Francesca Le Donne Photo

Gronkowski impresses Brown in final work before G1 Belmont Stakes

by NYRA Press Office

Chad Brown interview on Gronkowski

Gronkowksi work at Belmont 6.2.18

Phoenix Thoroughbred Limited’s Gronkowski put in his final workout before the 150th running of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets, breezing five furlongs in 1:01.87 on Saturday morning at Belmont Park’s main track.

It was the Chad Brown trainee’s second work since arriving at Belmont, having breezed four furlongs in 47.99 seconds last Saturday. Jockey Jose Ortiz, who will have the call on Gronkowski in the Belmont Stakes, was up again.

Gronkowski worked in company with Engage, who is targeting the Grade 2, $400,000 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun on Belmont Stakes Day, June 9.

“It went well, galloped out a good three-quarters and I was real happy with it,” Brown said of Gronkowski. “This horse hasn’t put a foot wrong since he’s arrived. He’s a real classy horse and came to me in outstanding condition.”

Gronkowski will be making his first North American start after going 4-1-0 in six career races in Great Britain. The son of the Australian-bred Lonhro, who won 11 Group 1 races from 2001-04, will be stretching out to the Belmont Stakes’ famed 1 ½-mile distance after winning four consecutive races at one mile.

“Based on his two workouts, he’s made to go a mile and a half on the dirt to me,” said Brown, who took over training duties from Jeremy Noseda last month. “In a perfect world, I wish I had him longer and had a better handle on the horse, but it is what it is and I’m fortunate to be in this position to go there with a chance to win.”

Gronkowski had been scheduled to work Friday morning before a driving rainstorm led Brown to move the work, which was held Saturday in the sunshine with temperatures in the high 70s.

“I was ready to breeze him yesterday, but then the rain came, but it worked out,” Brown said. “Today was always the day I preferred to work him anyway.”

Ortiz will be going for his second consecutive Belmont Stakes win after piloting Tapwrit to the winner’s circle in the “Test of the Champion” last year. Brown said he again received positive feedback from his rider, who will be looking to become the first jockey to win consecutive Belmont Stakes since Laffit Pincay, Jr. won three straight from 1982-84.

“He likes the horse and was as impressed with him as I was, and he felt the longer, the better for him,” Brown said.

Gronkowski’s last race was a 1 1/4-length score on March 30 at Newscastle. After changing owners, and continents, the namesake of Patriots All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski is working on an accelerated timeline going into a high-profile race in which he attempts to thwart Justify’s bid for the 13th Triple Crown in history.

“I had the opportunity to train him a couple of weeks before I worked him. I could have squeezed three breezes in, but I just didn’t feel the horse was completely acclimated over here yet, so I went with caution and did two works,” Brown said. “I wanted to make sure he was ready to work, and he was. Based on what I see, he looks pretty fit. There’s some unknowns – he did miss some time – and coming off a layoff going a mile-and-a-half, that’s about as tough of a task as you can ask a horse to do. But he’s a high-quality horse, so maybe he’s good enough to do it.”

Pletcher probables picture perfect for Belmont Stakes Racing Festival

Trainer Todd Pletcher reported Saturday morning that his cadre of contenders for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival came back from their breezes the previous morning in fine fettle.

“I thought everyone came back well,” said Pletcher. “I was pleased with the morning we had, and everyone seems to be on course for what they are on course for.”

Pletcher added that Let’s Go Stable and Richard Schibell’s Outshine (a half-mile in 49.87 seconds) will likely be joined in Friday’s $150,000 Tremont for 2-year-olds by Repole Stable’s Social Fan and Starlight Racing’s Sombeyay.

Also working Friday were Pletcher’s two contenders for the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets, Noble Indy (5f in 1:01.22) and Vino Rosso (1:01.55). Going out as well were Grade 2, $400,000 Brooklyn Invitational candidates Hard Study and Outplay, who breezed a half-mile in 48.69; Grade 1, $750,000 Ogden Phipps hopefuls Ivy Bell (49.11) and Unbridled Mo (49.09); Grade 2 Jaipur Invitational candidate Blind Ambition (48.89), and Hi Happy in 48.89 for the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Manhattan.

Hi Happy, a 6-year-old Argentine-bred son of Pure Prize out of the French Deputy mare Historia, was a multiple Group 1 winner in his native country who arrived in Pletcher’s barn over the winter. He was third in his first North American start, the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf, and next came from just off the pace to take the Grade 2 Pan American, also at Gulfstream Park. Sent off the favorite in the Grade 1 Man o’ War on May 12, he came wide to win by a half-length.

“He’s a horse that performs well, very straightforward and easy to train,” said Pletcher, noting he saw several parallels with another import, Bribon, with whom he won the Grade 3 Bold Ruler and Grade 2 True North in 2010.

“Bribon was a very cool horse,” said Pletcher of the French-bred, who he trained as a 7-year-old for Derrick Smith. “When you are fortunate enough to get the opportunity to train a ready-made horse, and don’t have to go through the process of them learning how to run and all of those things, it makes your job so easy. You just try to keep them sound and healthy and point them in the right direction.”

Pletcher said he did not know how Hi Happy, who is owned and was bred by La Providencia LLC, got his name.

“He is a very, very professional, straightforward model citizen,” he said. “I wouldn’t call him overly joyful on a daily basis, but he makes me happy.”

Romans hoping Free Drop Billy better than a show horse

With Albaugh Family Stables’ Free Drop Billy, trainer Dale Romans hopes to improve on a very respectable record in the Belmont Stakes, in which he has four third-place finishes out of nine starts.

Romans, now Churchill Downs’ all-time winningest trainer after clipping Hall of Famer Bill Mott last fall, was third in his 2005 Belmont debut with the maiden Nolan’s Cat. He was third again in his second attempt, with First Dude in 2010. Medal Count was third in 2014 and Keen Ice the show horse in 2015, though he subsequently took Saratoga’s Travers over Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.

“Nolan’s Cat was a thrill, for a lot of reasons,” said Romans, who trained Nolan’s Cat’s sire, turf champion Kitten’s Joy for Ken Ramsey. “Ken owned the sire, owned the mare, owned the babies. So when the water rose, all the boats rose. That was pretty exciting stuff. This is a side story, but my mother loves [NBC broadcaster] Tom Hammond because when I had the maiden in there, everybody was kind of knocking me. When Nolan’s Cat was third, Tom said, ‘I guess they’ll stop doubting him now.’ Ever since then my mother has been in love with Tom Hammond.

“Keen Ice, that was exciting just to be a part of the Triple Crown. When they show American Pharoah’s form, they’re going to show a lot of Keen Ice behind him and one in front of him.”

Romans said he never felt his third-place finisher was better than the horse that won the Belmont that year.

“I thought we had what we had coming, and be happy with the thirds,” he said. “Well, I was never happy with it. After you run third, you think, ‘Man, I was so close.’ Going into it, sometimes you say, ‘I’d take third.’ But not with this horse. This horse is a Grade 1 winner. We need to win a race.”

Free Drop Billy won last fall’s Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland. He had a second and two thirds in three starts this year before his 16th-place Kentucky Derby finish. Robby Albarado has the Belmont mount.

Free Drop Billy had a controlled gallop under Juan Segundo. He is scheduled to work Sunday morning at Churchill Downs’ 7:30 time slot for Belmont horses.

Mind Your Biscuits ready to take center stage in G1 Met Mile

Though Justify will deservedly take top billing next Saturday, it's possible the main attraction on a loaded Belmont Stakes Day undercard could be the New York-bred Mind Your Biscuits in the Grade 1, $1.2 million Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap. The 5-year-old son of Posse is fresh off a second dazzling victory in the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen, and could be in the best form of his life, according to his trainer Chad Summers.

“I think this year he's bigger, faster, and stronger, as you're supposed to be [at 5],” said Summers. “A horse's 5-year-old year is supposed to be the best year of a horse's life; that's when they're at their peak. Everything he shows us is that he's at his peak.”

After beginning his career in the New York-bred ranks, Mind Your Biscuits has made a steady ascent to the top of the sprint division. He began to blossom late in his sophomore campaign, finishing a fast-closing third in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint before winning the Grade 1 Malibu, and continued his upward trajectory last year, including a three-length tour de force in the Golden Shaheen that stamped him as a world class runner.

Though he disappointed in the latter half of 2017 and finished second in his 2018 bow as the odds-on favorite, Summers confidence never wavered. The chestnut horse was shipped halfway around the world to Dubai for the second straight year, and he rewarded his trainer's confidence with a breathtaking performance. On a day when speed and the rail made for an unbeatable combination at Meydan, Mind Your Biscuits was wide throughout and came from the clouds to best a star-studded field.

“We were planning on going back all year,” said Summers. “I watched the races [at Meydan] over the winter and all speed horses were winning. You trust in your horse and you trust in your team and [jockey] Joel [Rosario] knows the horse very well. We were hopeful, but to say that we weren't nervous running against horses of the caliber of X Y Jet and Roy H would be a lie. I'll be honest, I didn't think we were going to win 200 meters out, 100 meters out, 50 meters out. I thought maybe we had a shot at getting second, but he just has this will and this desire to win.”

If Mind Your Biscuits does prevail on Saturday, just two months and change since his Golden Shaheen triumph, it will be no easy feat. The struggles of getting a horse to ship back to the U.S. from Dubai and put forth an 'A' effort first out are well documented, but Summers, by his own account, has benefited tremendously from being in this same position last year.

“Last year [Mind Your Biscuits] came back and he lost about 100 pounds,” said the trainer. “We changed things up this year. We were able to stay an extra week in Dubai, and when he came back to the farm at Fair Hill, he had lost maybe 10 pounds, so it was completely different. We had no chance to make the Met Mile last year. This year this has been the plan since November. Everyone's going to be coming here for Justify, but we plan on putting on a show.”