Brown Duo Among Field of 11 in Gamely Stakes

You will not find a page in Chad Brown's playbook that calls for shipping a filly across the country for her first start in the United States.

Yet at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the nature of racing this spring, exceptions have become the norm.

All of which explains why Etoile and Beautiful Lover were among five horses the East Coast-based, four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer put on a plane for the West Coast to run in Memorial Day weekend stakes at Santa Anita Park.

Both 4-year-old fillies were entered in the $300,000 Gamely Stakes (G1T), which will be contested May 25 at 1 1/8 miles on The Great Race Place's turf course, and for the group 3 winner Etoile, it will serve as her introduction to American racing.

"Normally, I wouldn't ship them that far to run the first time in this country," Brown said. "But given the unprecedented circumstances this year, we will have to do things out of the ordinary for our stable to adjust and get by until things get back to normal. This is one of them."

Both fillies will be venturing into hostile territory against nine others, including California-based graded stakes winners Ollie's Candy, Lady Prancealot, Mucho Unusual, Simply Breathless, and Keeper Ofthe Stars.

Etoile will be debuting for owners Peter Brant, Mrs. M. V. Magnier, and Mrs. Paul Shanahan and Brown after finishing ninth Oct. 6 in the Longines Prix de l'Opera (G1) for Martin Schwartz Racing and trainer Jean-Claude Rouget. The daughter of Siyouni out of the Authorized mare Milena's Dream won the Prix Cleopatre (G3) earlier in her 3-year-old campaign and has made a nice adjustment to life in America in advance of Monday's test.

In her past two breezes on turf at Brant's Payson Park, she was timed in 1:02 for five furlongs and four furlongs in :48 4/5, which was the fastest of 10 works at that distance. 

"She seems plenty talented enough to have success at the grade 1 level here," said Brown, America's premier turf trainer with 46 graded turf stakes wins from 2019-20. "She's been training like a clock at Payson Park, so I'm looking forward to seeing her start her career here."

Beautiful Lover, an Arch filly owned by Paul Pompa Jr. and Gary Tolchin, will be making her first start in a grade 1 but is coming off runner-up finishes behind a grade 1 winner in her past two tries. Out of the Quiet American mare American Skipper, she was second to Starship Jubilee by 1 1/4 lengths in the Hillsborough Stakes (G2T) in her most recent start. Before that, she was 3 1/4 lengths behind that highly accomplished foe in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Stakes.

"Beautiful Lover is doing fine. She's in good form. It's a big jump for her, but the distance and timing is right for her to give it a shot," Brown said. "She ran her heart out against a good filly last time, and she seems primed for her best race."

While Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has made a comfortable living shipping his horses from the West Coast, Brown has done rather well for himself flying his horses in the opposite direction. Since November 2017, a period that includes the 2017 Breeders' Cup at Del Mar and the 2019 Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita, Brown's horses have made 45 starts at those two tracks with 11 wins, six seconds, and nine thirds, plus earnings of more than $8.5 million.

"I have a highly skilled staff and team members that can execute these missions with the right horses," said Brown, who worked on the West Coast as an assistant trainer for Bobby Frankel before launching his own career in 2007. "We have a routine down, and it's gone pretty well. Hopefully, we'll have some more success this weekend."

Brown's other Santa Anita starters Monday are Without Parole and Raging Bull in the Shoemaker Mile Stakes (G1T). Rockemperor was disqualified from second to third in the May 23 Charles Whittingham Stakes (G2T).

Etoile drew the rail for the Gamely and will be ridden by Joel Rosario, and Beautiful Lover will break from post 7 with Irad Ortiz Jr., who had winning rides at Santa Anita Park last fall aboard Bricks and Mortar in the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) and Vino Rosso  in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).

Paul and Karen Eggert's Ollie's Candy comes into the Gamely after a heartbreaking loss in the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) at Oaklawn Park where she lost to Ce Ce by a head. Though that race was on dirt, as were all of her past five starts, the 5-year-old daughter of Candy Ride  has a highly respectable record on turf. In four starts on grass, Ollie's Candy has three seconds, including a loss by a neck in the 2018 Del Mar Oaks Presented by The Jockey Club (G1T) when trained by Bill Morey. She debuted for trainer John Sadler in 2019.

Ollie's Candy, who has post 2 and will be ridden by Drayden Van Dyke, was seventh in last year's Gamely while returning from a nine-month layoff.

Lady Prancealot carries the mantle of a grade 1 winner into the Gamely. The 4-year-old daughter of Sir Prancealot  took the Dec. 28 American Oaks (G1T) by a half-length at 1 1/4 miles but then ran out of ground while rallying for fourth behind winner Keeper Ofthe Stars in the Buena Vista Stakes (G2T) at a mile in her most recent start.

Trained by Richard Baltas and owned by Craig Arntz, Josie Arntz, Donald Durando, Jules Iavarone, Michael Iavarone, and Jerry McClanahan, Lady Prancealot captured the Pin Oak Valley View Stakes (G3T) at Keeneland prior to the American Oaks.

John Velazquez will ride Lady Prancealot, the 126-pound highweight who drew post 3.

Keeper Ofthe Stars has won two of her four starts on the Santa Anita turf course—both of them in graded stakes—highlighted by a half-length victory in the Feb. 22 Buena Vista in her most recent start. A speedster early in her career, the Midnight Lute  4-year-old closed from six lengths back to take that one-mile stakes for trainer Jonathan Wong and owner Tommy Town Thoroughbreds while beating Gamely rivals Lady Prancealot and Mucho Unusual, who was a length back in third.

Keeper Ofthe Stars and jockey Abel Cedillo will have to contend with the problematic post 11.

George Krikorian's Mucho Unusual is winless since taking the San Clemente Stakes (G2T) in July but was a major factor in her past two starts, including a second in the American Oaks. The California-bred Mucho Macho Man  filly, who is trained by Tim Yakteen, drew post 5 and will be ridden by Umberto Rispoli.

Cloros Bloodstock's Simply Breathless will be making her first start since finishing sixth in the Dec. 1 Matriarch Stakes (G1T). 

Like Brown, Baltas will have two starters. Calvin Nguyen's Bodhicitta has won three of her past four starts, with those victories coming in maiden and allowance races. Her lone loss in that stretch was a sixth-place finish in the Lady of Shamrock Stakes. Keeper Ofthe Stars was second in the Lady of Shamrock, finishing 2 1/4 lengths ahead of Baltas' daughter of Showcasing.

The Gamely will be the 11th and final race on the card with a post time of 5:39 p.m. PT.

Entries: Gamely S. (G1T)

Santa Anita Park, Monday, May 25, 2020, Race 11

• Grade IT
• 1 1/8m
• Turf
• $300,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 5:39 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Etoile (FR)	Joel Rosario	122	Chad C. Brown	5/2
2	2Ollie's Candy (KY)	Drayden Van Dyke	124	John W. Sadler	4/1
3	3Lady Prancealot (IRE)	John R. Velazquez	126	Richard Baltas	6/1
4	4Giza Goddess (KY)	Victor Espinoza	122	John A. Shirreffs	20/1
5	5Mucho Unusual (CA)	UMBERTO RISPOLI	124	Tim Yakteen	8/1
6	6Simply Breathless (GB)	Jorge I. Velez	122	Neil D. Drysdale	8/1
7	7Beautiful Lover (FL)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	122	Chad C. Brown	5/1
8	8Tiny Tina (KY)	Mike E. Smith	122	Philip D'Amato	15/1
9	9Siberian Iris (IRE)	Jose Valdivia, Jr.	122	Richard E. Mandella	15/1
10	10Bodhicitta (GB)	Flavien Prat	122	Richard Baltas	12/1
11	11Keeper Ofthe Stars (KY)	Abel Cedillo	124	Jonathan Wong	8/1