Chad C. Brown

While growing up in Mechanicville, N.Y., Brown frequently attended the summer meet at nearby Saratoga Race Course with his family. He got his first experience around horses during high school working with Standardbred trainer Paul Kelley at Saratoga Raceway. While he was a student at Cornell University, where he was headed toward a career as a veterinarian, Brown worked summers for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey. By the time he graduated from Cornell, Brown had decided that he would rather train horses and continued working for McGaughey.

He took an internship with a veterinarian then accepted an opportunity to work for Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel in 2002. Brown earned promotions in Frankel's high-profile operation and was handling a division when he decided to go out on his own in November 2007. Brown has had a meteoric rise to national prominence, winning with the first horse he started at Saratoga Race Course and his first Breeders' Cup starter, Maram, in 2008. In 2011, Brown earned his first Grade 1 victory, trained his first champion, Stacelita, winner of the Beverly D., and finished 16^th nationally with $5.2 million in purse earnings. In 2012, Brown trained his second champion with Zagora, winner of the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

Brown ran his first horse in the Kentucky Derby in 2013 and finished a good fourth with Normandy Invasion. Brown has won such races as the Arlington Million and Sword Dancer Stakes but his biggest weekend of racing in his career so far had to come at the 2014 Breeders' Cup where he won three races, including Lady Eli's win in the Juvenile Fillies, Bobby's Kitten's Turf Sprint tally and Dayatthespa and Stephanie's Kitten running first and second in the Filly & Mare Turf. In 2015, he won the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint with Wavell Avenue and the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf with Stephanie's Kitten. He picked up his third win in the Juvenile Fillies Turf in 2016 with New Money Honey, and his fourth in 2017 with Rushing Fall, who was his ninth Breeders' Cup winner overall. Brown was not finished at the 2017 Breeders' Cup, as his colt Good Magic scored an upset win in the Sentient Jet Juvenile to become a leading Kentucky Derby prospect.

After the 2016 season, Chad Brown was named the Eclipse Award winner as outstanding trainer. 

In 2017, Brown won his first American classic race when his Cloud Computing captured the 142nd Preakness Stakes. Brown repeated as the Eclipse Award winner as outstanding owner after once again leading all North American trainers in earnings. All in all, Brown was represented by 11 different Grade 1 winners in 2017. His top earner was Arlington Million winner and Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf runner-up Beach Patrol, with $1,749,975.

In 2018, Brown finished second in the Kentucky Derby with Good Magic, who later won the betfair.com Haskell Invitational Stakes. He also won Grade 1 races with Sistercharlie, Fourstar Crook, A Raving Beauty, Robert Bruce, Rushing Fall, Separationofpowers, Wow Cat, Complexity, Funtastic. In November at Churchill Downs, Brown extended his record of dominance in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with Newspaperofrecord, who rolled to a front-running runaway victory. The win was the third straight in the Juvenile Fillies Turf for Brown, the fourth in five years, and his fifth win in the race overall.

On 2018 Breeders’ Cup Saturday, Brown scored again in another race he had prior success in, as Sistercharlie gave him his fourth win in the Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf with a game victory over Wild Illusion. Brown also trained third-place A Raving Beauty.

Two days after winning the Eclipse Award as outstanding trainer for the third consecutive time, Brown celebrated on Jan. 26, 2019, at a rain-soaked Gulfstream Park when Bricks and Mortar took the inaugural running of the $7 million Pegasus World Turf Cup Invitational, the richest grass race in North America. Bricks and Mortar was a perfect 5-for-5 for Brown in 2019 ahead of a start in the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf.

On Future Stars Friday at the 2019 Breeders' Cup World Championships, Brown netted his 13th career win in the event when Structor closed powerfully to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Presented by Coolmore America, giving Brown his first win in that race. The next day, Brown enjoyed another day of firsts. He picked up his first win in the TVG Breeders’ Cup Mile when Uni rallied powerfully to prevail and then earned his first win in the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (after a pair of seconds in 2016 and 2017) with Bricks and Mortar.

Brown surpassed the previous North American earnings record of Todd Pletcher ($28,116,097 in 2007) with purse earnings of $31,112,144 in 2019. He was honored at the Eclipse Awards with a fourth consecutive trophy as Outstanding Trainer.

Brown continued to reside in the elite echelon of trainers during 2020-22, campaigning top horses such as Raging Bull, Search Results, Dunbar Road, Public Sector, Bleecker Street, Jack Christopher, and Zandon. In 2022, Brown picked up his second win in a Triple Crown race when Early Voting, owned by Cloud Computing’s co-owner Klaravich Stables, took the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. His Zandon had finished third in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve two weeks prior.

Chad Brown added another Breeders' Cup victory to his career tally in 2022 when his 4-year-old filly Goodnight Olive won the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Keeneland. In 2023, Brown won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf for the sixth time with Hard to Justify for his 17th career win at the World Championships, and then picked up his 18th a day later when Goodnight Olive repeated in the Filly & Mare Sprint.

He continued to build a Hall of Fame career in 2024, scoring marquee wins with horses such as Domestic Product, Carl Spackler, and Ways and Means. And the trainer added a 19^th Breeders’ Cup win at the World Championships at Del Mar, taking his first Longines Classic with 3-year-old Sierra Leone, who finished second earlier in the year in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve. That accomplishment helped Brown win a fifth Eclipse Award as Outstanding Trainer.

In 2025-26, Brown enjoyed success with Grade 1 winners such as Spirit of St. Louis, Zulu Kingdom, Fully Subscribed, Kathynmarissa, and My Gun’s Loaded. Sierra Leone won the 2025 Whitney Stakes and finished second in the Longines Classic before retiring, and in 2026 Brown won his first Kentucky Oaks with the filly Always a Runner.

In the fall of 2026 during the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland, Brown tallied his 20^th career win when Ways and Means dominated the Filly & Mare Sprint.

Brown then continued his success in the 2026 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf when he won with Kathynmarissa. Brown is the all-time winningest trainer in the history of the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf and scored his fifth career win in the race with Kathynmarissa. Kathynmarissa solidified a female turf championship caliber campaign in 2026 after the 5-year-old mare also scored 2026 victories in the Grade 3 Modesty Stakes at Churchill Downs, the Grade 1 Dunkin' Diana Stakes at Saratoga, and the Grade 2 Flower Bowl Stakes at Belmont Park.