Gerrymander Gallops Home in Mother Goose

Trainer Chad Brown's hand in the 3-year-old male division is rather powerful at the moment with Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Early Voting  and grade 1 winners Zandon  and Jack Christopher .

All of a sudden, his stock in the 3-year-old filly division isn't bad, either.

While Secret Oath  and Nest  stand atop the sophomore distaff runners, Klaravich Stables' Gerrymander  took a big step forward in the division by taking charge in the stretch and rolling to a decisive victory for Brown in the $232,500 Mother Goose Stakes (G2) for 3-year-old fillies June 25 at Belmont Park.

The three-length score over Shahama  came after a messy 2022 debut in which the daughter of Into Mischief   floundered over a drying-out track in the Eight Belles Stakes Presented by TwinSpires (G2) May 6 at Churchill Downs.

"It was a wet track, she was inside, she didn't break well. It was a greasy track she hated and she didn't do any running. I drew a line through it," Brown said about the Eight Belles. "She trained brilliantly leading up to the (Mother Goose). We know she loves Belmont and has always trained well here. We were quietly confident that she would show up today."

In giving Brown his second Mother Goose win in the last three editions (it was not run in 2020) and notching her first stakes win, Gerrymander also interjected herself in conversations about the division-defining Alabama Stakes (G1, Aug. 20 at Saratoga Race Course).

Bred by Town & Country Horse Farms and Pollock Farms in Kentucky out of the Hard Spun   mare Ruby Lips, Gerrymander surely has the pedigree to handle the mile-and-a-quarter distance of the Alabama as she's a half sister to Lone Rock , a grade 2 winner at a marathon 1 5/8-mile distance and a multiple winner at 1 1/2 miles.

"Being a half to Lone Rock, who is a cool, consistent (gelding) that runs all day on dirt, you figure there are some similarities (between them) and a mile and a quarter is not out of the question," Brown said. "We'd like to get to the Alabama with her."

With just four starters, the one-turn, 1 1/16-mile Mother Goose did not figure to be a complex race from a tactical standpoint. Yet a key factor in the outcome came when jockey Joel Rosario on Gerrymander, after taking the early lead, allowed 1-2 favorite JuJu's Map  and then 5-2 second choice Shahama to whiz past them.

As that happened, a :24.09 opening quarter-mile turned into a :46.90 half-mile with Gerrymander sitting a comfortable third after that spirited :22.81 second quarter.

"When (Gerrymander) broke out in front I liked it because she trains that way," Brown said. "When (Joel) put a hold on her and he let Juju's Map sort of overtake him on the backside, I did question it. But when I saw the fractions, they went from a :24 to a :46 with an inside :22, I thought Joel has a better clock than me because that was the right thing to do."

Rosario then swung Gerrymander outside the two leaders on the turn and grabbed the lead at the top of the stretch, cruising across the wire in 1:43.74 and paying $15 to win.

"It worked out good," Rosario said. "It set up well."

Bought for $375,000 by Founders Hall Farm from the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Gerrymander won for the third time in six starts and pushed her earnings to $378,000.

She is the fourth of seven foals from Ruby Lips and her second grade 2 winner. The mare also has a yearling Tapit   filly and a Constitution   colt born earlier this year.

KHK Racing's Shahama, a Munnings   filly trained by Todd Pletcher, was second by 4 3/4 lengths over Albaugh Family Stables' Juju's Map, a daughter of Liam's Map   making her second start since a runner-up finish in the NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) for trainer Brad Cox.

The win gave Brown a sweep of the two stakes on the Saturday card as he took the $93,000 Wild Applause Stakes on turf with Michael Dubb, The Elkstone Group, Louis Lazzinnaro, and Michael Caruso's Eminent Victor . 

As the New York Racing Association once again struggled to fill its stakes, Brown sent out four of the combined eight starters in the Mother Goose and Wild Applause.

"If I can run in New York, I will," Brown said. "We're based here and anytime I can help them fill out (a card) fine...I always prefer to run here if we can."

Video: Mother Goose S. (G2)