2/11/2024 0 Comments Chad brown irad ortiz jrThe race is a Grade I with a current purse of $500,000. Inaugurated in 1939, it is open to fillies and mares age three and up willing to race the one and one-eighth miles on the turf. Named for the mythological goddess Diana, the race is run each year at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. The Diana Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race. “It’s a quality field though, but there’s several horses that can win.Saratoga Springs, New York, United States “I think you have a big field because people realize you have a bit of a wide-open race,” Brown said. Considering both Connect and Gift Box are in the top half of the entrants, based on morning line odds, both horses will have an opportunity to make a splash Saturday. Running against winner’s of two of the three Triple Crown legs, in Exaggerator and Creator, and Laoban, the Mid-Summer Derby will be the duo’s toughest test yet.Īnd with a field of 14, with the morning line favorite Exaggerator, the race is wide open. The Travers provides Brown the opportunity to see what Connect and Gift Box are really made of. Other than that, they’re the same horses basically, and we have a fresh horse and hopefully he can step up and do his thing.” It looks like they’re distance horses and (American Freedom) ran really well in the Haskell. “I don’t know two of the horses, the two horses Bob Baffert put in the race. That’s for sure,” Velazquez said of the field. For a jockey like Velazquez, he can use this to his advantage because he has ridden other horses in the field and is familiar with most of them. While the Travers is a lofty race to make a Grade 1 debut, the two horses will be mostly unknowns to the other entrants after staying away from the Triple Crown trail. “Obviously running a very good race in the Curlin, he’s stepping up to a different class now and I hope he can step up with that class and show that he’s talented.” “Any time they come up for a step up like (the Travers), they have to prove themselves,” said John Velazquez, who will be aboard Connect. Anaximandros, Arrogate and Seeking Blame are the only other horses yet to run in a Grade 1 stakes race. However, unlike the majority of their competitors, the Travers will be Connect and Gift Box’s Grade 1 debuts. Gift Box is 12-1, good for a tie for seventh with Governor Malibu on the morning line, and My Man Sam is a longshot, at 20-1. The other two are Curlin Stakes second-place finisher Gift Box and My Man Sam, who finished 11th in the Kentucky Derby. “It’s nice to see the respect people have for the horse,” Brown said.Ĭonnect is one of three Chad Brown-trained 3-year-olds running in the Mid-Summer Derby. It’s Curlin Stakes winner Connect, coming in at 4-1. Or even Belmont Stakes second-place finisher Destin. It’s not Jim Dandy winner Laoban, either. It isn’t Belmont Stakes winner Creator that’s second on the morning line for Saturday’s Grade 1 Travers Stakes. We have a big Travers weekend coming up and we’re not going to just sit on 1,000.”īrown’s horse in the 10th, a 4-year-old filly named Stella Street, finished fourth.īrown is on pace to win his first Saratoga training title, and is poised to continue his meet-long success on Saturday’s big day, and the big race – the Travers. It’s so important to share a moment like this with your family, but we need to keep going forward. “I appreciate everything NYRA’s done here to make a big thing about it. “No, I have a horse here in the 10th and we’re going for 1,001 and keep moving forward,” Brown said, of not letting the achievement sink in. There were hugs and high fives left and right, and for a trainer known to focus solely on the next race, Brown soaked in his moment. With his family by his side, the moment was special for Brown. “I saved all the ground I could and I gave a little, swung him out, made a move.” “He’s a nice horse,” Ortiz said of Mr Maybe. My Afleet finished second, Renown took third and Procurement was fourth.
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