7 minute read
Returning to the source
Long known as a master of turf runners in the United States, Chad Brown will be back at Tattersalls this year trying to unearth another superstar. Michele MacDonald reports
he plan was simple and the purpose clear.T Chad Brown, a disciple of the late Bobby Frankel and America’s Eclipse Award winner as outstanding trainer for the last three seasons, made a decision to attend the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale for the elite Book 1 sessions for the first time in 2017.
Long known as a master of turf runners in the United States, Brown was looking for some well-bred youngsters with sterling pedigrees for grass racing, and he knew there was no better place to find what he was searching for on behalf of leading clients Klaravich Stables and White Birch Farm.
The results from that initial foray, and from his follow-up mission to the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in 2018, could not be much more extraordinary.
Among the six yearlings Brown helped select for Klaravich in 2017 was a bay Lope De Vega filly out of Gr.3 winner Sunday Times, by Holy Roman Emperor. Klaravich paid 200,00 guineas, well under the Book 1 average price of 293,095 gns that year, for the filly, who would become better known as the brilliant 2018 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf heroine, Newspaperofrecord.
Brown’s five other selections for Klaravich included Digital Age, a son of Invincible Spirit who has more than repaid his 325,000 gns purchase price by winning the Gr.2 American Turf Stakes on this year’s Kentucky Derby programme at Churchill Downs and finishing second in the $1 million Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on August 4.
To date, Digital Age has banked over $534,000. Two other promising runners were in that initial draft of six for Klaravich: Good Governance, a Kingman colt who won his debut at Saratoga on August 4 and Value Proposition, a son of Dansili who has won two of three outings through mid-August.
Those results have more than convinced Brown that a foray to the Tattersalls October Sale for Book 1 yearlings is a must to include on his annual schedule.
“It’s a sale we are relying on every year to add some prospects to our stable,” Brown reflected.
“It’s been a good experience when I’ve gone over there the last two years and bought some really nice horses,” he said. “I think Tattersalls does a great job of putting some really high-quality horses in Book 1, and I enjoy going over there.”
White Birch Farm also has benefited from the strategic missions, with Brown helping to select the superbly bred colt Demarchelier. The colt’s name apparently is a nod to French fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier, who has worked with former Victoria’s Secret model Stephanie Seymour, wife of White Birch owner, Peter Brant.
Digital Age
By Dubawi and produced by Loveisallyouneed, a Sadler’s Wells full-sister to Gr.1 winners Yesterday and Quarter Moon, Demarchelier won his first three starts for Brant and Brown, including the Gr.3 Pennine Ridge Stakes at Belmont Park on June 1.
“He’s a really top-quality colt,” Brown praised.
Unfortunately, Demarchelier took a bad step and was pulled up while exhibiting some lameness in the Gr.1 Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes in July.
Bred by Newsells Park Stud, Demarchelier was the highestpriced of the 12 yearlings Brown helped White Birch and Klaravich acquire at Tattersalls in 2017, selling for 425,000 gns. With his pedigree and obvious racing talent, Demarchelier certainly can be considered an eventual stallion prospect.
White Birch also races a winning graduate from Brown’s visit to the 2018 Tattersalls October Sale in Sketches Of Spain, a 400,000 gns purchase. By Lope De Vega and out of a halfsister to Fillies’ Mile and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Chriselliam, the bay filly won her debut on August 4 at Saratoga via a disqualification. Demarchelier
Brown’s initial plan in going to Tattersalls involved more than just seeking well-bred yearlings with turf pedigrees. More specifically, he said he wanted to find individuals who seemed to be candidates to run their best on the firm turf that is often encountered in America and who also could handle a distance of ground.
With the exception of juvenile events, most of America’s most prestigious and valuable turf races are at middle distances, with purses increasing over the last several years with the addition of events such as the $5.25 million Turf Triple Series for three-year-old fillies and colts offered by the New York Racing Association.
Brown gave credit to Irish-born bloodstock agent Mike Ryan—who co-bred 2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming and who bought that year’s Brown-trained Preakness Stakes winner, Cloud Computing, for $200,000 on behalf of Klaravich and William H. Lawrence—for helping him select the Tattersalls purchases.
Under their working arrangement, Ryan has arrived at Tattersalls first and scouted through the yearlings on offer, and then Brown has flown in, gone over Ryan’s short list and made final recommendations.
“We work well together and he’s a big reason why we have been able to strike at a high rate at Tattersalls,” Brown said of Ryan. “And I just think overall that there are high-quality horses in Book 1 there.”
Both Klaravich, which is operated by billionaire investor and hedge fund manager Seth Klarman, and White Birch, the stable of art collector and businessman Brant, went to Tattersalls with a set plan. Each bought six yearlings in 2017, with Klaravich spending 1.315 million gns and White Birth spending 1.865 million gns.
As Brown recalled after Newspaperofrecord’s wire-to-wire Breeders’ Cup tour de force, he suggested to the owners that they try to tap the Tattersalls market and they agreed.
“Some of these European-bred horses I feel, on average, just have better blood for running on turf and at a high level all over the world,” Brown said at the time, adding that he told Klarman: ’We’re going to have to go in and buy some. He said, ’Sure, we’ll go over there and try it.’
“Seth has given me an unbelievable amount of trust to really make the final call when we acquire horses or sell horses,” Brown added.
Klarman exclaimed after the Breeders’ Cup victory that “I think (Newspaperofrecord) is our most spectacular horse,” even surpassing Cloud Computing. “We’ve never had somebody that emerged so quickly in her career, showed so much promise, and fulfilled it,” Klarman elaborated.
So far this year, Newspaperofrecord has placed twice in Graded Stakes but has shown a tendency to be rank, which has hindered her ability to finish strongly. Yet altogether she has been able to earn a career total of $795,750 for Klaravich through mid-August.
While it is too early to assess the yearlings purchased at Tattersalls in 2018, it is notable that Klaravich opted to increase spending after the first successful season. In 2018, Klaravich purchased ten yearlings for a total of 2.135 million gns, including colts by Golden Horn, Kingman and Lope De Vega and fillies by Sea The Stars, Gleneagles, Lope De Vega and Invincible Spirit.
The most expensive of Klaravich’s 2018 purchases at Tattersalls is an Australia filly out of a half-sister to Gr.1 winner Sarah Lynx that cost 325,000 gns. That filly has been named Counterparty Risk and was training with Brown in Saratoga this summer.
For his part, Brant kept his White Birch purchases at about the same level at Tattersalls in 2018, acquiring six yearlings for 1.87 million gns topped by a Kingman colt out of the winning Montjeu mare Smart Step for 500,000 gns. Bred by Lofts Hall Stud and Ben Sangster, that colt was named St Joe Louis and was working at the Stonestreet Training Center in Florida prior to joining Brown.
Meanwhile, in looking to the future, Brown is anticipating additional racing dividends from the Tattersalls purchases as well as more trips to Newmarket to find young stars for the coming seasons.
“The prospects we’ve gotten out of Tattersalls have really been a nice addition to our stable,” Brown said. “It’s a great sale and I’m looking forward to going back.”
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