Trainer Chad Brown Eyeing Saratoga For Gronkowski & Good Magic
Undefeated Triple Crown winner Justify's will be heading home to Santa Anita Park on Sunday. Owned by China Horse Club, Head of Plains Partners, Starlight Racing, and Winstar Farm, Justify's next start has yet to be determined.
However many other Belmont Stakes’ runners have had their future decided already. Many trainers have finalized their summer campaigns, with a high likelihood of seeing some of them compete against each other onceagain in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga.
Although trainer Chad Brown hasn't made any immediate plans for Belmont Stakes (2018) runner-up Gronkowski, the trainer has August 25, the date of the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers at Saratoga Race Course, circled on his calendar.
"My first thought is that the Travers would be a good race for this horse if he were to break better and get a better pace to run at," said Brown. "It's a race I would love to win, and it looks like it would suit this horse. How we get from this race to the Travers, I haven't decided yet. But that's the race I have in my mind. I'll discuss it with the owners."
Chad Brown also trains champion Good Magic, second in the Kentucky Derby and fourth in the Preakness. Good Magic, currently targeting the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.
Trainer Todd Pletcher is leaving his options open for both his proteges Graded-stakes winners Vino Rosso and Noble Indy."We're not really sure yet," he said. "We'll kind of let the dust settle and decide what we're going to do."
However, Saratoga is a definite possibility for Easy Goer victor Prince Lucky.
"We'll probably give him a little bit of a freshening and point for something like the Curlin maybe, and if he trains unbelievably well we might even take a shot at something bigger," Pletcher said.
Plans for Steve Asmussen-trained and Winchell Thoroughbreds-owned Tenfold, who finished fifth in the Belmont Stakes Saturday, are still unfolding.
Another Hall of Fame trainer who was looking ahead, and specifically to the Saratoga season, for his Belmont starter was D. Wayne Lukas, who trains sixth-place finisher and Calumet Farm homebred Bravazo.
"The horse is fine. He's doing well this morning," said Lukas, whose 5:30 a.m. departure time for the 15-hour van ride with Bravazo back to his Churchill Downs stable was delayed more than two hours by a mechanical problem. "This chapter came to a close and this fall, it will be something different. There are lots of races ahead and lots of dances left. We'll be back. We'll be at Saratoga all meet and this horse will be up there."
Lukas, who turns 83 in September, remains pleased with Bravazo and had nothing but praise for the undefeated Justify, the 13th Triple Crown champion.
Credit: Pallavi Shevade pallavi.shevade@secretaristworld.com