BANNER DAY FOR CHAD BROWN AT ARLINGTON PARK

BRICKS AND MORTAR

They say that horse racing in Illinois is in trouble but do not tell that to trainer Chad Brow. He swept all four stakes races on Saturday highlighted by BRICKS AND MORTAR who captured the Arlington Million at generous odds of 1-2 over Irish long shot Magic Wand. The pacesetter was Bandua who eventually finished third, with the winner about mid-pack throughout the race carefully piloted by Irad Ortiz Jr. About two furlongs out the race started getting serious and the winner was pulled out and showed a tremendous turn of foot to win easily going away.

This horse is a solid candidate for Horse of the Year and will be getting my early vote after winning his fifth stakes victory this year. The son of Giant’s Causeway now has career earnings of $4.9million.  He has never been out of the money in twelve career starts and is lightly raced for a five-year-old. Magic Wand is a global traveler who picks up checks every time she runs with earnings of $1.95 million. Robert Bruce who won last year’s version finished fourth this time around.

SISTERCHARLIE

Brown won the Beverly D Stakes with the amazing mare SISTERCHARLIE who swooped from way back as usual to win going away at odds of 2-5. John Velazquez is the jockey for the daughter of Myboycharlie and it was her second win in 2019 and her fifth on the trot, all of which were Grade One events. The five-year-old mare seems to be getting better with age and she will be hard to beat in November at Santa Anita whoever she faces. Her lifetime earnings now stand at $3.2 million. In this race, Brown used a rabbit to set up a frenetic pace in the form of Thais, a horse also owned by Sistercharlie’s owner Peter Brant, a ploy that was worked to perfection.

VALID POINT

The Secretariat Stakes for three-year-olds was captured by the Brown protégé VALID POINT who went off at 5-2 odds. The winner is a son of Scat Daddy who is now unbeaten in his three career starts, all in 2019. He pounced in the final furlong to win under Javier Castellano with Van Beethoven from the Aidan O’Brien yard in second place despite acting up at the start. This was a major step up in class for the winner, but trainer Brown has always been convinced of the colt’s high quality.