For those who bet horse racing, it’s always worth a wager on a Chad Brown-trainee turf runner offering good value at Saratoga.
And it paid off Saturday in the 1 1/16-mile, $200,000 Lake Placid Stakes (G2) on the inner turf – 7-1 longshot Grayosh outdueled 3-4 favorite She Feels Pretty by a neck in a thrilling stretch run.
Grayosh returned $17.60 on a $2 win, almost double the win payoff of a Brown winner at the Spa this summer.
The Lake Placid was the undercard feature prior to the $600,000 Alabama Stakes (G3), won by Power Squeeze ($14.80).
Brown, who also sent out Dynamic Pricing (third) and Spaliday (fourth) in the field of eight, won the Lake Placid for the fourth year in a row -- and the sixth time in the past eight years.
With just a maiden win from five previous starts, the gray daughter of Yoshida was given a perfect ground saving trip by Flavien Prat out of post 2.
Ori, at 39-1 the longest shot in the field, took the lead from the start under Kendrick Carmouche, and still had the lead with a furlong to go. I Feel Pretty, under John Velazquez, made what looked like a winning move on the outside, but Grayosh moved between horses and held on for the win.
“He [Flavien] took advantage of a good post and he’s a good judge of pace, even when the leader had a lengthy advantage on the backside,’’ Brown said. “I was thinking maybe he should be a little closer and get the jump on She Feels Pretty, but he had it timed right. He rated her and took advantage of the good post. That was the difference.”
Winning time was 1:43.74 over a turf course listed as good.
Dynamic Pricing was third, followed by Spaliday, Ori, Beautiful Love, Gala, and De Regreso.
Deep Satin, Les Reys, Proctor Street were scratched.
“The trip was great. We had a great draw, and we took full advantage of it,’’ Prat said. “She split those horses well. She was brave enough to go up the rail and between horses and she fought all the way through to the finish.”
She Feel Pretty, trained by Cherie DeVaux, came into the race off a third-place finish in the Belmont Oaks (G1) on July 6, just a length behind the winner, Cinderella’s Dream.
“She ran great again, but she also did like she did in her last race and kind of waits on her company,’’ DeVaux said. “So, we may try to experiment with some blinkers and see if that helps her get out of that habit.”
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
