Nay Lady Nay Ekes Out Mrs. Revere Stakes Score
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Photo: Coady Photography
Nay Lady Nay wins the Mrs. Revere Stakes at Churchill Downs
As the Eclipse Award-winning trainer the past three years, and seemingly positioned to win a fourth in 2019, there are limited graded stakes races Chad Brown has not yet won, particularly on turf, where his stable's runners so often excel.
Now the list of stakes histories missing his name is even shorter. At Churchill Downs Nov. 29, he picked up his first victory in the $300,000 Mrs. Revere Stakes (G2T) when Nay Lady Nay surged between horses late to edge Dalika in the 1 1/16-mile grass test for 3-year-old fillies. Her win elevated Brown's graded stakes tallies this year to 84, highest of any trainer in North America.
One of two horses Brown raced in the 12-horse Mrs. Revere, Nay Lady Nay was somewhat overlooked at 7-1 odds, overshadowed by stablemate and 2-1 favorite New and Improved. But it was Nay Lady Nay who delivered for her backers.
Breaking cleanly under Junior Alvarado, in from New York for the day's races, Nay Lady Nay settled in seventh early as Hard Legacy went to the lead, setting fractions of :24.54, :50.25, and 1:16.42 under mild pressure on a yielding course. Nay Lady Nay stayed in midpack until nearing the stretch, but once the field hit the lane, it was her time to shine.
She split horses inside the final sixteenth of a mile, coming between The Mackem Bullet, who had taken a brief lead in early stretch, and Dalika, who made a steady rally from sixth to take charge with a furlong remaining. Finishing strongest, Nay Lady Nay gradually pulled away at the wire.
Though he had never ridden Nay Lady Nay before, Alvarado said he was confident in her chances, owing to Brown's success. "When he enters a horse, they're ready to roll," he said.
The winner, an Irish-bred daughter of No Nay Never, showed another strength Friday: the ability to handle a wet course, on which she completed the distance in 1:48.52. Her four previous starts, including two victories, came on firm turf. She paid $16.80.
"When we started picking it up, I knew she wasn't having any problem with the give in the ground," Alvarado said. "I was very hopeful at that point. Then when turned for home, when I really got in to her, she gave me a nice kick at the end."
Nay Lady Nay strides out to the wire in the Mrs. Revere Stakes
Also handling the damp going was runner-up Dalika. It marked her third runner-up finish in a stakes.
The Mackem Bullet, winner of the Appalachian Stakes Presented by Japan Racing Association (G2T) at Keeneland, weakened slightly to be third, 1 1/2 lengths behind the runner-up.
New and Improved finished seventh. She is unplaced in two races on wet ground.
Nay Lady Nay earned $172,980 for owners First Row Partners and Hidden Brook Farm and improved her earnings to $265,180. It was her second stakes victory, following the Parx Fall Oaks, and her first graded win.
Out of the English Channel mare Lady Ederle, Nay Lady Nay is a full sister to Arizona, a group-1 placed 2-year-old who won the Coventry Stakes (G2) this year.
Nay Lady Nay was a $210,000 purchase from Eddie Woods' consignment at the 2018 Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale by Hidden Brook, signing as agent. Steve Laymon of First Row Partners and Dan Hall of Hidden Brook Farm partnered to buy her.
"We set the number and they went to our number, and Dan said, 'Go one more,' and I went one more bid and that bought her," Laymon said. "We've been so blessed to have her."
Twice earlier she had gone through sales at Goffs overseas, purchased first as a weanling by Bobby O'Ryan from the Railstown Stud consignment to the 2016 November Foals Sale for $47,182 and later bought by agent Gatewood Bell for $59,250 from The Castlebridge Consignment at the 2017 Orby Yearling Sale.