Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Even as Chad Brown eyes a seventh Saratoga training title and fourth in a row for his high-powered stable, he maintains it is no longer as meaningful to finish atop the standings as it once was.
Although the native of nearby Mechanicville praised the stakes program that will be offered when the 40-day meet begins Thursday and runs through Labor Day, he knows the race cards do not resemble those of his boyhood top to bottom. And he worries that Saratoga is losing some cachet with the races being written in recent summers.
When asked about making a run at another training crown, he said, “It’s fun for everyone involved, particularly in this area because I’m from here. But unless the quality of races are meaningful, then I’m more focused on the Travers and stuff like that.”
Brown and Linda Rice tied for the top last year with 35 wins. Rice pulled out the draw in the meet’s final race when Lt. Mitchell, winless through seven starts, broke through in a maiden special weight contest for state-breds.
With earnings of $5,487,603, Brown more than doubled Rice’s total of $2,640,777. His successes included Grade 1 scores with Randomized in the Alabama, Whitebeam in the Diana and Program Trading in the Saratoga Derby Invitational. His operation also produced five other grade-stakes wins. Rice, with a booming outfit built primarily around claiming horses, did not win a graded stakes during the stand.
Brown worries about whether the everyday competition will match the lofty standards that once were the norm at the New York Racing Association’s signature meet.
“When I look at the cards every day, I’m not trying to beat NYRA up but it’s Saratoga. The win totals aren’t going to matter so much to a guy like me if there are so many cheap races on the card,” said the four-time Eclipse Award winner as North America’s leading trainer.
Brown said NYRA officials are well aware of his concerns. He questioned whether the recent business model is sustainable.
“When you have the highest training expenses in the country to be in New York but you are writing cheaper races at the premier meet in the country, that doesn’t make any sense to me,” he said. “It’s not fair to the big owners here who invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in yearlings and rehab for horses.”
Brown sent out 183 starters at last summer’s meet. He has discussed with his owners remaining on the sidelines if he does not believe the races and purses offered are commensurate with a horse’s ability.
“I just hope there are enough races offered that I can get in races because, at a certain level, I won’t run them,” he said. “If there are too many cheap races offered, I won’t do it.”
Brown looks to be as formidable as ever at the highest levels. Juddmonte homebred Whitebeam, runner-up to stablemate Chili Flag in the June 7 Just a Game Stakes (G1), is set to defend her title in the Diana on Saturday in the meet’s first Grade 1 test.
Barring a change of heart, Sierra Leone will use the July 27 Jim Dandy (G2) as a prep for the Aug. 24 Travers. Brown said he might have another Travers candidate if Unmatched Wisdom, off to an auspicious 2-for-2 start, performs as well as expected in the July 19 Curlin in his first stakes try.
