News & Barn notes

Trainer Chad Brown Set For Busy Haskell Preview Day Card With Horses In All Four Stakes Races On Saturday

June 14, 2024

With trainer Chad Brown entering nine horses on Saturday’s Haskell Preview Day card at Monmouth Park – including at least one in all four stakes races – Luis Cabrera is certain of only one thing.

“It’s going to be a busy day. Very busy,” said Cabrera, who oversees Brown’s division at the Jersey Shore track.

Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby winner Domestic Product, unraced since finishing 13th in the Kentucky Derby on May 4, will represent Brown in the NYRA Bets Pegasus Stakes, the final local prep for the Grade 1 NYRA Haskell Stakes on July 20.

The Pegasus Stakes, to be contested at a mile and a sixteenth, awards the top two finishers free entry and start fees to the Haskell in addition to the winner’s share of the $150,000 purse.

“Chad hasn’t really said much about his race in the Kentucky Derby,” said Cabrera. “I know he was wide most of the way. That’s probably the excuse he had. The guys at Saratoga (where the colt has been stabled) like the way he has worked since the Kentucky Derby.

“He’s fresh right now, so we have that going for us. And the distance is perfect for him. Chad has been talking about trying to get him to the Haskell so we’ll see how he does Saturday.”

Flavien Prat is listed to ride the Klaravich Stable homebred,

Eight 3-year-olds are entered for the 43rd edition of the Pegasus Stakes, which headlines a 12-race card that includes the Grade 3 Eatontown Stakes, the Grade 3 Monmouth Stakes and the Grade 3 Salvator Mile.

Brown will be well-represented in the three graded stakes races as well.

In the Eatontown Stakes, at a mile and a sixteenth on the grass for fillies and mares 3 and up, Tax Implications and Maman Joon will be Brown’s entries in the 10-horse field.

Tax Implications was third in the Miss Liberty Stakes at Monmouth Park on May 26 in her most recent start, but did break her maiden at first asking at the track on Sept. 11, 2022.

Maman Joon, bred in Ireland, will be making just her fourth start in the United States and is 2-for-2 this year. The 4-year-old daughter of Sea the Stars was an impressive winner in allowance company over the Monmouth Park turf course in her last start on May 11.

“It should help Tax Implications that she has stayed at Monmouth Park since she last raced here,” said Cabrera. “We ship horses to other tracks all of the time and sometimes fillies don’t like that. She has raced against some good company, too.

“The way Maman Joon has been winning, Chad talked to the owners (Amo Racing USA) about taking a chance in this spot to see what kind of horse she really is. She is breezing well and she looks good, so we’ll see.”

Brown also has two in the Monmouth Stakes at a mile and an eighth on the grass – Adhamo and Running Bee.

Adhamo has lost seven straight since he captured the (then) Grade 1 United Nations at Monmouth Park in 2022, but has raced in six Grade 1 races and a Grade 2 since then. The 6-year-old son of Irish sire Intello is less than $4,000 away from becoming a millionaire.

“He won last time he was at Monmouth Park, so maybe this is his track. That’s the hope,” said Cabrera.

Running Bee, who sports a 4-3-1 record from 10 career starts, all on the grass, comes in off a third-place finish over the soft going in the Grade 3 Dinner Party Stakes at Pimlico.

Brown’s stable will cap its day with Artorius in the Salvator Mile, with the 5-year-old son of Arrogate and Juddmonte Farms homebred coming off a win at Aqueduct on May 19. He was fourth in the Salvator Mile a year ago, but that was off an eight-month layoff.

Brown will also send out Catching Heat in the fourth race, an allowance optional claimer, and both Growth Rate and Shade of Pale in the fifth race, a maiden special weight event at a mile and a sixteenth on the grass.

First race post time is 12:50 p.m.