Chad Brown: Breeders' Cup Trainer Profile

With 16 wins, Chad Brown comes into the 2023 Breeders’ Cup tied with Aidan O’Brien for the third most in the event’s history, behind only D. Wayne Lukas with 20 and Bob Baffert with 18. A four-time winner of the Eclipse Award for outstanding trainer, his strongest reputation has been built as the leading North American turf trainer. Fittingly, most of those wins have come on the grass. Thirteen of his Breeders’ Cup wins have come in turf races, and he has won every grass race at the Breeders’ Cup except for the Juvenile Turf Sprint at least once. However, he has three other Breeders’ Cup wins on the dirt.

Unsurprisingly, Brown should be one of the leading presences in the two days of this year’s Breeders’ Cup, November 3 and 4 at Santa Anita.

Naturally, you can bet which of this trainer's horses will win their Breeders Cup race at FanDuel Racing. Also, discover 2023 Breeders’ Cup betting odds and exciting betting Bonus and Promos on FanDuel.

Breeders’ Cup Classic

Chad Brown, trainer of so many top-notch horses during his career, has only started twice in the Classic. He ran Last Gunfighter in 2013 and Zivo in 2014. Both ran off the board, as Last Gunfighter was fifth and Zivo eighth.

Zandon

Zandon is Chad Brown’s best Breeders’ Cup Classic hope yet. One of the leading long-distance dirt horses both during the Triple Crown season last year and against older horses this year, he had piled up a record as an underneath type. That consistency would have put him in the conversation for a share in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, especially since he has finished on the board every time except for a fourth-place try in last year’s sloppy, one-turn Cigar Mile (G1). However, he found the winners’ circle for the first time since the 2022 Blue Grass (G1) when he won the Woodward (G2) at Aqueduct on October 1. That could be a harbinger of career-best form, though it could also slash his price at the windows.

Breeders’ Cup Distaff

The leading race for older dirt route fillies and mares, this race has eluded Brown in eight tries. He has come close: Dunbar Road, in three tries, finished third in 2020 and then missed by a nose to long shot Marche Lorraine in 2021. Wow Cat also finished second by a length to the great Monomoy Girl in 2018, her best outing in two tries for Brown, his only other starter to finish on the board so far.

Randomized

A three-year-old, she jumped straight from a maiden win to run off the board in the Acorn (G1), but has rattled off three wins since in the ungraded Wilton, the Alabama (G1) against sophomores, and the Beldame (G1) against open company. That open company was a step beneath what she’ll see in the Breeders’ Cup, but it was 1 ⅛ miles, and she was a resounding winner against extremely good sophomores in the 1 ¼-mile Alabama. The biggest question for her is pace, as she has done her best work on the front end and may be trouble if the Distaff is full of pace.

Search Results

Search Results makes her second try in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. A well-beaten sixth behind Malathaat last year, Search Results has run four times this year. Her only win came last out in a 3 ¼-length romp in the Locust Grove (G3) at Churchill Downs, where she thrashed lesser company. However, she was beaten less than a length in both the La Troienne (G1) and the Ogden Phipps (G1). That suggests she has the class for this, though her best has tended to come at shorter than 1 ⅛, meaning the distance could, at best, make her an underlay and, at worst, thwart her once again.

Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint

Though he has built so much of his reputation on long-distance turf horses, the Filly and Mare Sprint has been Chad Brown’s most successful dirt race. From seven starters in the race, he has won it twice: Wavell Avenue won this seven-furlong dirt race in 2015, and Goodnight Olive won in 2022. Wavell Avenue went for the repeat in 2016, though he ended up settling for second behind Finest City.

Goodnight Olive

Goodnight Olive will attempt to win her second Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. This feat has only happened once before, with Groupie Doll in 2012 and 2013. Goodnight Olive has had a good season, though Echo Zulu beat her on the square in the Ballerina (G1). However, Echo Zulu suffered a career-ending injury in a workout on October 14, clearing the way for Goodnight Olive to be favored in her title defense. Her other three starts put her at the top of the division as it stands now: victories in the Madison (G1) and Bed o’ Roses (G2), and a trip-troubled third in the Derby City Distaff (G1).

Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf

Chad Brown has become best known for sweeping stakes for fillies and mares on the lawn, sometimes even training most of the field in such races. His four wins in this race are his second-most in any individual Breeders’ Cup race, behind only the Juvenile Fillies Turf. Those include wins with Zagora (2012), Dayatthespa (2014), Stephanie’s Kitten (2015), and Sistercharlie (2018).

In Italian

The breakout star among older turf females last year, she was the best of the North American contingent in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint last year: second, beaten only a length by Tuesday, winner of the English Oaks (G1). She rattled off a pair of Grade 1s to start the year, positioning herself as the one to beat in the division. She has been beaten by stablemates in her last two: by Whitebeam in the Diana (G1) and then by Gina Romantica in the First Lady. But, especially if there’s a shortage of pace in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, she could lead them a long way at the very least.

McKulick

Second to stablemate Gina Romantica in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup last year, she has also trained well. She has yet to capture a Grade 1 against older, but that seems like splitting hairs when you consider that she won the Glens Falls (G2) by a neck over 1 ½-mile specialist War Like Goddess, who beat males in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1) in both 2022 and 2023. She has the class, though the 1 ¼-mile distance may be on the short side for her, a concern given how well Chad Brown tends to be bet.

Breeders’ Cup Mile

Chad Brown has started horses 10 times in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, winning once with Uni in 2019. She finished fifth the following year. Uni is one of three mares he has sent against males in the Mile: Blowout was 11th in 2021, while Regal Glory was tenth behind Modern Games in 2022.

Gina Romantica

Last year’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) winner returned to Keeneland to make the grade against older company this year at Keeneland, wearing down In Italian to win the First Lady (G1) by a head. In her start before that, her first try in top-level company against older, she chased home Fev Rover for second in the Beverly D. (G1) at Colonial Downs.

Breeders’ Cup Juvenile

Brown has had only run five horses in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, winning with his very first runner: Good Magic, the 2017 winner who is also still the only horse to break his maiden in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. None of his four other starters has hit the board.

General Partner

Fourth on debut in a six-furlong sprint, he stretched out to seven furlongs and won second time out, making the top early and forging clear to win by four lengths. He stepped up to Grade 1 company after that, setting the pace and finishing a clear second behind Timberlake in the Champagne at Aqueduct. This son of Speightstown, who seeks his first graded-stakes win, is likely to be on or near the lead in the Breeders’ Cup, his two-turn debut. The distance on November 3 is a question, though. Speightstown progeny can stretch out if there is stamina underneath in the pedigree, something General Partner has.

Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf

The Juvenile Fillies Turf has become Chad Brown’s signature race at the Breeders’ Cup. Across 23 starters in the race, he has won it five times, with Maram (2008), Lady Eli (2014), New Money Honey (2016), Rushing Fall (2017), and Newspaperofrecord (2018).

Hard to Justify

Undefeated in two starts, she graduated by a head in a 1 ⅙-mile maiden special weight at Saratoga and then won the Miss Grillo (G2) in stalk-and-pounce fashion. Strangely for a Chad Brown horse, given his reputation as an outstanding trainer on the lawn, Hard to Justify was a 7-1 shot in that race, the shorter price of two from Brown’s shedrow. With tactical speed and proven two-turn form on the lawn, she should attract a lot of interest in the Juvenile Fillies Turf.

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