Brown Plots Schedule for Raging Bull, Highly Motivated
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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Raging Bull wins the Maker's Mark Mile Stakes at Keeneland
On Belmont Stakes Day June 5, trainer Chad Brown has starters in numerous graded stakes races, running Search Results in the Acorn Stakes (G1) and multiple horses in both the Longines Just a Game Stakes (G1T) and Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes (G1T).
He hasn't fully emptied his stakes arsenal, however. The four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer is eyeing graded contests for two of his other top runners over the next month at Belmont Park. According to Brown, Peter Brant's multiple grade 1-winning turf horse Raging Bull is a candidate for the $250,000 Poker Stakes (G3T) at Belmont June 20, and Klaravich Stables' Highly Motivated , the Toyota Blue Grass (G2) runner-up, is scheduled to return in the $250,000 Dwyer Stakes (G3) July 5. Both races are at a mile, the Poker on turf, the Dwyer on dirt.
Highly Motivated last raced in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) May 1 at Churchill Downs, running 10th and following a neck defeat to Essential Quality in the Blue Grass after he led for a mile of the 1 1/8-mile race.
"It makes a lot of sense for him. Back to one turn," Brown said at Belmont June 3.
Highly Motivated trains at Churchill Downs April 27 prior to the Kentucky Derby
A son of Into Mischief , Highly Motivated was also third this year in the one-mile Gotham Stakes (G3) after a slow start. He won the 6 1/2-furlong Nyquist Stakes at Keeneland last fall at age 2 in a track record in 1:14.99.
Raging Bull did not travel for last month's Shoemaker Mile Stakes (G1T) at Santa Anita Park, a race he won last year, after Brown opted to pass sending the horse across the country via FedEx. Tex Sutton Equine Air Transportation's dedicated aircraft, often used to transfer stakes horses, is not in use as the company pursues a new lease on a cargo plane.
"I'm going to probably point him for the Poker here and use that as a prep for the Fourstardave (G1T)," Brown said of the Aug. 14 "Win and You're In" contest at Saratoga Race Course. "Keep him at home, running out of his own stall for a little bit, because he has got a big ship coming up later in the year for the Breeders' Cup (Mile, G1T at Del Mar).
"I didn't want to put too many air miles in him, either. I was kind of thinking about that, and with the shipping situation, it just kind of confirmed my plan. We shipped him early in the year last year and ran super in the race, but he was never quite the same the rest of the year. He was just a little flat until I rested him again."
Raging Bull was at his best in winning the Maker's Mark Mile Stakes (G1T) in his last start April 9 at Keeneland, scoring by two lengths over Ride a Comet with a mile on firm turf in 1:33.86. The Dark Angel horse is 7-for-18 with earnings of nearly $1.5 million.