Surge Capacity Gives Brown Yet Another Lake George

It's a tall task to beat Chad Brown at Saratoga, especially when he has half the field. SURGE CAPACITY (f, 3, Flintshire {GB}–Strong Incentive, by Warrior's Reward)–one of four entrants from the Brown barn in the GIII Lake George S.–was the least experienced of the field but carried the day, taking Friday's featured race at the Spa after scraping the paint and finishing bravely for the win. A first-out Monmouth maiden winner June 10 at a sixteenth further with an 80 debut Beyer Speed Figure, Surge Capacity gave Brown a fifth consecutive victory and seventh overall–all since 2015–in the race, while Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables was winning the race for the third time in the last four renewals. The team also scored the 2023 exacta as Klaravich's Brown-trained Tax Implications (GB) (Mehmas {Ire}) was the runner-up.

Away sharply, Surge Capacity was prominent early before Joel Rosario eased her back a bit to sit a joint third on the rail through the :24.97 first quarter and :49.84 half set by Secret Money (Good Samaritan) with Princess Bettina (Will Take Charge) hounding the leader from second. Restrained behind the frontrunners, Surge Capacity was ready to pounce when a hole opened up into the lane. The dark bay had the measure of Secret Money, poking her head in front a furlong from home, and still had enough to hold off her surging stablemate. Brown's Revalita (Fr) (Recoletos {Fr}) and Liguria (War Front) were fourth and fifth, respectively.

“She's been straightforward,” said Brown of the winner. “She took a while to get to the races, but she's two-for-two to start her career in only her second start winning a graded stakes against some nice fillies. She's a pretty talented horse, I'd say.”

The turf was marked as yielding Friday with the Lake George remaining the day's only race kept on the grass.

“This was the [filly] I was going to run if it came off [the grass]. I know, Flintshire on the dirt, but she has never trained bad on the dirt. I'm not saying I'll put her there off this, but I'm going to see how she trains over it. She might be a pretty versatile horse. The female family is all dirt, so it wouldn't surprise me.”

Pedigree Notes:

You'll be forgiven a case of deju vu if a graded-winning Klaravich homebred trained by Brown out of Strong Incentive (Warrior's Reward) sounds familiar. Last year's GIII Monmouth Cup S. winner and GII Toyota Blue Grass S. runner-up Highly Motivated (Into Mischief) is a half-brother to Surge Capacity. Klaravich Stable bought Strong Incentive as a 2-year-old for $200,000 at the OBS Spring sale and she was a minor listed winner at Woodbine for Brown in 2015 before turning into a two-time graded producer. Her most recent produce is an unraced juvenile filly named Ways and Means (Practical Joke), who posted a five-furlong work at Saratoga July 15 in 1:01 (6/31).

Surge Capacity is by Juddmonte's 2016 U.S. grass champion Flintshire (GB)–also a Group 1 winner in France and Hong Kong–who began his stallion career at Hill 'n' Dale in Kentucky before moving to Haras de Montaigu in France prior to the 2022 season. She marks the third graded/group winner and fourth overall black-type winner for the stallion who won three graded races at Saratoga himself, including the GI Sword Dancer S. twice. Surge Capacity also denotes the 10th black-type winner out of a daughter of the Medaglia d'Oro son Warrior's Reward, whose others include the aforementioned Highly Motivated and 'TDN Rising Star', GI Champagne S. winner, and Friday's Curlin S. third-place finisher Blazing Sevens (Good Magic).

 

 

 

Friday, Saratoga
LAKE GEORGE S.-GIII, $175,000, Saratoga, 7-21, 3yo, f, 1mT, 1:38, yl.
1–SURGE CAPACITY, 118, f, 3, by Flintshire (GB)
1st Dam: Strong Incentive (SW, $123,568), by Warrior's Reward
2nd Dam: G G's Dolly, by Comic Strip
3rd Dam: Parfait, by Kingmambo
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. O/B-Klaravich Stables Inc (KY); T-Chad C Brown; J-Joel Rosario. $96,250. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $129,250. *1/2 to Highly Motivated (Into Mischief), GSW, $667,375.  Werk Nick Rating: F. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Tax Implications (GB), 118, f, 3, Mehmas (Ire)–Country Madam (Ire), by Medaglia d'Oro. 1ST GRADED BLACK-TYPE. (75,000gns Wlg '20 TATFOA; 250,000gns Ylg '21 TATOCT). O-Klaravich Stables Inc; B-Aoife Kent (GB); T-Chad C Brown. $35,000.
3–Secret Money, 120, f, 3, Good Samaritan–Awesome Humor, by Distorted Humor. 1ST BLACK-TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK-TYPE. ($35,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $40,000 2yo '22 EASMAY). O-Fortune Farm LLC (Richard Nicolai), Robert G Hahn, Emcee Stable LLC & It's All About The Girls Stable LLC; B-WinStar Farm LLC (KY); T-Brendan P Walsh. $21,000.
Margins: 3/4, NK, 2HF. Odds: 5.50, 3.75, 9.20.
Also Ran: Revalita (Fr), Liguria, Tryinmyheartout, Princess Bettina, Lil Miss Moonlight. Scratched: Queen Picasso (GB), Utilization Rate (Fr). Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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Selflessly Pips Sweet Melania in Lake George

For the considerable success he’s achieved on the New York circuit and particularly on the turf, it wasn’t until 2015 that trainer Chad Brown unsaddled the winner of the GIII Lake George S. for the first time (Mrs McDougal {Medaglia d’Oro}).

The stable’s lone chance in Friday’s renewal, Selflessly (More Than Ready), was pegged as a 6-1 chance on David Aragona’s morning line, but the tote read a remarkable 14-1 at post time and those who ignored her paid dearly, as the Maryland-bred was up in the final jump to upset 7-10 Sweet Melania (American Pharoah). The future Hall of Fame conditioner has now won the Lake George in four of the last six years.

“Some loyal Chad Brown fans made money today, for sure,” Brown deadpanned after the victory.

Sweet Melania, who enjoyed a very soft time of things on the engine when taking her seasonal debut in the GIII Wonder Again S. at Belmont June 20, was beaten for speed by outposted longshots Windracer (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}) and Sugar Fix (Treasure Beach {GB}), but used her rail draw to best advantage to secure the box seat while traveling comfortably beneath jockey Jose Ortiz. David Cohen, pinch-hitting for the sidelined Irad Ortiz, Jr. had selflessly in a ground-saving position in the slipstream of the long odds-on choice down the backstretch. Waited with behind the top two nearing the stretch, Sweet Melania was asked to sprint and she gamely went underneath Windrush to grab control a furlong from home. But Cohen kept busy on Selflessly and grabbed Sweet Melania under whipless encouragement in the shadow of the wire.

“We were happy to get a good trip behind the horse [Sweet Melania] I thought would take us the whole way,” said Cohen, winning his first graded race at Saratoga since dead-heating in the 2012 GI Travers S. aboard Golden Ticket (Speightstown). “You never really want to get stuck behind a horse that’s going to back up into you. My filly really finished up strong and showed a lot of heart.”

A fast-finishing second sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs over this course one year ago to the day, Selflessly broke her maiden in the GII Miss Grillo S. Sept. 29 and was a creditable fifth, two spots behind Sweet Melania, in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf Nov. 1. An 11-4 chance in the Wonder Again, she went to her knees at the start, suffering some superficial cuts, according to Brown, and finished a too-bad-to-be-true fifth.

Pedigree Notes:

One of 203 black-type winners and 91 graded/group winners for her enormously successful dual-hemisphere sire, Selflessly is out of an unplaced half-sister to Sans Souci Island (Chester House), the dam of MGSW River Seven (Johannesburg) and SP Henry’s Island (Stormy Atlantic). Uniformly Yours is responsible for the 2-year-old filly Honor Yours (Honor Code), a yearling colt by Kitten’s Joy and a colt foal by the Hill ‘n’ Dale sire. She was most recently bred back to 23-year-old More Than Ready.

Friday, Saratoga
LAKE GEORGE S.-GIII, $100,000, Saratoga, 8-28, 3yo, f, 1mT, 1:36.06, gd.
1–SELFLESSLY, 122, f, 3, by More Than Ready
                1st Dam: Uniformly Yours, by Grand Slam
                2nd Dam: Faux Pas (Ire), by Sadler’s Wells
                3rd Dam: Negligence (GB), by Roan Rocket (GB)
($190,000 Wlg ’17 KEENOV). O-Klaravich Stables, Inc.;
B-George Louis Doetsch (MD); T-Chad C. Brown; J-David
Cohen. $55,000. Lifetime Record: 5-2-1-0, $219,000. *1/2 to
Enchanted Ghost (Ghostzapper), MSW, $271,182. Werk Nick
   Rating:  Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Sweet Melania, 124, f, 3, American Pharoah–Sweet N
Discreet, by Discreet Cat. ($600,000 Ylg ’18 KEESEP). O-Low,
Lawana L. and Robert E.; B-St. Elias Stables, LLC (KY); T-Todd A.
Pletcher. $20,000.
3–Witez, 118, f, 3, More Than Ready–Glamour N Glory, by
Gulch. O/B-Mary Ann Charlston (KY); T-Ian R. Wilkes. $12,000.
Margins: NO, HF, 3/4. Odds: 14.30, 0.70, 9.60.
Also Ran: Micheline, Sugar Fix, American Giant, My Sassy Sarah, Windracer (Ire), Velvet Crush, Cat’s Pajamas. Scratched: Miss Peppina. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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