Future Hall of Fame trainer Chad Brown is best known for his prowess with grass horses. Now, it can also be said that he sure knows his way to the Preakness Stakes winner’s circle.
Future Hall of Fame trainer Chad Brown is best known for his prowess with grass horses. Now, it can also be said that he sure knows his way to the Preakness Stakes winner’s circle.
Brown captured the middle jewel of the Triple Crown for the second time in five years when Early Voting, masterfully ridden by Jose Ortiz, repelled Epicenter by 1 ¼ lengths on Saturday at Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course.
Brown used a formula strikingly similar to the one he followed when Cloud Computing gave him his first Triple Crown victory in 2017. Each colt received its early development through races in New York and bypassed the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve.
Each made only its fourth start in the Preakness in winning for owner Seth Klarman of Klaravich Stables, who grew up three blocks from Pimlico. In the case of Early Voting, he provided one heck of a 65th birthday present for Klarman when he turned back Kentucky Derby runner-up Epicenter.
Ortiz, shedding tears of joy, praised Brown and Klarman for their shrewd handling of the son of Gun Runner. “They had enough points to go in the Derby and they passed. It’s very hard to pass on the Derby,” he noted. “They did the right choice by the horse. I don’t think he was seasoned enough for a 20-horse field. They proved they were right today.”
Creative Minister, supplemented for $150,000 to boost the Preakness purse to a gaudy $1.65 million, justified the faith of his connections and trainer Kenny McPeek by snagging third. Secret Oath rallied from last of nine to be fourth. She was bidding to become the seventh filly to win the Preakness in the race’s 147-year history.