In Return, Owner Brant Again Proving up to Challenge

After a long absence from horse racing, owner Peter Brant is enjoying another dream season.

Brant appears to be in line for his first Breeders' Cup starter since 1991 after Fog of War delivered a three-quarter length victory in the $197,451 Summer Stakes (G1T) Sept. 16 at Woodbine.

That win gives Brant a pair of Breeders' Cup Challenge winners as Fog of War punched his ticket to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) about one month after three-time grade 1 winner Sistercharlie secured a fees-paid slot in the Maker's Mark Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) with her Aug. 11 score in the Beverly D. Stakes (G1T) at Arlington International Racecourse.

Brant would be making his first Breeders' Cup start since 1991 when Anh Duong finished eighth in the Juvenile Fillies (G1). In 1988 Brant's homebred Gulch won the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) at Churchill Downs. That victory in Gulch's final start marked his third Breeders' Cup race after finishing off the board in the 1986 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) and 1987 Sprint.

Talking with Woodbine publicity after Fog of War successfully stretched out from a 5 1/2-furlong victory in his maiden debut Aug. 13 on the Saratoga Race Course turf to the one-mile Summer for champion trainer Chad Brown, Brant said it was exciting to see the 2-year-old War Front  colt prove he was up to the new distance challenge.

"You always hope, and this is a game of great hopes and that's what keeps us all in," Brant said.

Brant has seen those hopes pan out many times before in horse racing. When Sistercharlie won this year's Diana Stakes (G1T) at Saratoga it marked his third victory in the race after winning with Just A Game in 1980 and Waya in 1978. In 1979 Waya was named champion older female and in 1980 Just A Game was honored as champion grass mare. Brant is the breeder of 1995 Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Thunder Gulch, a son of Gulch.

This year, Sistercharlie figures to be one of the favorites in the Filly & Mare Turf. Other top Brant runners of 2018 include grade 2 winners Quidura and Raging Bull. Those two and Sistercharlie were landed through private purchases after starting their race careers in Europe, while Fog of War was purchased for $400,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. All four are trained by Brown.

After the Summer Stakes, Brant noted that Fog of War possesses exceptional conformation.

"Chad Brown and I looked at this horse and we just liked the way he was made," said Brant of purchasing the colt bred in Kentucky by Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt.