Grade 1 Winner Chancer McPatrick Takes Curlin Stakes

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Photo: Coglianese Photos
Chancer McPatrick (middle) wins the Curlin Stakes at Saratoga Race Course

Chancer McPatrick  wasn't the buzz horse in the $135,000 Curlin Stakes; it was stablemate Strategic Focus , the race's 3-5 favorite. But following a dramatic finish to the 1 1/8-mile dirt race July 24 at Saratoga Race Course, it was Chancer McPatrick owning the head victory over So Sandy , who finished a half-length in front of third-place finisher Strategic Focus.

Flanagan Racing's Chancer McPatrick, trained by Chad Brown, was winless in three starts this year until the Curlin Stakes, a restricted race for 3-year-olds that often serves as a steppingstone to the Travers Stakes (G1) later in the meet. 


Ridden for the first time by Irad Ortiz Jr., Chancer McPatrick, a son of white-hot, second-crop sire McKinzie  , was a dual grade 1 winner as a 2-year-old with victories in the Hopeful Stakes (G1) at Saratoga and the Champagne Stakes (G1) at Aqueduct Racetrack. The Curlin marks his third win at Saratoga including his career debut July 27, 2024. 

Crudo  set a comfortable pace in the Curlin while coming under pressure from Strategic Focus with three furlongs remaining. The race favorite, ridden by Flavien Prat who had been Chancer McPatrick's regular rider until Thursday, swept to the lead and it looked like the race was over. But the late-running Chancer McPatrick and So Sandy had other ideas and made a nail-biter out of it, right down to the wire.

The final time was 1:49.71 and the winner returned $10.60 as the second choice in the field of six.

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"I feel like I just won the Travers," a beaming Sean Flanagan of Flanagan Racing said. "This is a very important prep race for the Travers; I don't know if we will end up being in the Travers or not. But just to win it against some very good horses … I know that everyone was looking at (Strategic Focus) as a monster and probably a serious contender in the Travers, and he ran a great race. 

"I'm just so happy to see (Chancer McPatrick) bear down and kinda stick his neck out there in the last 10 yards of the race. It was very brave, I thought."

Brown was delighted with Chancer McPatrick's moxie and stymied by Strategic Focus' flattening out in the stretch.

"That one surprised me," the trainer said. "At the quarter pole, I was making my Travers plans for that horse and all of a sudden, he just flattened out. I don't know—maybe he moved a little soon, but then again how long are you going to wait? (Prat) didn't want (Crudo) to get away from him. I don't mind that he put him in the clear. At first, I was, 'Well, he could have just saved ground inside.' But he's 3-5 and he doesn't want to get stopped, so I think he rode a fine race. It's just that the horse didn't cooperate today. He should have powered away from those horses and he didn't."

Brown had been considering cutting Chancer McPatrick back in distance in the 6 1/-2-furlong Amsterdam Stakes (G2) July 25 at the Spa, but decided to try the colt going long again after three losses around two turns.

"I'm glad that we actually chose this," Brown said. "What's proven is that he really likes a dry Saratoga track now. He's 3-for-3 on a dry track at Saratoga. He showed a lot of heart, as he did in his previous two starts on dry tracks at Saratoga—they were very courageous efforts in his maiden and the Hopeful. A very similar outcome and we'll have to see how he comes out of it. Surely our dream would be to try to get him out to a mile and a quarter and hope for dry weather on Travers day."

Chancer McPatrick wins the 2025 Curlin Stakes at Saratoga Race Course
Photo: Coglianese Photos/Susie Raisher
Chancer McPatrick after winning the Curlin Stakes

John Kimmel and Nick Sallusto, working on behalf of Flanagan, selected Chancer McPatrick out of the 2024 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. The purchase price was $725,000. The bay colt is out of the Bernardini mare Bernadreamy and was bred by Rigney Racing.

Sire McKinzie stood the 2025 season at Gainesway near Lexington for $75,000. Scottish Lassie , a daughter of McKinzie, won the July 19 Coaching Club American Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1) at Saratoga.

Video: Curlin S. Presented by Casamigos (BT)