Brown Sends Out Five in Bid for Seventh Just a Game Win

In theory, trainer Chad Brown has a 71.4% chance of winning the Just a Game Stakes (G1T).

He does train five of the seven starters.

Yet when you consider the credentials of those five starters and blend it with Brown's six wins in the last seven editions of the mile turf race for fillies and mares, the odds seem stacked higher than that against the other two entrants in the June 7 stakes at Saratoga Race Course. 

In the quintet of Beaute Cachee , Gina Romantica , Coppice , Chili Flag , and Whitebeam , Brown has three grade1 winners, a grade 2 winner, and a grade 2-placed starter.

That's a pretty imposing mountain to climb for Mission of Joy  and Evvie Jets , the other two starters who are coming off losses of 4 3/4 lengths and 12 1/4 lengths, respectively.

"It's such a prestigious race and I want to give all of the horses a chance to win it," Brown said about the two-turn mile. "These are mares, and there's a lot of residual value on the line in a grade 1 stakes."

Juddmonte's homebred Whitebeam is the 5-2 morning-line choice and already boasts a two-turn stakes victory at the Spa, where she prevailed in last year's Diana Stakes (G1T).

She made her 2024 debut in the May 11 Beaugay Stakes (G3T) when the daughter of Caravaggio  chased the early pace, opened a lead inside the final furlong but could not withstand the late kick of Neecie Marie  and finished second by a neck.

Juddmonte will also send out Coppice (3-1), a 4-year-old daughter of Kingman   who rallied from eighth to finish second in the May 4 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile Stakes (G2T) in her United States debut.

"They have contrasting styles. One can lay up with the pace and the other comes from way out of it," said Juddmonte manager Garrett O'Rourke. "So we'll see what kind of scenario it is. I think both of them want to run a mile. We might stretch them out later, but this seems like the perfect spot for both of them. So, we'll let them take their chances."

Gina Romantica (3-1) won her turf debut at the Spa, the 2022 Riskaverse Stakes. "She is coming into the race really sharp and has an affinity for Saratoga, which can be very important on this course," Brown said.

A winner of the First Lady Stakes (G1T) last year, the daughter of Into Mischief   opened her 5-year-old campaign with a seventh in the Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1T). She is owned by Peter Brant, who raced Just a Game.

Speaking of the Jenny Wiley, Beaute Cachee (6-1) sprang a 25-1 upset in front-running style at Keeneland. Owned by Louis Lazzinnaro, Michael Caruso, Michael Dubb, and Madaket Stables, the 5-year-old Literato  mare was third in the 2023 Matriarch Stakes (G1T) in her only other grade 1 test.

Chili Flag (4-1) exits a game victory in the Turf Distaff when she edged Coppice by a neck. Owned by Madaket Stables, Dubb, and Michael Kisber, it gave the Cityscape  mare back-to-back graded wins following a neck victory in the March 2 Honey Fox Stakes (G3T).