. “Not only did both of them run in the Wood, but they didn't even go to Florida. It can be done, and I think it just depends on the horse and always just being aware of your environment where you are training these horses, and New York is a good environment.”
Underscoring why remaining in New York over the winter was the right move for his colt, Brown was pragmatic.
“He stayed in New York because he is that kind of make-up,” he said. “He was lightly raced. I didn't want to interrupt his schedule. Sometimes you ship horses down to Florida that are just getting started, and then you have to adjust to ironically the humidity and heat and such when he is just getting going. The weather looked good, so I left him there.”
No 'I' in Team
The relationship between Ortiz and Brown goes far back, and is laden with victory. However, according to Brown, it is the work ethic between professionals that makes the partnership special.
“He rode Zandon [Upstart] in New Orleans [third in the GII Risen Star S. at the Fair Grounds Feb. 19], and he had ridden Early Voting, in the Withers. [They were both scheduled to run on the same day in the [GI Toyota] Blue Grass [S.] and the Wood Memorial [both Apr. 9], I just chose he is going to go ride Early Voting, and I made a change on Zandon [to Flavien Prat]. So I called him to tell him, and he never complained about it. He said, 'Boss, I'll go where you tell me to go.' That's it. He was happy to ride Early Voting. It's hard to be taken off Zandon when they're on the same day because we knew that horse was probably going to go win the Blue Grass and go to the [Kentucky] Derby as one of the favorites. That's how he is. He said, 'I'll go where you tell me to go.'”
Brown continued, “He didn't win the Wood, but it was our feeling that's his horse. He went there for us that day, and I felt that's going to remain his horse. It was never even a thought after the horse got beat to make a change. He went up there and rode him for us, and he rode him brilliantly. Talk about being a team player.”
“I saw the relationship developing with those two. I wasn't sure he was a Derby horse, but I was sure he was a good horse and a Grade I horse. I just know that's a partnership that I want to continue growing, developing that horse, and then I could figure out where I am with Zandon. That's really what it came down to.”
Pedigree Notes: Gun Runner, the runaway leading first-crop sire based at Three Chimneys, continued the same trend in 2022, leading his U.S.-based contemporaries in worldwide earnings. With Early Voting's Classic win at Pimlico Saturday, the colt became the fifth Grade I winner for the Three Chimneys stallion.
His unraced dam–a $1.75-million KEESEP yearling in 2013–is a full-sister to 2017 GII Blue Grass S. winner and MGISP Irap (Tiznow), as well as a half-sister to champion and leading sire Speightstown (Gone West). They all stem from Canadian champion Silken Cat, tracing back to 1950 Broodmare of the Year Hildene (Bubbling Over), Silken Cat's fifth dam. Amour d'Ete has a 2-year-old full-sister to Early Voting, a yearling filly by Constitution, and was bred back to Volatile. Amour d'Ete's pensioned sire, Tiznow, is the broodmare sire of 52 black-type winners, including 2020 Classic winner Tiz the Law (Constitution).
Saturday, Pimlico PREAKNESS S.-GI, $1,650,000, Pimlico, 5-21, 3yo, 1 3/16m, 1:54.54, ft.
1–EARLY VOTING, 126, c, 3, by Gun Runner               1st Dam: Amour d'Ete, by Tiznow               2nd Dam: Silken Cat, by Storm Cat               3rd Dam: Silken Doll, by Chieftain 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($200,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Klaravich
Stables, Inc.; B-Three Chimneys Farm, LLC (KY); T-Chad C.
Brown; J-Jose L. Ortiz. $990,000. Lifetime Record: 4-3-1-0,
$1,311,500. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Epicenter, 126, c, 3, Not This Time–Silent Candy, by Candy
Ride (Arg). ($260,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Winchell
Thoroughbreds LLC; B-Westwind Farms (KY); T-Steven M.
Asmussen. $330,000.
3–Creative Minister, 126, c, 3, Creative Cause–Tamboz, by Tapit. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($180,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Fern Circle
Stables, Back Racing, LLC and Magdalena Racing; B-Dell
Ridge Farm, LLC (KY); T-Kenneth G. McPeek. $181,500.
Margins: 1 1/4, 2 1/4, 2 3/4. Odds: 5.70, 1.20, 10.00.
Also Ran: Secret Oath, Skippylongstocking, Simplification, Armagnac, Happy Jack, Fenwick. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
Klaravich Stables' Consumer Spending (f, 3, More Than Ready-Siempre Mia, by Scat Daddy)Â defeated returning GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Pizza Bianca to win the Memories of Silver S. at Aqueduct Sunday to cap a spring meet where her connections won both leading trainer and owner titles.
Pizza Bianca, the 4-5 favorite, settled off a mild pace and Consumer Spending, at 7-1, sat just off the Breeders' Cup winner. Consumer Spending tracked as the favorite rolled up three wide on the far turn and engaged her rival while four wide into the stretch. The two fillies went toe to toe before Consumer Spending put Pizza Bianca away late and inched clear to a 3/4-length victory. Consumer Spending, a maiden winner over the Saratoga lawn last Sept. 6, punched her ticket to the Breeders' Cup with a win in the Oct. 2 Selima S. at Laurel. She was a close-up sixth behind Pizza Bianca at Del Mar last November in a blanket finish.
“This filly has really done well over the winter…Trainers will say it, but she really did do what you want to see from two-to-three, both physically and mentally, almost to the point I was almost surprised how much she improved,” said Chad Brown post-race. “I wasn't sure off the Breeders' Cup if she was the type to train on. I was torn between if she was a juvenile that got there early, or is she going to show some good quality down the road. It was pretty apparent from February that this filly was really going the right way and doing everything you need to do to have a nice career ahead of her. She certainly proved it today.”
Her dam's second foal, Consumer Spending has a winning older half-brother named Behavin Myself (Malibu Moon) and a 2-year-old half-brother by Empire Maker named Baba Voss as well as a yearling full-sister. The mare is expecting a 2022 foal by American Pharoah this season. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
MEMORIES OF SILVER S., $100,000, Aqueduct, 4-24, 3yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:43.59, fm.
1–CONSUMER SPENDING, 122, f, 3, by More Than Ready                1st Dam: Siempre Mia, by Scat Daddy                2nd Dam: Shaconage, by El Prado (Ire)                3rd Dam: Carita Tostada (Chi), by Gallantsky
($200,000 Ylg '20 FTKSEL). O-Klaravich Stables, Inc.; B-Forging Oaks Farm LLC (KY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Manuel Franco. $55,000. Lifetime Record: 5-3-1-0, $240,000.
2–Pizza Bianca, 122, f, 3, Fastnet Rock (Aus)–White Hot (Ire), by Galileo (Ire). O-Bobby Flay; B-B. Flay Thoroughbreds (KY); T-Christophe Clement. $20,000.
3–Sail By, 122, f, 3, Astern (Aus)–Fly By, by Johar. O-Treadway Racing Stable; B-Jeff Treadway (KY); T-Leah Gyarmati. $12,000.
Margins: 3/4, 3 3/4, 1 1/4. Odds: 2.45, 0.90, 15.50.
Also Ran: Miss You Ella, Alittleloveandluck, On Alert. Scratched: Waters of Merom.
Jockey Dylan Davis captured the first riding title of his career, posting 63 wins at the 2021-22 Aqueduct Racetrack winter meet that ran from Dec. 9 to Mar. 27. Rudy Rodriguez paced all trainers with 33 wins, while Klaravich Stables secured the owner's title with 10 wins.
Davis, who is represented by agent Mike Migliore, finished nine wins ahead of runner-up Trevor McCarthy and 10 wins clear of third-place Kendrick Carmouche.
“It's incredible. I'm grateful and honored. I've worked very hard for this,” said Davis. “I'm grateful I can have this success and get one of the titles. My agent Mike works very hard behind the scenes to get me the mounts. Thanks to the owners and the trainers and everyone on the backside, especially the horses. The horses are the main thing–they are running for me and putting up performances.”
The 27-year-old native of Manhasset, NY achieved three four-win days Jan. 23, Feb. 26 and Mar. 26, and completed the meet with a record of 301-63-58-36 for total purse earnings of $3,411,574.
Rodriguez won his second consecutive Big A winter meet title and 13th overall training title at NYRA, sending out 33 winners, eight wins more than second-place trainer Rob Atras and 13 ahead of third-place finisher Chad Brown. He earned top trainer honors at last year's Big A winter meet with 36 winners and has taken home a total of 11 titles at Aqueduct.
“It's unbelievable,” said an emotional Rodriguez. “All the credit goes to the people in the barn. Most of the people that work with me here have been with us since day one.”
Rodriguez started 151 horses for a record of 33-22-20 and $1,506,693 in earnings. His runners posted a win rate of 21.85% and a 49.67 in-the-money percentage.
Rodriguez said each of his wins this meet were memorable.
“They're all very special,” Rodriguez said. “It's a lot of hard work dealing with the winter cold.”
Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables posted a 21-10-2-3 record with total purse earnings of $623,160. It was a three-way tie for second between Windylea Farm [38-8-8-2, $331,058], Repole Stable [31-8-4-2, $292,161] and Michael Dubb [33-8-4-2, $458,427].
Live racing continues Thursday at the Big A, Opening Day of the 15-day spring meet that runs through Apr. 24.
