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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — There have been some days for trainer Chad Brown. Some real big days. Remember Arlington Million day in 2019? He won all four graded stakes races, including all three GI races. He has won a bushel full of Breeders' Cup races in his career; more than once he has had multiple winners. Brown has a pair of GI Preakness Stakes on his resume. What happened Saturday might just trump them all. At his hometown track, Brown blitzed his competition, winning four races, capped off by the biggest of them all, the $1-million GI Whitney Stakes. Sunday morning, a relaxed Brown reflected on the monster afternoon of the day before. The star of the show, Whitney winner Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) was chilling in his stall, basking in the glow of his one-length win in Saratoga's premier race for older horses. “This is way up there,” Brown said outside his barn on the Oklahoma Training Track Sunday morning. “Definitely one of the most memorable days I have had in racing. My family–my mom, my dad, my kids, my brother, my nephew–were all there. To win the race I had not won yet with the greatest horse I have ever trained…all those factors made it one of the most memorable days in my career for sure.” The wonderful Whitney came on the heels of a frustrating, disappointing Friday when Brown's Zulu Kingdom (Ire) (Ten Sovereigns {Ire}) won the GII National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes and then was put down to fourth after a controversial disqualification. Although clearly not happy with the decision, Brown kept quiet. “The day before was very challenging with the DQ,” he said. “I didn't agree with it, but that's horse racing and that is professional sports. It comes with the territory. Certain things are out of your control, but I think our team handled it the right way, very professionally and with class.” Instead of squawking and making a scene, Brown took the high road, accepted the steward's decision and moved on. “We were due for a good day [Saturday],” he said. “You just have to keep moving forward and focus on the next day. I thought we had some good karma coming by not getting bogged down by [the disqualification] or trying to blame people. With the good group of horses we had running Saturday, I did not want to get distracted. I have to train horses, but I also have to be a leader. I can't allow everyone to lose focus and to dwell on getting into some debate as to what happened.” Nobody was talking about the disqualification Sunday morning. It was all about Sierra Leone, last year's champion 3-year-old and GI Breeders' Cup Classic champ. What looms next for Sierra Leone–owned by Peter Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg and Brook Smith–could be a rematch with Mindframe (Constitution), who is at the top of the older division with three straight wins. Mindframe beat Sierra Leone by a length in the GI Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs at the end of June. That could come in the $1-million GI Jockey Club Gold Cup on Aug. 31. “Mindframe is a really top horse and trained by a really top trainer (Todd Pletcher),” Brown said. “I'm looking forward to potentially the Jockey Club Gold Cup and the GI Breeders Cup (Classic). When you are racing at the top in any division, you've got to beat them all.” Riley Mott Gets His Flowers After Winning First Graded Stake World Beater eyes his flowers | Sarah Andrew A blanket of flowers was draped over the rail at the shedrow at Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott's barn Sunday morning, but they weren't for him. They belonged to his 33-year-old son, Riley, who notched his first graded stakes training win when World Beater (Oscar Performance) upset the GI $750,000 Saratoga Derby on Saturday. “I could not have written it up any better,” Riley Mott said outside his dad's barn Sunday after World Beater won by a half-length at odds of 11-1. “Ever since I was this tall (holds right hand a few feet off the ground), I've thought about this. You hope you do it, but you are not sure it will ever happen. This is like my Super Bowl.” World Beater, owned by Jim and Dana Bernhard's Pin Oak Stud LLC, beat eight others in the 1 3/16-mile Saratoga Derby on the grass. Included in that group was Capitol Hill (Into Mischief), trained by his dad. As the race was unfolding, it was clear who Tina Mott, Bill's wife and Riley's mom, was rooting for. “Are you kidding me? She was jumping all over me,” Bill Mott said about his wife's reaction in the clubhouse box. “I had to hold her down and say, 'Whoa!' She always tells me I should scratch my horse (when running against Riley).” “She is on both teams,” Riley Mott said with a smile. “Ever since I started (training in 2022 after serving as an assistant to his father), I think she leans in my direction.” Riley Mott said he had a brief conversation with his dad right after the race and the family all met up later for pizza. Bill Mott, ever the competitor, did not want anyone's sympathy. “I was doing everything I could to beat his ass, but he won the race and I'm happy for him,” Bill Mott said. “When I get beat, I don't even want to talk about it; it's over.” Riley Mott, who has 60 horses in training, said he was going to ship World Beater back to his base at Keeneland on Sunday and wait before deciding on his next start. Rick Pitino | Sarah Andrew Pitino Visits Spa's Winner's Circle It wasn't exactly Madison Square Garden and the Big East Championship game, but there was still a lot of hooting and hollering going on in the Saratoga winner's circle after Sunday's second race. A 2-year-old colt named Johnny's Red Storm (Twirling Candy) had just broken his maiden in his first try for jockey Kendrick Carmouche and trainer George Weaver. The ownership group, led by John J. Cronin Jr. and RAP Racing was leading the cheers. RAP is Richard Andrew Pitino, also known as the head basketball coach at St. John's University. He wore a wide smile and accepted congratulations from the large group in the winner's circle. He and Cronin have been friends for years. “Obviously, basketball is life and death with me,” Pitino, a Hall of Fame coach and the first to lead three different schools (Providence, Kentucky and Louisville) to the Final Four. “When we lose, I am up all night figuring out why we lost and what we could have done different. In horse racing, if you lose, you smile and move onto the next race.” Pitino, a longtime horse owner, could not remember the last time he won a race at Saratoga. He comes to the Spa often and ranks Saratoga No. 1 on his list of favorite tracks with Keeneland and Del Mar completing his trifecta. Pitino had another horse–Aggelos the Great (City of Light)–that he owns by himself on the card. He rallied late and finished second in the seventh race. After that, he was heading back to Queens for his real job. “We have (summer) practice at 8 a.m.,” he said. Last year, St. John's finished 31-5 in Pitino's second season and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Arkansas. “I am thrilled for a young coach starting out like me,” the 72-year-old Pitino, who has been coaching since 1974. He said he plans to be back in Saratoga for the Travers and also for the 70th birthday of close friend Roddy Valente, a prominent horse owner. The post Saratoga Notebook, presented by NYRA Bets: Whitney Day Ranks Right Up There as One of Brown’s All-Time Best appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Fallen Angel joined a select band of fillies to win group 1s at 2, 3, and 4 in thrilling fashion, pulling the Prix Rothschild out of the fire under a determined Danny Tudhope.View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
While Ted Noffey might be the most conspicuous of the summer meet so far, the other Spendthrift 2-year-olds have also impressed.View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
For Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino, basketball has "life or death" meaning. Horse racing is more of a fun, relaxing pastime for him. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Reflective on his first Whitney Stakes (G1) victory the night before, trainer Chad Brown gave high praise to Sierra Leone Aug. 3, calling him "the best horse I've ever trained."View the full article
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