Brown-Trained Trio Fine After Jenny Wiley Sweep
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Photo: Adrianna Lynch
Sistercharlie takes the Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland
Baldo Hernandez, assistant to Keeneland spring meet leading trainer Chad Brown, reported the stable's three horses who were first across the finish in the Coolmore Jenny Wiley (G1T) were fine the morning after the April 14 test.
Peter Brant's Sistercharlie won the 1 1/16-mile turf race by 2 1/4 lengths. Michael Dubb, Bethlehem Stables, and Gary Aisquith's Fourstar Crook finished second and was followed by Martin Schwartz's Off Limits a neck farther back in third.
Brown is believed to be the first trainer in Keeneland history to saddle the first three finishers in a stakes.
The Jenny Wiley victory also marked Brown's fourth stakes win of the meet. He needs one more stakes win to set the Keeneland record for the spring or fall meet. Ben Jones (1948) and Todd Pletcher (2011) each had four stakes wins in a spring meet; D. Wayne Lukas (1994 and 1995), Mark Casse (2016), and Graham Motion (2016) trained four stakes winners in the fall.
Sistercharlie, a 4-year-old daughter of Myboycharlie, had not raced since July 8 when she finished second to stablemate New Money Honey in the Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T). Brown runners took the top three spots in that race as well, with Uni in third.
Brant was rewarded with his second winner in as many days at Keeneland. He is a partner in the ownership of Pacific Wind, who won a one-mile allowance/optional claimer on dirt April 13 by 8 1/4 lengths. Brant owns the 4-year-old Curlin filly with Joe Ciaglia's Ciaglia Racing, Sharon Alesia, and Dominic Savides.
Sistercharlie was ridden by John Velazquez, who scored his 50th Keeneland stakes victory. Velazquez is sixth on the list of leading jockeys by stakes victories, led by Pat Day's 95.
Brown, who returned to his New York base following Saturday's race, also won the Jenny Wiley in 2015 with Ball Dancing. His other stakes wins during the 2018 spring meet are the Kentucky Utilities Transylvania (G3T) with Analyze It, Toyota Blue Grass (G2) with Good Magic, and Appalachian Stakes Presented by Japan Racing Association (G2T) with Rushing Fall.