Acorn Stakes Record Holder Guarana Returns at Churchill

When Chad Brown said earlier this month that he planned to bring some highly regarded horses to Churchill Downs for its spring meet, those were not idle words. The four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer has entered dual grade 1 winner Guarana for her first start of the year in the eighth race at Churchill June 4, an $85,000 allowance.

The daughter of Ghostzapper , owned and bred by Three Chimneys Farm, was considered of the top 3-year-old fillies of last year after winning the Acorn Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park and the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. She went 3-for-4 on the season, also taking a maiden race at Keeneland in the spring and with her only loss being a runner-up finish in the Sept. 21 Cotillion Stakes (G1) at Parx Racing, her last race of 2019.

Though her final two races of last year came around two turns, this year her schedule will be geared more around one-turn races, Brown said. Even going back to last fall, he had felt she might prefer shorter races and had intended to cut her back to seven-eighths for the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) Nov. 2 at Santa Anita Park before a physical setback scrapped those plans.

She ended up second in Eclipse Award voting for champion 3-year-old filly honors to Covfefe, winner of the Filly and Mare Sprint.

Now healthy and freshened, Guarana returns over the seven-furlong distance at Churchill, facing third-level allowance foes.

Last year she was untouchable in two starts around one turn, rolling in her debut at Keeneland in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race and taking the Acorn by six lengths over Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Serengeti Empress. In the latter race, she sped a mile in 1:33.58, a stakes record.

Having breezed consistently since late February for Brown, finalized by a half-mile move in :48 1/5 May 27 at Churchill, Guarana looks ready for her return, perhaps one of multiple appearances in Kentucky this year.

The Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint is Nov. 7 at Keeneland, and the Lexington track has also rescheduled the seven-furlong Madison Stakes (G1) for July 11 as part of its recently announced summer meet July 11. Both races are expected to attract many of the top female sprinters in the country

Tyler Gaffalione will ride Guarana in Thursday's feature at Churchill, which drew a field of nine older females.

Holding an edge in recency in the race is Lady Suebee, who ran third behind Mia Mischief and Amy's Challenge in the Carousel Stakes April 25 at Oaklawn Park. Also a stakes winner, she captured the restricted Tranquility Lake Stakes at Del Mar last summer for trainer John Sadler and owner Hronis Racing. The speedy 5-year-old First Defence mare is multiple grade-3 placed.

Tyler Baze will have the mount.

Other entrants include three-time stakes winner Please Flatter Me, unraced since seventh in the  Longines Test Stakes (G1) last summer at Saratoga; Abounding Joy, the runner-up last out in the Jan. 20 Interborough Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack; and Unique Factor, who changes hands via a private purchase after a wide-trip second in an allowance at Oaklawn May 1.

The latter, now owned by Pantofel Stable, Wachtel Stable, and Peter Deutsch and trained by Peter Miller, is also entered in the May 30 Winning Colors Stakes at Churchill, where she is a 30-1 longshot on the morning line.