Off Spa Dead-Heat, Rice Seeks Sixth Straight NYRA title

There were plenty of exciting finishes during this summer's 40 days of racing at Saratoga Race Course.

In particular, narrow victories by Elite Power  in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) and Forte  in the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) stand out.

Yet perhaps the wildest and most prolonged race of all was a statistical battle for the title of leading trainer by wins.

Over the course of the 40 days, trainers Linda Rice and Chad Brown staged a race for the H. Allen Jerkens Award given to the conditioner that tops the Saratoga charts in wins. It was filled with plenty of drama. Rice, winner of the training title at the four previous New York Racing Association meets and 2009 Spa champ, led for the first 21 days. Then Brown, the four-time Eclipse Award recipient and winner of five Spa titles, grabbed the lead and was in front by seven victories after Day 29. The margin was still five after the opening race of Day 39.

But then Rice closed the meet in a fashion worthy of Forego in the 1976 Marlboro Cup. She won three of the next six races on the penultimate day to cut the lead to two entering the final day and then won the last race of the meet with Lt. Mitchell —while Brown's starter, Fake Celebrity , was second—to finish in a 35-35 deadlock for the title and push her stretch of consecutive meet crowns to five.

"We were five down on (Sunday) and I obviously stated that it was unlikely that we would get it done," said Rice, whose 2009 title makes her the only person in 14 years other than Brown and Todd Pletcher to win the Spa title. "But we rallied rather well. It was pretty exciting. If you're in horse racing long enough, it has a lot of disappointments and you are going to see some of them. But days like the last two at Saratoga, when they really come together, you have to relish and cherish them."

Off the magical season at Saratoga, Rice will take aim at a sixth straight NYRA crown when the 28-day Belmont at the Big A meet begins Sept. 14 at Aqueduct Racetrack. With 40 stakes worth a total of $8.78 million scheduled, the meet will feature some of New York's premier Breeders' Cup preps such as the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1T) for males and the Champagne Stakes (G1) for 2-year-olds. Rice believes she is facing an uphill climb to keep her streak alive against the larger stables of Brown and Pletcher. Then again, she had the same feeling entering the Belmont spring/summer and Saratoga meets.

"When I leave one venue, I never feel confident about the next one," said the 59-year-old Rice, who is 30th among the  sport's all-time earnings leaders and is the top female on that list. "I run my horses often and don't go into a meet  thinking this is the meet where things are going to come together, but somehow that's what managed to happen."

While the move of 65 turf races to the dirt likely cost Brown some wins, Rice was able to keep pace by running her horses more often. While most trainers might give their horses one or maybe two starts at the meet, many of the runners in Rice's stable made two or three starts.

"Some people run horses three or four times a year. You need to run horses. They are here to race. Some stables do more training than racing. Since I have mostly older horses, not 2-year-olds, I am more inclined to run them when they are good. Then when they tail off and need a break, I will send them off to the farm for a break. But when they're here and they are sound, and happy, and healthy, and thriving, I'll run them," Rice said. "When you race them you also have to make sure they are competitive. There's a lot of economics at play here. It's really an injustice to the horse and your client when you do not run them where they belong. It's disheartening for the horse and you are wasting a race. They only have so many races in them where they can perform at their best."

One of Rice's three-time starters at the Spa is the new star of her 75-horse stable. A Bianco Holding Limited's Pioneering Spirit  was claimed as a maiden from Pletcher for $40,000 March 24. In eight starts since then, he has won 5 of 8 times.

The American Pharoah   gelding won a July 27 allowance optional claimer at the Spa, then finished third in the Sword Dancer Stakes (G1T), then capped it off by taking the closing day Bernard Baruch Stakes as the third choice in a field of five for Rice's 34th win.

"When you get a horse like him, it's fun. He really delivered on closing day," said Rice, whose bid for a sixth straight title will begin with entrants in five of Thursday's nine non-steeplechase races at Aqueduct. "We ran him three times at the meet and that's not typically what you see from people who handle high-end grass horses. But he won a stakes in that third try."

Pioneering Spirit is targeting the Sept. 30 $500,000 Joe Hirsch and a strong effort there could fuel thoughts for a trip to the Nov. 4 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) at Santa Anita Park. If that comes together or another Breeders' Cup horse emerges in her barn, it would be Rice's first appearance at the World Championships since she was second with La Verdad in the 2015 Filly and Mare Sprint (G1).

Rice isn't counting on a trip west, but after her mild expectations heading into the last two NYRA meets and emerging with a pair of titles, that just might be another example of her taking a low-key approach to success.