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Ortiz, Brown, Klaravitch Stables Win Spring/Summer Meet Titles At Belmont

Chad Brown registered 32 victories to finish as the leading trainer at Belmont Park's spring/summer meet for the sixth consecutive year, while Jose Ortiz won the riding the title with 59 victories during the 48-day meet that commenced on April 22 and concluded on Sunday at the Elmont, N.Y. racetrakc. Klaravich Stables led all owners with 11 wins.

Brown continued his dominance of this meet, extending his run as the top conditioner every year since 2016. The four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer was 32-29-30 in 155 starts with earnings of $3.68 million. His win total was five more than second-place finisher Christophe Clement. Rob Atras was third with 19 wins, while Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher and Mike Maker each finished with 18 victories.

Among Brown's accomplishments was a pair of Grade 1 wins on the Belmont Stakes Day undercard June 5, as Domestic Spending captured the $750,000 Resorts World Casino Manhattan for 4-year-olds and up going 1 1/4 miles on the turf and Search Results won the $500,000 Acorn for sophomore fillies going a one-turn mile. Klaravich Stables owns both of those winners.

“It takes a lot of good horses, loyal and patient owners, and, of course, the team,” Brown said. “This meet wasn't easy. We had a bad virus run through the barn and that really hampered us from winning more races, but we were able to overcome it. We really just focused on getting through the meet and getting the horses healthy. Exiting the meet now, we were able to still win a lot of meaningful races, and it looks like the horses are nice and healthy heading up to Saratoga, so I'm really proud of the job they did of just persevering through a turbulent couple of months.”

NYRA's year-ending leading trainer six years running saw his starters finish in the money 58.71 percent of the time during the spring/summer meet. The success continued the 42-year-old's excellence at Belmont, as Brown has also earned a share of every Belmont fall meet title since 2012.

Ortiz, who entered Closing Day in a tie with his brother, Irad Ortiz, Jr. [who was serving a three-day suspension to conclude the meet] won twice on Sunday to earn his first Belmont spring/summer riding crown since 2017. He piloted Spectatorless to victory in Sunday's opener and guided Bella Sofia to a win in Race 7.

Like Brown, Ortiz also was successful during June's Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, winning both the $500,000 Grade 1 Ogden Phipps aboard Letruska and with Drain the Clock in the $400,000 Grade 1 Woody Stephens presented by Nassau County Industrial Development Agency on Belmont Stakes Day June 5. The previous day, Ortiz won aboard Firenze Fire in the $300,000 Grade 2 True North.

For the meet, Ortiz compiled a 59-47-46 record in 279 mounts, finishing with a 21.22 winning percentage while tallying earnings of $4.93 million. Following Irad Ortiz, Jr. [57 wins] was Manny Franco, who ended the meet with 52 wins. Joel Rosario [43] was the only other rider to crack 40.

Among Ortiz's other highlights were victories with First Captain [$250,000 Grade 3 Dwyer]; Robin Sparkles [$125,000 Mount Vernon]; River Dog [$125,000 Mike Lee]; and Sadie Lady [$100,000 Dancin Renee].

“It's always great to win a meet,” Ortiz said. “We all know Irad was out for some time; I wanted to win it, but I can only control what I can control. But it's always good to have success here to get that momentum for Saratoga. If you are winning or running second or third with good horses here, they come back in races up there and you're going to ride them. Hopefully, you get a good head start on the meet.”

Klaravich Stables won its third consecutive Belmont spring/summer meet, posting a record of 11-10-12 with 57 starters while also leading all owners with earnings of $1.39 million. Headed by Seth Klarman, Klaravich Stables teamed with Brown for a pair of Grade 1 wins with both Domestic Spending and Search Results, marking the ownership group's two stakes victories for the meet.

Michael Dubb finished second with nine wins, while West Point Thoroughbreds was third with seven victories.

Thoroughbred action moves to historic Saratoga Race Course for the 40-day summer meet from Thursday, July 15 through Labor Day, September 6. Highlighted by the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers on August 28 and the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney on August 7, the 2021 summer meet at Saratoga Race Course will feature 76 stakes worth $21.5 million in total purses.

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Cox, McPeek Readying 2-Year-Old Divisions For Ellis Park Meet

A lot has changed in the past year for trainer Brad Cox — not only for the better but stamping him among the best.

Ellis Park racing fans have been able to watch up close the evolution of one of America's hottest trainers since Cox captured his first training title anywhere in 2015 at the Pea Patch, whose 2021 meet begins Sunday and runs through Sept. 4.

In just the year since Cox earned his third Ellis Park training title last summer — this one in a tie with Kenny McPeek at 10 wins apiece — he has:

won his second Kentucky Oaks with Shedaresthedevil, who captured America's premier race for 3-year-old fillies mere days after the 2020 Ellis meet ended prematurely to accommodate Churchill Downs' pandemic-delayed Kentucky Derby Week.
won a record-tying four Breeders' Cup races last fall at Keeneland, giving him seven victories overall in horse racing's world championships.
started off 2021 with the most lucrative victory so far in his burgeoning career with Ellis Park 2-year-old product Knicks Go in Gulfstream Park's $3 million Pegasus World Cup.
been honored as the 2020 Eclipse Award winner as North America's outstanding trainer. He also had horses earn his fourth and fifth Eclipse Awards as the best in their division, the latest being two-time Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Monomoy Girl and Breeders' Cup Juvenile hero Essential Quality.
won his first Triple Crown race victory with 2-year-old champ Essential Quality taking the Belmont Stakes. That came five weeks after Cox finished second in his first Kentucky Derby appearance with Mandaloun and a close fourth with Essential Quality. And if the Churchill Downs stewards ultimately disqualify Medina Spirit from his Kentucky Derby first-place finish for a medication infraction, Cox will also have his second Triple Crown race win.

Even as his reputation grows internationally – he's blown well past national recognition — Cox will remain a strong presence at Ellis Park. The track not only provided his first training title but, at that same 2015 meet, the mare Call Pat won the Grade 3 Groupie Doll to give Cox his second victory in a graded stakes.

This summer will be different in one regard for Cox. He won't have the 60 or 70 horses he's had the past few years at Ellis when stall space was plentiful. This summer, with Churchill Downs' backstretch closed for off-season training while a new turf course is installed, overwhelming demand for stabling at Ellis will limit Cox to 38 stalls. Cox, who also has sizable divisions at Indiana Grand and in New York, will send much of his overflow to Turfway Park, which will be open for summer training.

“I think it will impact us a little bit, just from the standpoint of how many we can get in,” Cox said Friday morning at Churchill Downs. “Obviously with Churchill being just two hours away (from Ellis), it will make you think a little bit about shipping from Lexington or Turfway to Ellis with a young horse. But we'll manage it the best we can. We're looking forward to getting started there. We had a good day with our first day of entries, so everything is positive there.”

Cox has four horses entered for Sunday's opening card: three maidens and Swill in an allowance race.

“We're hopeful that we can continue to maintain a lot of starts there like we have the last few years,” he said.

Cox horses expected to run at the meet include Klein Racing's Field Day, winner of three of his last four starts, including in Churchill Downs' William Walker Stakes. Field Day is likely to run July 4 in the $60,000 Dade Park Dash Overnight Stakes for 3-year-olds at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf.

“I'm hoping a bunch of our 2-year-olds will start coming around in regards to be ready to run,” he said. “I'm hopeful we can make a presence with our 2-year-olds. I think we will. We have a good group of colts and fillies that still have to run and that are still going through their paces (training) at Churchill and Keeneland. We're hoping to have one for just about every maiden race there is.

“… The purses there are really good. All the allowance races and maidens are above $50,000. So that's positive and makes for healthy racing in Kentucky through the summer. I'm looking forward to getting things started on Sunday.”

While she won't race at the meet, among Cox's notable horses that will be training at Ellis is Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil. “She's going to point for the Grade 1 race (Clement L. Hirsch) at Del Mar on Aug. 1,” he said. “We'll do pretty much all our training there.”

Even Cox horses that stable but do not run at Ellis Park have been glowing advertisements for the track surface. Monomoy Girl was at Ellis Park all summer before making her first start after the 2017 meet. British Idiom, Cox's 2019 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and 2-year-old filly champion, likewise got much of her preparation at Ellis Park before going to Saratoga to race.

Cox and McPeek again are likely to be regular rivals in Ellis' 2-year-old races, starting with Sunday's sixth race for 2-year-old fillies. McPeek also has had a big year since winning the Ellis title, taking the delayed 2020 Preakness Stakes with Swiss Skydiver, voted the 3-year-old filly champion.

McPeek was a big fan of Ellis Park and its 2-year-old program before it became fashionable. It continued to pay off for him, including Crazy Beautiful launching her career with a debut victory and winning the RUNHAPPY Juvenile Fillies last year. Crazy Beautiful this year won the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks and Santa Anita's Grade 2 Summertime Oaks. McPeek's Grade 1 winners who raced at Ellis at age 2 include Daddys Lil Darling, Rosalind, Java's War, Pure Fun and Noble's Promise.

“It's still for us a really great launching ground for young horses,” he said. “I'm going to be running a lot of 2-year-olds down there. We look forward to those distance 2-year-old races, and I've got a list of other horses set to run down there. I think you'll see us run two or three a day.”

McPeek's horses racing at Ellis Park will ship in to race from Lexington, where he has horses at Keeneland as well as his farm and training center.

Of his 2-year-olds, he said, “This is a really good group. The horses came out of Florida in really good order and we've been waiting for more ground (longer races). We've had a couple of first-time starters win, and I'd like to think we could bring the filly that won (Behave Virginia, May 28 at Churchill Downs) back for the Ellis Park Debutante. That's a great race; Crazy Beautiful won it last year. I have a horse named Tiz the Bomb that's a really good colt.”

McPeek often runs his 2-year-olds in the mile races on turf – not because he thinks they're grass horses but because he buys and trains horses for longer races.

“I like running young horses longer,” he said. “I think they last a little bit better when you run them longer…. I like the distance, and teaching them to go two turns is always a little tricky. The sooner you do it, the better.”

Last year marked McPeek's first training title at Ellis Park, though he's won meet crowns elsewhere.

“I'd been second and third more than a few times,” he said. “… We've always run well there. I'd be curious where I'd be on the all-time list. I've got to be on it somewhere. Thirty-five years of racing at Ellis Park, I haven't missed a summer I don't think.”

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Trainer Kelly Breen Gearing Up For Monmouth Park Meet

With Hall of Fame trainers Todd Pletcher, Steve Asmussen and Jerry Hollendorfer – along with future Hall of Famer Chad Brown – all having a formidable presence on the Monmouth Park backstretch this summer it's easy to forget that the race for leading trainer honors still goes through Kelly Breen.

It did last year, when the 52-year-old Breen easily captured his third Monmouth Park trainer's title.

There's no reason to think things will be any different when the track's 76th season gets underway with four straight days of live racing starting with a twilight card on Friday, May 28.

“We do gear up for Monmouth Park,” said Breen. “It goes back to me saying all we can do is continue to work hard and to try to do our best. So much depends on the condition book. I can't predict how we'll do this year because I don't know how the condition book will play out.

“But we have a good variety of horses, from $5,000 claimers to multiple-graded stakes winners. There are probably guys with more well-rounded stables, maybe with more claimers, guys with bigger stables. But we have 40 horses right now that are ready to run. We'll just try to put them in the right spots.”

Breen's quest for a title repeat will start on opening day, when he sends out It's A Gamble in the $100,000 Jersey Derby at a mile on the grass. He then has Tracy Ann's Legacy set to go in Sunday's feature, the $75,000 Politely Stakes.

His impact will likely be felt throughout the 53-day meet, since he led all Monmouth Park trainers last year with 117 starters. His 32 winners were nearly double that of runner-up Jose Delgado.

That Monmouth Park success was a major factor in a career year for the New Jersey native, who set personal bests in overall wins (84) and starters (418) while producing the second-best earnings year in a career that began in 1992.

“Last year was more validation after having built up a public stable after almost 10 years of being a private trainer and not being out there with multiple horses and this many horses,” said Breen. “It has been a gradual process of evolving. I didn't always have a big stable after I became a public trainer again. It took a couple of years to get to this point. It took time. But we have a nice, well-rounded stable now.”

Breen, who went 14 years between Monmouth Park training titles, again figures to make an impact when the 2-year-old races start as well. He currently has 15 “babies” with a couple more due in shortly.

“The 2-year-old program at Monmouth Park has always been exceptional, so we hope to be a factor in that later in the summer,” he said.

Though Breen says his sights aren't necessarily set on another Monmouth Park title – “Whatever amount of wins we get that's what we're going to have as a total,” he said – he knows he enters the meet as the favorite.

“Not being cocky or anything, but I like to think when people think of Jersey racing they think of my name,” he said. “I'm a Jersey guy. I grew up here. We have more of a presence in New York than we've had in a while but Monmouth Park is still home.”

Monmouth Park's meet starts with racing on Friday through Monday over the upcoming Memorial Day weekend before reverting to a Friday through Sunday schedule throughout the summer. Post times for Saturdays, Sundays and special Monday holiday cards is 12:15 p.m. Post time for Friday twilight cards is 5 p.m.

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Tim Thornton, Karl Broberg Wrap Up Titles At Delta Downs Meeet

The 2020-21 Thoroughbred season at Delta Downs wrapped up on Friday with familiar names topping the standings. Tim Thornton won his third straight leading rider title while Karl Broberg notched his 10th consecutive crown in the training ranks. Broberg and Matt Johansen's End Zone Athletics, Inc. earned their sixth straight leading owner title and their ninth in the last 10 years.

Thornton's season included 122 wins and $2,337,260 in mount earnings. The Louisiana native rode five winners alone on closing day. During the 2018-19 season, Thornton's first full meet at Delta Downs, he set the current record of $2,894,080 in earnings.

Thornton, a husband and father of three, won two stakes races during the meet, both with Broberg-trained and End Zone Athletics Inc.-owned horses. The trio teamed up to win the $100,000 Delta Mile Stakes with Hunka Burning Love on November 10 and the $40,000 Ragin Cajun Starter Stakes on February 10, Louisiana Premier Day.

Following Thornton in the jockey standings were Diego Saenz (73 wins), Joel Dominguez (64), Jose Guerrero (54), Thomas Pompell (45), Gerard Melancon (42), Joe Stokes (30), Alez Birzer (27), Kevin Smith (25), and Jansen Melancon (24).

Broberg continued his dominance at Delta Downs in 2020-21 by sending out 91 winners and totaling $1,651,170 in earnings. The accomplishment capped off a season that saw him win his 10th straight training title at the Vinton, Louisiana racetrack. During the Delta Downs season Broberg also finished second nationally in terms of wins with 329 victories to Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen's 421. It was the first time since 2014 that Broberg did not lead the nation in that category.

Rounding out the list of leading trainers for the Delta Downs meeting were Scott Gelner (30), Juan Larrosa (29), Isai Gonzalez (28), Eduardo Ramirez (25), Brett Brinkman (23), Allen Landry (21), Ronnie Averett (17-tie), Thomas Amoss (17-tie), and Ronnie Averett (15).

End Zone Athletics, Inc. saw a record 64 of their runners win and earn a total of $868,765, which also set a new mark for owners in that category. The old record for wins, 50, and earnings, $873,545, was also set by End Zone Athletics during the 2018-19 season.

Rounding out the top owners for the season were Red Rose Racing (Jimmy Johnson) (15), Joe Alfredo Castillo (14), Gerald L. Averett, Jr. (12), Adriel Gonzalez (11), Dale White, Sr. (10), Norman Stables, LLC (Robert A. Norman) (9), Rylee Grudzien (7-tie), Steven Asmussen (7-tie), Juan Larrosa (7-tie), and Maggi Moss (7-tie).

Delta Downs now looks forward to its upcoming American Quarter Horse season which gets underway on May 10 and runs through July 31. The 46-day meeting will generally feature live racing each Monday through Thursday. However, there will be two special Friday cards and four special Saturday programs to accommodate major stakes races and trials for those events. The first post time each day will be at 3 pm Central Time.

For more information about the Delta Downs Quarter Horse season, including specific race days, go to the track's website at www.deltadownsracing.com. Fans can also follow the track on Facebook and Twitter.

Delta Downs Racetrack Casino and Hotel, a property of Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD), features exciting casino action, live horse racing and fun dining experiences. Delta Downs is located in Vinton, Louisiana, on Delta Downs Drive. From Lake Charles, take Exit 7 and from Texas, take Exit 4.

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