Brown looks to continue Saturday’s success with Treaty of Rome in the $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes for 3-year-olds. The Davis is the only race in this weekend’s Kentucky Derby prep races offering Kentucky Derby qualifying points, with 20 going to the winner.
Owen Almighty. Coady Photo.
Brown’s Winstreak on Kentucky Derby Prep Races
We’ll see if Brown’s hot hand continues with the colt who missed by only a neck last month in the Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
It’s hard to take a stand against Brown at Tampa. He is winning here at a 41% clip, with 11 wins from only 27 starters. Even his horses that don’t win usually hit the board. He already has 21 in-the-money finishes.
Last Saturday, Brown won four races here, including a pair of stakes: the Tampa Bay (G3) with Running Bee and the Endeavor (G3) with Saffron Moon.
We told you he was hot!
Other Contenders on the Spot
Treaty of Rome has hit the board in all three starts, including a maiden victory at Aqueduct. He’s a stalker, a style that plays well on this track.
The favorite role likely goes to Poster, winner of the Remsen (G2) at Aqueduct in December, who makes his season debut for trainer Eoin Harty.
It’s hard to argue with success. Poster is a perfect 3-for-3, having started his career with a pair of commanding turf wins in Kentucky.
Poster, a Godolphin homebred, switched to the main track for the Remsen and prevailed by a nose.
The Remsen win stamped Poster as the class of the 10-horse field going a mile-and-a-sixteenth.
Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. is back aboard Owen Almighty, looking to make amends for the fiasco in Tampa’s Pasco Stakes last month. Ortiz guided the 1-2 favorite to a front-running score only to be disqualified and placed fifth for slamming into Rookie Card.
The foul earned Ortiz a three-day suspension.
In the revised Pasco order of finish, runner-up Naughty Rascal was awarded the win. He returns here in pursuit of consecutive stakes victories.
While Poster has the class and Owen Almighty deserved a better fate last time, we won’t jump in front of the Chad Brown freight train.
1 Camp Hale (Brian Hernandez, Jr., Ian Wilkes), 20-1
2 Treaty of Rome (Dylan Davis, Chad Brown), 6-1
3 John Hancock (Flavien Prat, Brad Cox), 3-1
4 Dr Ruben M (Junior Alvarado, Doug O’Neill), 12-1
5 Gateskeeper (David Cohen, S Jade Cunningham), 30-1
6 Owen Almighty (Irad Ortiz, Jr., Brian Lynch), 2-1
7 Poster (Antonio Gallardo, Eoin Harty), 4-1
8 Naughty Rascal (Edwin Gonzalez, Gerald Bennett), 6-1
9 Smoken Boy (Paco Lopez, Jose D’Angelo), 20-1
10 Very Bold (Jesus Castanon, Eoin Harty), 20-1
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.
