Brown Seeks Good Results from Early Voting in Withers

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Photo: Coglianese Photos
Early Voting wins his 2021 career debut at Aqueduct Racetrack

Winning at a mile in a 2-year-old's career debut often bodes well for that horse's chances at longer, two-turn distances.

Trainer Chad Brown and owner Klaravich Stables will find out if that's the case with Early Voting  Feb. 5 when the 3-year-old son of Gun Runner   extends to a 1 1/8-mile distance in the $250,000 Withers Stakes (G3) for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The two-turn stakes will mark Early Voting's first start since his Dec. 18 debut at the Big A when he dueled for the early lead and then pulled clear to post a 1 1/2-length victory as a highly regarded 4-5 favorite in the flat mile maiden test.

"He showed a lot of guts in the stretch," Brown said about the maiden win. "I didn't have him completely cranked but he responded to (jockey Jose Ortiz) in the stretch and kicked on first time out at a mile, which is a hard thing to do on a track that has been a little demanding. I was really proud of him and got a lot out of it. I was finally able to get him fit with the race. It was hard to do that before the race."

Since that debut win, Early Voting has put in a steady string of four-furlong breezes in preparation for his stakes debut in a race that will award a total of 17 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) qualifying points.

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"He seems to be developing nicely since his first race," said Brown, who won last year's Withers with Klaravich's Risk Taking  (Medaglia d'Oro  ). "We gave him some time in between to get over his race and he seems to be working pretty well now."

By the record-setting freshman sire Gun Runner, who was a Horse of the Year and winner of the 2017 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) and 2018 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1), Early Voting's pedigree indicates the distance should be within his scope. Bred by Three Chimneys Farm, he's out of a dam by the two-time Classic winner Tiznow , Amour d'Ete, and was bought for $200,000 from the Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency consignment at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Courvoisier wins the 2022 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct
Photo: Coglianese Photos/Chelsea Durand
Courvoisier captures the Jerome Stakes over Smarten Up and Cooke Creeke at Aqueduct Racetrack

Early Voting will face a tough challenge in the Withers, which attracted a large field of 11, including Jerome Stakes winner Courvoisier . With 10-4-2-1 Kentucky Derby qualifying points on the line Saturday, the son of Tapit   out of the 2014 2-year-old champion filly Take Charge Brandi (Giant's Causeway) already has 10 points from his Jerome win and is No. 12 on the Leaderboard.

Owned by Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings and James Spry and trained by Kelly Breen, Courvoisier needed four tries to break his maiden but then followed it up with his 1 1/4-length victory in the one-turn Jerome mile.

"He's always been a big boy. He was a big boy at birth and he's filling in," Breen said about a colt bred by Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings and Elevage II and bought for $600,000 by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa at the 2019 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. "He's a nice horse and I think that the longer the better for him. We have high hopes for him. Let him show it on the track."

Courvoisier is one of five Withers starters who battled in the Jerome, including the top four finishers on a sloppy track in the Jan. 1 stakes.

Happy Tenth Stable's Smarten Up  (American Freedom  ) was second at 21-1 odds in the Jerome while Cheyenne Stable's Cooke Creek  (Uncle Mo  ), and Edward Potash, Brad Yankanich, and trainer Jim Ryerson's Unbridled Bomber  (Upstart  ) were right behind him.

Cooke Creek was the 7-5 favorite for trainer Jeremiah O'Dwyer in the Jerome but never appeared comfortable on the wet track.

"I was very proud of his run last time in the Jerome on a track I didn't think he'd like," said O'Dwyer, whose colt drew the disadvantageous outside post in the field of 11 for Saturday's stakes. "Pedigree-wise and the way he's built with his style of running, two turns is exactly what he wants. He won going (5 1/2 furlongs) the first time, but I think that was just his class showing through. When he ran in the Jerome, it was either that or going a one-turn mile at Laurel Park

"He's just progressed from race to race and is getting bigger and stronger," he added. "The owners are good people and have given me some nice horses. It's nice to see him do something nice for them on the track."


Entries: Withers S. (G3)

Aqueduct Racetrack, Saturday, February 05, 2022, Race 8

  • Grade III
  • 1 1/8m
  • Dirt
  • $250,000
  • 3 yo
  • 4:25 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Constitutionlawyer (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Jose Lezcano 118 Raymond Handal 7/2
2 2Grantham (KY) Victor R. Carrasco 118 Michael J. Maker 10/1
3 3Smarten Up (FL) Anthony Salgado 118 Alfredo Velazquez 10/1
4 4Gilded Age (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Kendrick Carmouche 118 William I. Mott 10/1
5 5Courvoisier (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Ruben Silvera 120 Kelly J. Breen 9/2
6 6Unbridled Bomber (KY) Jorge A. Vargas, Jr. 118 James T. Ryerson 12/1
7 7Noneedtoworry (KY) Silvestre Gonzalez 118 Herold O. Whylie 30/1
8 8Un Ojo (NY) Trevor McCarthy 118 Anthony W. Dutrow 20/1
9 9Early Voting (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Jose L. Ortiz 118 Chad C. Brown 3/1
10 10Mr Jefferson (MD) Eric Cancel 118 Michael J. Trombetta 20/1
11 11Cooke Creek (KY) Manuel Franco 120 Jeremiah O'Dwyer 6/1