Brown Can End Rough Meet On High Note In Bryan Station

[Wandering Eyes]

It has been an atypically slow Keeneland fall meeting for the powerful barn of Chad Brown, who had been represented by a single winner from his first 17 starters in a maiden claimer on Oct. 23. But a win from Juddmonte's Salamis (Speightstown) in Saturday's $600,000 GIII Bryan Station Stakes would go a long ways in turning Brown's frown upside down–at least to a certain degree.

A son of Juddmonte's GI Just A Game Stakes heroine Antonoe (First Defence) and therefore the half-brother to GSW & MGISP Segesta (Ghostzapper), Salamis has been progressive in his four starts on the grass, winning his maiden two back at Saratoga over this one-mile distance before taking out the Listed Gio Ponti Stakes at Aqueduct on Sept. 28. He overcame gate seven of seven that afternoon and Flavien Prat will need to work out a trip from barrier 12 on Saturday to emerge victorious.

Of the horses in the main body, a remarkable seven are by Not This Time, including the 'other' Juddmonte, the Grade III-winning Final Gambit. With a high-watermark score in the GIII Jeff Ruby Stakes last March, he earned a trip to the GI Kentucky Derby and ran with credit from well back to be fourth. A horse that wants a truly run race, he's been pace-disadvantaged in his three runs on the grass, including a fifth in the GIII Nashville Derby. The gray will be suited down in trip, with a better chance of a sound tempo ahead of him.

Giocoso (Not This Time) benefited from a golden inside passage to win the one-mile GII Secretariat Stakes at Colonial in August, beating home Claiborne Farm's Simulate (Kitten's Joy), who endured a far inferior journey, and it would be no shock to see those placings reversed here. The latter was a non-factor seventh in the Nashville Derby and will also relish this cut-back.

Troubleshooting (Not This Time) has only finished outside the top two on one occasion in six tries on the grass and he stretches out in distance after besting Golden Afternoon (Goldencents) by a half-length in the 6 1/2-furlong GI Franklin-Stamps Stakes at Kentucky Downs Sept. 6.

Tenacious Leader (Not This Time) was just beaten in last year's GIII With Anticipation Stakes and most recently made a successful return from a one-year absence with a first-level allowance score here on Oct. 4. A forward move can be expected second off the bench.

Plensa (Caravaggio) was third to Simulate in a Saratoga allowance race July 18 before causing a 22-1 upset over Giocoso in the $1.9-million Listed Gun Runner Stakes at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 6.

Bracket Buster, Gosger Square Off In Fayette

While divisional heavies Sovereignty (Into Mischief), Journalism (Curlin) and Baeza (McKinzie) are set to give next weekend's GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic a shake, a pair of understudies from this year's sophomore class will line up in a high-class renewal of the GII Fayette Stakes at Keeneland.

BBN Racing's Bracket Buster (Vekoma) romped in this year's Listed Pegasus Stakes ahead of a fourth to Journalism in the GI Haskell Stakes. But instead of aiming for less-ambitious targets, the colt pressed on to the GI DraftKings Travers Stakes, and yes, he was beaten a block by Sovereignty, but earned a 102 Beyer not to mention a quarter-million dollar payday for his connections. His convincing victory in the GIII Oklahoma Derby last time netted him a slightly smaller check, but a fat one all the same, and the $125,000 Keeneland September grad goes for three on the trot here.

Bracket Buster | Taylor Ejdys/Equi-Photo

Gosger (Nyquist) was two lengths clear of Bracket Buster in this track's GIII Stonestreet Lexington Stakes in April, and he nearly pulled the upset in the GI Preakness Stakes but fell victim to that incredible finish from Journalism. A half-length behind that rival in the Haskell, the homebred never got involved from a high draw in the Sept. 20 GI Pennsylvania Derby, finishing a distant sixth and an effort best taken with a grain of salt.

A win in a race as prestigious as the G1 Dubai World Cup would generally result in a visit to the Breeders' Cup, but Gary and Mary West's Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}) is here instead. Two-back winner of the West Virgina Governor's Stakes, the gray exits a fourth to Mystik Dan (Goldencents) in the GII Lukas Classic Stakes across the way at Churchill Sept.27.

Compact Group For Twilight Derby

The connections of just five horses accepted for Saturday's GII Twilight Derby at Santa Anita, a race that surprisingly produced a future Breeders' Cup winner in the form of Johar (Gone West), who took this event in 2002 before famously dead-heating with High Chaparral (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) as part of the historic Mandella four-timer in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf the following year.

It has been 11 years since Long On Value raided from the East Coast to win this, and Amerman Racing homebred Test Score (Lookin At Lucky) will try to put pay to that streak on his second trip to the Golden State. A neck second in last year's Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes at Del Mar, the homebred struck from close range in the GI Belmont Derby in July, finished a close third in the GI Saratoga Derby Aug. 2 and was a latest even fourth to Turf aspirant Wimbledon Hawkeye (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the GIII Nashville Derby Aug. 30. Trainer Graham Motion has secured the services of Juan Hernandez.

Hronis Racing's Namaron (Ger) (Amaron {GB}) looms the fly in the ointment after winning three of five starts in Germany for trainer Henk Grewe, including a Group 3 in Krefeld in April. He made a favorable impression for his new connections in the aforementioned Gun Runner Stakes, coming from the latter half of the field to be third to Bryan Station runners Plensa and Giocoso.

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