It was only a matter of time before the big barn's engine got revved up again.
That day came Saturday and Chad Brown made a lot of noise at Saratoga Race Course.
The 40-year-old Mechanicville trainer wore out a path to the winner's circle as he won three races on the 11-race card. One of them was the second most important of the afternoon. Brown watched proudly as his 3-year-old Domestic Spending completed a rally through the stretch to win the $500,000 Saratoga Derby Invitational.
Ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. -- who won four races on the day -- Domestic Spending got his head past the wire first in a thrilling blanket finish in the 13/16 mile race on the firm Mellon Turf Course. The race was the first leg of the New York Racing Association's Turf Triple Series. This was supposed to be the second leg of the series, but, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the schedule has been altered.
The Grade I Belmont Derby the first leg, was originally supposed to be run at Belmont during the spring/summer meet, but it was not. It could be run in the fall at Belmont Park. The final race of the series, the Jockey Club Derby would normally be run in the fall meet at Belmont. No word on whether that race will be run at all.
For now, all Brown cares about is the Saratoga Derby and the gutsy effort given by Domestic Spending.
It was only the third career start for the son of Kingman. He was seen last in the Grade II National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame here on July 18 and finished third. He now has three wins in four career starts on the grass.
"He hasn't run much, and it has taken him a little while to mature," Brown said. "He was a real quirky horse as a baby."
Early on, Domestic Spending, owned by Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables, really didn't show an interest in training so Brown had to have the horse gelded.
"We gelded him early on as a baby, which we don't tend to do with well-bred horses," Brown said.
The horse was purchased for $412,430 at the Tattersalls Sale in Europe in October of 2018 (the same sale where Klarman had bought the highly regarded Newspaperofrecord a year earlier).
Unraced as a 2-year-old, Domestic Spending had won his first two starts before the third here earlier in the meet. On Saturday, Ortiz put his mount in the game a lot earlier than his prior starts. Domestic Spending was never worse than third and made his move moving into the stretch.
"We were looking to be more forwardly placed," Ortiz, who now has a 37-35 lead over his brother Jose in the jockey standings, said. "He broke more sharp than we thought and we were very close to the pace. I tried to relax my horse and he relaxed very well."
Heading into the stretch, Ortiz could feel that he had plenty of horse underneath him and it was a matter of if he was good enough. He was.
Domestic Spending ($16.40) went off at generous odds of 7-1 considering the connections and ran the distance in a time of 1:52.52. Gufo, ridden by John Velazquez, was second and he finished a half length in front of No Word and Jose Ortiz, who was a head in front of Colonel Liam and Javier Castellano. Then it was another nose to the even money favorite Decorated Invader and Joel Rosario, who had his three-race winning streak snapped.
"Decorated Invader was a little bit aggressive in the first part and he probably paid for it a little bit at the end," trainer Christophe Clement, who also trains Gufo, said.
With his three wins, Brown is now tied for the top spot in the trainer's standings with Todd Pletcher. They both have 18 wins. This was Brown's biggest spurt since the first five days of the meet when he had six wins in 18 starts.
"We had a little bit of a rough patch and that can happen in any sport," Brown said. "We had a few bad trips, a few horses just didn't fire and we ran into a little dry spell. This is a long meet. I say it every year, 'it's like playing four rounds of golf in a major. It's not just one round. You have a lot of holes to play.' Sometimes the ball goes your way and sometimes it doesn't. (Saturday) it did and we appreciate it."
twilkin@timesunion.com • 518-454-5415 • @tjwilkin
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Mechanicville's Chad Brown had a day Saturday - Albany Times Union
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