Uni, Newspaperofrecord Headline Just a Game

When you have the past two female turf champions in your barn, as well as a few other distaff grade 1 winners on turf, it's a difficult chore to keep all of them separated until the Breeders' Cup.

Just ask four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown, who will send out three of the seven starters June 27 in the $250,000 Just a Game Stakes (G1T) for fillies and mares at Belmont Park, including two entrants with Breeders' Cup wins.

Normally run on the Belmont Stakes Day card, the Just a Game's new spot on the New York Racing Association's amended stakes schedule will not lack for star power. In a bid to win the graded stakes for a fourth consecutive year, Brown has entered 2019 female turf champion and TVG Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) winner Uni and Newspaperofrecord, who captured the 2018 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T).

With Brown pointing 2017 Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Rushing Fall to the July 11 Coolmore Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1T) at Keeneland and 2018 female turf champion Sistercharlie to the July 25 Ballston Spa Stakes (G2T) at Saratoga Race Course, the one-turn mile Just a Game became the best option for Newspaperofrecord and Uni, a pair heading into the race with different objectives.

For Uni, the race will serve as the 6-year-old daughter of More Than Ready 's first start since she beat males in the Nov. 2 Mile. It wasn't the smoothest of winters for her as she was set back by a minor splint injury, but her recent training indicated to Brown that she was ready to begin her 2020 campaign and the defense of her crown.

"She's training well. The one thing she has going against her is the layoff," Brown said about the mare owned by Robert LaPenta, Michael Dubb, Head of Plains Partners, and Bethlehem Stables. "But she's an incredibly talented horse with a devastating turn of foot. I expect her to run very well, and she's the class of the field. She's certainly the most accomplished. She's run well off layoffs before in the past, and I feel she's sitting on a nice effort despite the layoff."

Uni started her 2019 campaign June 29 with a victory in the Perfect Sting Stakes, then finished third to Just a Game starter Got Stormy against males in the Fourstardave Handicap (G1T) at Saratoga before closing the year with wins in the First Lady Stakes Presented by UK HealthCare (G1T) and the Mile, where Got Stormy was second, 1 1/2 lengths back.

"It's not like I'm getting her ready for the Breeders' Cup Mile off a layoff. It's a very competitive race, but it's not going to be the toughest race she will run in all year," Brown said. "If anything, it might be the least toughest of all the big engagements she will have this year. We're thankful that if she ever has to come in at 80 or 90% ready, this is the one to do it in."

For Klaravich Stables' Newspaperofrecord, the Just a Game will be an acid test for the 4-year-old daughter of Lope de Vega. After an undefeated 2-year-old season, she failed to regain her top form in 2019, and training her became problematic for Brown. Second in her first two starts at 3, she was then stretched out to 1 1/4 miles for the July 6 Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T) and was never a factor while finishing ninth and last as the 8-5 favorite. 

She was then put away for the remainder of the year, and the time off seems to have suited her. In Newspaperofrecord's 2020 debut, her keen early speed was back and she registered a frontrunning four-length score in the seven-furlong Intercontinental Stakes (G3T) on yielding turf June 6, which would have been the date for the Just a Game if not for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Back in grade 1 company, Newspaperofrecord will face a more formidable challenge, but Brown believes the extra furlong may help her to relax.

"She went a little faster on the front end (a :45.38 half-mile) than I wanted," he said about the Intercontinental. "She was so relaxed going into the race, and I was worried going that fast might blow her head up again, but she's worked nicely since then and I think she'll be able to rate slower this time."

Running her against Uni on just three weeks' rest is atypical for Brown, but little has gone according to plan for anyone in 2020.

"It's not normally what I do, but it's a crammed schedule this year," he said.

Brown will also send out Paul Pompa Jr.'s Regal Glory, a grade 2-winning daughter of Animal Kingdom who was second in the Intercontinental.

Gary Barber's Got Stormy has struggled in 2020, losing all three of her starts for trainer Mark Casse. In the daughter of Get Stormy 's previous effort, the multiple grade 1 winner was fourth behind winner Rushing Fall in the June 3 Beaugay Stakes (G3T) at Belmont Park, but she should be better suited by the distance Saturday.

The field also includes two starters from the Mint Julep Stakes (G3T) at Churchill Downs in third-place finisher Zofelle and ninth-place Beau Recall, who was second to Rushing Fall in last year's Just a Game. New Jersey-bred Valedictorian rounds out the field.

The Just a Game (6:08 p.m. ET post time) will be the fourth and final graded stakes at Belmont Park on an 11-race card starting at 1:15 p.m. 

Entries: Just a Game S. (G1T)

Belmont Park, Saturday, June 27, 2020, Race 10

• Grade IT
• 1m
• Turf
• $250,000
• 4 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 6:08 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Beau Recall (IRE)	Jose L. Ortiz	122	Brad H. Cox	10/1
2	2Got Stormy (KY)	Luis Saez	124	Mark E. Casse	5/1
3	3Valedictorian (NJ)	Jose Lezcano	120	Kelly J. Breen	20/1
4	4Newspaperofrecord (IRE)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	118	Chad C. Brown	8/5
5	5Regal Glory (KY)	Manuel Franco	120	Chad C. Brown	10/1
6	6Uni (GB)	Joel Rosario	124	Chad C. Brown	7/5
7	7Zofelle (IRE)	Javier Castellano	118	Brendan P. Walsh	12/1