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Brown To Saddle Pocket Square, Miss Teheran In Saturday’s Athenia Stakes

Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown will saddle Pocket Square and Miss Teheran in Saturday's Grade 3, $200,000 Athenia, a nine-furlong inner turf test for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up at Belmont Park.

Brown has won four of the last five runnings of the Athenia and has totaled five wins overall, including scores by Pianist [2013], Roca Rojo [2016], Off Limits [2017], Rymska [2018] and Tapit Today [2020].

Juddmonte homebred Pocket Square, a 4-year-old Night of Thunder chestnut, enters from a 4 1/2-length optional-claiming win traveling nine furlongs on the Saratoga Race Course turf on Aug. 25.

A Group 3-winner as a juvenile in France for trainer Roger Charlton, Pocket Square posted a debut win for Brown in a 1 1/16-mile Keeneland allowance tilt in April. She followed with back-to-back fifth-place finishes in Grade 1 company in the one-mile Longines Just a Game in June at Belmont and the nine-furlong Diana in August at Saratoga.

“We had very high hopes for her coming out of the allowance win at Keeneland and we tried her in some ambitious spots. She has always trained well,” said Brown's Belmont-based assistant Dan Stupp. “She came back into form at Saratoga and hopefully that gave her confidence. She's made a good appearance at Belmont this fall.”

Doubledown Stables' Miss Teheran, a 5-year-old Irish-bred daughter of Teofilo, captured a one-mile optional-claimer on the Saratoga turf on August 1 and rallied to finish second last out in the 1 1/16-mile Miss Liberty on August 28 at Monmouth Park. The late-running chestnut boasts a record of 13-4-4-1 with purse earnings of $199,372.

“She had a little bit of a trip and came with a nice late kick, but didn't quite get the job done. She gave a good account of herself and we were pleased with her effort,” Stupp said of the Miss Liberty try. “Obviously, we would have liked to have won but she showed up off her allowance win at Saratoga and gave another good effort.”

Miss Teheran has breezed back twice at Belmont since the Miss Liberty, including a half-mile effort in 50.05 Saturday on the Belmont main track.

“She's had a couple maintenance works and seems to be doing well,” Stupp said. “She's a very honest filly and tries every time. She's a one-run late filly – save a little ground, get a little cover and then get out and make her run.”

Irad Ortiz, Jr. has the call aboard Pocket Square from post 4, while Manny Franco will guide Miss Teheran from post 2.

Godolphin homebred Lake Lucerne, a 4-year-old Dubawi bay, enters from a narrow nose score in a 1 1/16-mile optional-claiming event on September 1 at the Spa.

Out of the multiple Grade 1-winning Awesome Again mare Round Pond, Lake Lucerne launched her career in England with trainer John Gosden which included a maiden score in March 2020 at Chelmsford.

Transferred to the care of trainer Brendan Walsh, Lake Lucerne rallied to finish fourth in her North American debut in February at Gulfstream Park and followed with a 3 1/4-length allowance score in May traveling 1 1/16-miles on the Churchill Downs turf.

Jose Lezcano has the call from the inside post.

Rounding out the field are Group 2-placed Made In Italy [post 3, Junior Alvarado] for trainer Graham Motion and two-time winner Stand for the Flag [post 5, Dylan Davis] for conditioner Rob Atras. Spice Is Nice is entered for the main-track only.

The Athenia is slated as Race 10 on Saturday's 11-race card, which also features the Grade 2, $300,000 Kelso Handicap, a one-turn mile for 3-year-olds and up slated for Race 4. First post is 1 p.m. Eastern.

America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the fall meet at Belmont Park on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

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Brown Looks to Keep Streak Alive in Diana

One of these years, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) may have to switch the name of the GI Diana S. to the Chad Brown.

With five straight victories, six wins overall and 17 in-the-money finishes since he saddled his first runner in the race in 2009, Brown has, well, dominated the 1 1/8 mile race for fillies and mares on the inner turf course. Brown will try to extend his unprecedented Saratoga graded-stakes streak Saturday with a pair of runners, Juddmonte's Pocket Square (GB) (Night of Thunder {Ire}) and Peter Brant's Lemista (Ire) (Raven's Pass) in the first of 20 Grade I races to be contested at Saratoga this summer. They are part of the proven group of stakes horses that includes the Godolphin pair, Athiqua (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Summer Romance (Ire) (Kingman {GB}), who finished one-two in the GI Just A Game S. at Belmont Park June 5.

While a number of trainers have won some of Saratoga's graded stakes multiple times, Brown's streak in a Grade I stands alone. The closest is Hall of Famer Jonathan Sheppard, who won the GI New York Turf Writers Cup H. steeplechase four years in a row, from 1989-1992. The race has been renamed in Sheppard's honor this year. Leo O'Brien, the father-in-law of Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, won the ungraded Yaddo S., for New York-bred fillies and mares, five consecutive times, from 1991-1995. Irish Linnet (Seattle Song) did the work for O'Brien in the streak with five straight wins.

After a five-year run as an assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, Brown launched his own stable in November 2007. His first Grade I came at Saratoga Race Course, his home track in his youth, in the 2011 Diana with Zagora (Fr) (Green Tune). He said Frankel regarded the Diana–which he won twice–as one of American's high-end top turf races and he does, too.

“It's been a special race. Ever since then we've really pointed toward it,” Brown said. “And we had the right horses a lot of the years.”

Indeed. Brown has entered the race for 12 consecutive years and has had at least one horse in the top three of the Diana since Zagora's victory. His win streak started with Dacita (Scat Daddy) in 2016 and he followed up with Lady Eli (Divine Park) in 2017. Brant's Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) took the 2018 and 2019 editions and Rushing Fall (More Than Ready) won last year.

“We've had tremendous success in the race with so many talented fillies through the years that we've had the opportunity to work with. All a little different,” Brown said. “It's a remarkable record, a lot of credit to my team and to the horses. It's a tough race. There's been no Dianas in that group that we've won that have been easy. We're bringing two nice prospects into the race. We'll have to see if we can keep it going.”

Lemista won a pair of group races in Ireland last year and was beaten a half-length in her lone start for Brown, the GIII Beaugay S. May 8. Pocket Square, who was also imported from Europe this season, finished fifth as the 5-2 favorite in the Just A Game.

Brown said the possibility of soft ground is a worry. There has been a lot of rain in upstate New York this month and more is in the forecast Saturday. The courses were rated “good” for Thursday's opening day program.

“It's concerning. It's definitely concerning,” Brown said. “I'd rather the turf be firmer for my horses. I think they can handle it. Lemista shows in her form that she could possibly handle it back home. We thought that Pocket Square could, but she didn't run well on soft turf in the Just A Game, so I'm concerned.”

Brown said a couple of factors might have contributed to her performance in the Just A Game.

“The soft turf, but she did run well back in Europe on the soft. So that was confusing,” Brown said. “She did miss her final work for the race because the rain came in. I was able to get some of the horses worked. On her schedule, it hit at exactly the wrong time to get her final breeze.

“So, she actually missed her last work. I didn't think it would affect her because she'd been training so strong in the weeks prior, but it might've. It probably did. So maybe it was more the work than the ground. I'm hoping, but we'll see.”

Brown said the Diana streak is a positive that he is enjoying.

“I don't really feel pressure so much, but more of I look forward to it,” he said. “I look forward to the challenge of keeping the streak going and maybe setting the bar very high for that race.”

The post Brown Looks to Keep Streak Alive in Diana appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Brown Chasing Sixth Straight Diana Victory With Lemista, Pocket Square

Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown will send out Lemista and Pocket Square in Saturday's 83rd renewal of the Grade 1, $500,000 Diana as he looks to secure his sixth consecutive win in the nine-furlong inner-turf test for older fillies and mares at Saratoga Race Course.

Brown captured the first of his record six Diana wins in 2011 with Zagora and has enjoyed success in the last five editions with Dacita [2016], Lady Eli [2017], Sistercharlie [2018-19] and Rushing Fall [2020].

A former assistant to the late Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, himself a two-time Diana winner, Brown spoke about his affinity for the prestigious race on a recent episode of the Across the Board with Andy Serling podcast.

“We've had enormous success with it; I'm lucky. We've had the right horses,” said Brown. “It's a real honor to have that level of success looking back at five Dianas in a row. These are the [types of] races Frankel would point towards.”

Brown will saddle Lemista, a 4-year-old daughter of Raven's Pass, for three-time Diana winning owner Peter Brant, who campaigned Sistercharlie [2018-19] and Just a Game [1980] to Diana scores.

Lemista earned a 100 Beyer in her North American debut in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 3 Beaugay on May 8 at Belmont, finishing a late-closing second to Diana-rival Harvey's Lil Goil.

The Irish-bred dark bay, previously trained by Ger Lyons, captured the Group 2 Kilboy Estate three starts back at the Curragh over yielding going.

Lemista has trained extensively on the Belmont inner turf following the Beaugay, posting eight works dating back to May 22, including a five-furlong effort in 1:01.80 on Sunday in company with Pocket Square [1:01.89].

“She's a top class filly. I have high hopes for her,” Brown said. “We've been pointing for this race for a while and I'm excited to get to it. I think that the time has done her well. She's been working consistently well.”

Juddmonte Farms' Pocket Square, a Group 3 winner at Deauville in October 2019 for former trainer Roger Charlton, rallied to an impressive allowance win in her North American debut on April 7 at Keeneland.

Brown said Pocket Square, by Night of Thunder, missed a breeze heading into her even fifth last out as the lukewarm favorite in the Grade 1 Longines Just a Game, a one-mile jaunt over good turf on June 5 at Belmont.

“She missed her last work with the storms that came through and maybe the soft-ish turf didn't help,” said Brown. “I really thought she was lined up really well going into the Just a Game and I was hopeful she could overcome, but things just didn't work out. She's come back and worked really super, so I'm drawing a line through it and going right back at another Grade 1 with her.”

Despite good form over soft going in Europe, Brown said he would prefer firmer footing for Pocket Square.

“I know she ran well in Europe that way [on good-firm ground], but I think she's more effective on a firm turf course from what I've seen in her training,” said Brown.

Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez will also look to extend his Diana win record to seven, piloting Pocket Square from post 2, while Irad Ortiz, Jr. will guide Lemista from post 7.

Trainer Charlie Appleby enjoyed a one-two finish with 4-year-old Godolphin fillies Althiqa and Summer Romance in the Grade 1 Longines Just a Game.

The Godolphin greys have squared off in their last three starts, dating back to the one-mile Group 2 Cape Verdi in January at Meydan won by Althiqa, a British homebred by Dark Angel. Summer Romance turned the tables on Althiqa in the nine-furlong Group 2 Balanchine in February at Meydan.

In their North American debuts, Summer Romance, an Irish-bred daughter of Kingman, set a sharp pace under Luis Saez, but could not stay off the late run of Althiqa under Hall of Famer Mike Smith.

Both fillies remained at Belmont following the Just a Game, breezing extensively on the Belmont inner turf before shipping upstate to Saratoga on Monday.

Summer Romance, who won the Group 3 Princess Elizabeth at Epsom last July, will exit post 6 under Saez, while Althiqa, who boasts a perfect in-the-money record of 10-5-2-3, will be piloted by Manny Franco from post 8.

The Estate of Harvey A. Clarke and Paul Braverman Harvey's Lil Goil will look to give Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott his fifth Diana win.

Mott, who last won the Diana in 2010 with Proviso, captured three straight editions with Sand Springs, Angara and My Typhoon from 2005-07.

A 4-year-old American Pharoah grey, Harvey's Lil Goil enjoyed a remarkable sophomore campaign, winning the Grade 3 Regret at nine furlongs over firm Churchill Downs turf last June ahead of a game third in the 10-furlong Alabama on the Saratoga main track.

The versatile filly completed her 3-year-old year with a pair of Grade 1 turf starts at Keeneland, including a win in the nine-furlong Queen Elizabeth II Cup in October over good going and a closing third in the 1 3/16-mile Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf over firm footing in November.

A prominent winner of the Beaugay in her seasonal debut on May 8 on good Belmont turf, Harvey's Lil Goil was an even fifth last out in the 10-furlong Grade 2 New York contested on yielding Belmont turf on June 4.

“It was very soft ground,” said Mott of the New York effort. “Some of our stakes have been run on really soft ground and it could have worked against her a little bit.”

Mott said a turnback in distance as well as the tighter turns of the Saratoga inner turf should benefit Harvey's Lil Goil.

“That [cutting back] won't hurt her I don't think,” said Mott. “She's run well on that type of oval previously. She won the Queen Elizabeth at Keeneland and she ran good in the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland and that's a tight turf course, so I don't think that will hurt her.”

Harvey's Lil Goil has recorded four works since the New York, including a five-furlong effort in 1:00.12 on the Oklahoma dirt training track on July 9.

“She couldn't be doing any better,” said Mott.

Junior Alvarado retains the mount from post 5.

Lael Stables' Magic Attitude, a 4-year-old daughter of the late Galileo, will look to improve off a flat seventh last out in the New York.

The British-bred bay was a Group 3 winner in France last May for trainer Fabrice Chappet before being transferred to conditioner Arnaud Delacour for a fall campaign.

In October, Magic Attitude captured the 10-furlong Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational, part of NYRA's Turf Triple series, in her first start for Delacour and followed with a third in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup.

The talented bay has made three starts this year, including a win in the 11-furlong Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay on firm Belmont turf in May. She will exit post 3 under Hall of Famer Javier Castellano in her Saratoga debut.

Madaket Stables, Tim Cambron, Anna Cambron and Bradley Thoroughbreds' La Signare made the grade with a front-running score in the 2018 Grade 3 Wonder Again traveling nine furlongs on the Belmont turf.

The 6-year-old French-bred daughter of Siyouni, trained by Brendan Walsh, has made four of her last six starts in Grade 1 company, including a third in the 1 1/16-mile Jenny Wiley on yielding Keeneland turf in April and a closing second in the nine-furlong Gamely last out on firm footing on May 31 at Santa Anita.

La Signare will emerge from the inside post under Ricardo Santana, Jr.

Phipps Stable homebred Vigilantes Way enters from a 2 1/4-length score in the Eatontown, a 1 1/16-mile test over firm Monmouth Park turf on June 20.

The 4-year-old Medaglia d'Oro bay, out of the Unbridled mare Salute, is a half-sister to Grade 1-winning millionaire Mr Speaker and Grade 1-winning steeplechaser Snap Decision.

Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, Vigilantes Way boasts a record of 12-5-2-3 and will be piloted from post 4 by Jose Ortiz.

The Diana is slated as Race 10 on Saturday's 11-race card. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern. Saratoga Live will present daily television coverage of the 40-day summer meet on FOX Sports. For the complete Saratoga Live broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

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Brown Runners Tune Up for Diana

A pair of runners from the barn of trainer Chad Brown tuned up for expected starts in the July 17 GI Diana S. with works over the inner turf course at Belmont Park Sunday morning. Lemista (Ire) (Raven's Pass) went five furlongs in a bullet 1:01.80 (1/10) outside of stablemate Pocket Square (GB) (Night of Thunder {Ire}), who completed the drill in 1:01.89 (3/10).

Peter Brant's Lemista, a two-time group winner in Ireland last year, opened her stateside campaign with a late-closing runner-up effort in the GIII Beaugay S. last time out May 8.

Pocket Square, a Juddmonte homebred, was a group winner in France in 2019. After winning a Keeneland allowance in her U.S. bow in April, the 4-year-old is coming off a fifth-place effort in the June 5 GI Just a Game S.

“They both worked well with one another and are going to the Diana,” Brown said. “Lemista has relished the time in between her races. With Pocket Square, I'm drawing a line through the Just a Game. She was lined up so well going into that race and there were things I was hopeful she would be able to overcome, but it didn't quite work out.”

Brown has won the Diana six times, including the past five editions with talented turf distaffers Dacita (2016), Lady Eli (2017), Sistercharlie (2018-19) and Rushing Fall (2020).

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