It all started with Maram.
Back in 2008, training on his own for about a year, 30-year-old Chad Brown saddled the dark bay daughter of Sahm to prevail in a desperate three-way battle to the wire and win the Miss Grillo Stakes by a neck.
The Miss Grillo, then a Grade 3, was not only Brown’s first stakes win but his first in a graded stakes, and the victory sent the young trainer and the filly to the inaugural running of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1). The race may have only been a listed one at the time, but it carried a purse of $1 million and Maram’s triumph was just the first of Brown’s 18 Breeders’ Cup victories (which include a record six in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf).
Chad Brown. NYRA Photo.
Chad Brown will saddle a trio in the Miss Grillo
Five of those wins came via the Miss Grillo Stakes, and on Sunday, Brown will have three chances to add yet another victory in the 1 1/16-mile turf race at Aqueduct with the trio of Virgin Colada, Lavender Disaster and Marvelous Madison.
The $200,000 Miss Grillo Stakes (G3), a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) at Del Mar, is one of three graded stakes for fillies and mares on Sunday along with the $250,000 Beldame (G2) and the $175,000 Matron (G3).
The Miss Grillo was originally scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 29 with an overflow field of 13 but was rescheduled due to significant rainfall.
Virgin Colada, who carries the colors of Resolute Racing, is 1-1-0 in her brief career, having broken her maiden going 1 1/16 miles on July 21 at Saratoga. She is the 7-2 favorite.
Peter Brant’s Lavender Disaster Heads to Miss Grillo After Impressive Maiden Win
Under Flavien Prat, she was reserved early on before swinging wide at the top of the stretch to rally from ninth and hit the wire a half-length in front of pacesetter Running Away.
Sent off as the 4-5 favorite five weeks later in the P.G. Johnson, Virgin Colada again rallied from mid-pack but came up a half-length short of Totally Justified at the wire.
“There was no pace in the race, and she was really compromised by it,” Brown said. “She came with a nice run, and I think with more pace in the race she’ll run her best. She seems to be doing everything right and is primed for her third start, which should be her best.”
Peter Brant’s Lavender Disaster (9-2) enters off a maiden win on Sept. 15 at the Big A, where she found her way clear 220 yards from the wire to win by three-quarters of a length over stablemate Competitive Market. Completing the Brown trifecta is the New York-bred Marvelous Madison (10-1), who graduated sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs against fellow state-breds on Sept. 1 at the Spa.
Among the nine others lining up in the Miss Grillo is the Mark Casse-trained Shifty, a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro who led from gate to wire in the Catch a Glimpse on Aug. 23 at Woodbine. Casse also will saddle She’s Got Will, a maiden winner at first asking on Aug. 15 at Saratoga who subsequently was third in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies on Sept. 8.
Rounding out the field are Daisy Flyer, Salt, Grace and Grit, Rare Art, Scythian, Annie Goodbody, and Correto.