First-Crop Sire McKinzie Gets Second Winner at Saratoga

As Peter Bradley walked into the paddock on a damp Sunday morning, the security guard staffing the gate wished him a good afternoon.

"We'll see about that after the first race," Bradley responded with his trademark grin. 

About an hour later, Bradley was indeed having a good afternoon, when his 2-year-old filly Briland  won at first asking over a muddy Saratoga Race Course. 

Stalking the pace set by Rational Theory , Tyler Gaffalione kept the McKinzie   filly off the rail and began urging her coming around the final turn. He went to the stick three times around the eighth pole, and Briland took off willingly, holding off Claire's Charm  by a neck.

The filly is trained by Chad Brown, who teamed up with Bradley earlier this summer at Saratoga for a win with Incentive Pay  by another first-crop stallion, Volatile  , and who doesn't hesitate to take a shot with unproven sires.

"Pete found the horse at the 2-year-old sales and partnered with Gainesway," said Brown. "We appreciate the opportunity, and she's trained well and hasn't missed a bit."

Briland is the third of McKinzie's offspring to hit the board for Brown at Saratoga this summer. On July 27, Chancer McPatrick  broke his maiden, and on Aug. 4, Limes Don't Lie  finished third. 

Consigned by Taylor Made Sales, Briland sold for $200,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale to Scoot Stables. This past April, Bradley Thoroughbreds signed the ticket for her at the OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training, going to $675,000. She was consigned by Julie Davies at OBS.

"We looked at this filly probably 10 different times, and it didn't matter when we looked at her," said Devon Bradley, director of bloodstock sales for Bradley Thoroughbreds. "I sat on the backside and watched horses gallop out for days on end, and sometimes you just see one, and that's the horse. We don't usually buy horses that cost this much." 

Bred in Kentucky by Fred W. Hertrich III, John D. Fielding & Robert L. Tribbett, Briland is owned in partnership by Gainesway Stable (Antony Beck), Cambron Equine, and Alan Northcutt. Jockey Tyler Gaffalione wore the Gainesway silks. 

The bay filly is out of the Speightstown   mare Bay Harbor, herself out of the the grade 3 winner Our Khrysty  (Newfoundland ) who earned $313,260 in an 18-race career.

Bay Harbor is a half sibling to four six-figure earners, including Pyrenees  (Into Mischief  ), who won this year's Pimlico Special (G3), and Grace Adler  (Curlin  ), winner of the 2021 Del Mark Debutante (G1). 

Currently at No. 10 on the first-crop sire list by earnings, McKinzie (Street Sense  ) stood for $30,000 in 2024 at Gainesway in Lexington. He has three winners from 27 runners, with four seconds and three thirds. 

"I think McKinzie is a real-deal sire," said Devon Bradley.

Brown echoed her opinion.

"He's a promising young sire that's getting good dirt runners, and they all act like they want to run longer," he said. "This filly's not very big, but the way she trains, she'll stretch out. I'm excited about her future."