Chad Brown wins sixth straight Saratoga training title, Manny Franco wins first Spa riding title
Five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown earned his sixth consecutive training title and ninth overall at Saratoga Race Course for the 45-day meeting that ran from July 3 through September 7.
Brown, a 47-year-old native of nearby Mechanicville, N.Y., posted 42 wins to earn his 37th training title on The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) circuit. He posted a record of 225-42-46-39 and earnings of $6,225,783 at the meet, good for a win rate of 18.67 percent and in-the-money percentage of 56.44.
“It’s very rewarding,” Brown said. “I just want to thank my team, they do most of the work, and all the jockeys that rode under tremendous pressure. This is the hardest race meet to ride at and they really came through for me. The horses and the clients that own them – you have to have the horses and I have a really talented, deep group of horses and loyal clients that give them to us, so you have to have all those things in place. I’m really just the conductor trying to direct traffic really.”
Brown said his local roots make each summer at Saratoga that much more special.
“It’s meaningful – we always aim for this meet every year and it’s tough and very challenging. Many of the top horsemen and women in the country and a lot of the top horses and connections [compete here], it’s high-pressure racing,” Brown said. “I think NYRA did a great job to have safe racing surfaces… You’re always dealing with weather up here and they did a great job navigating through that.
“Everything moved really smoothly, and I thought this meet there was always new stuff that’s going on and the content they’re putting out there for the meet was improved and modernized and really thorough, and that was a great touch as we continue to improve our product here at Saratoga,” he added. “Everyone really came through and did a good job and I’m just happy to be a part of it.”
Brown won nine stakes races at the meet, led by four Grade 1 conquests with Fully Subscribed in the Personal Ensign, Ways and Means in the Resorts World Casino Ballerina, My Gun’s Loaded in the Alabama presented by Keeneland Sales and Kathynmarissa in the Dunkin’ Diana to provide him with a record-extending 11th win in the nine-furlong turf affair for older fillies and mares.
Brown’s other stakes wins came in the Grade 2 Lake Placid [Naomis], Grade 2 Shuvee [Fully Subscribed], Grade 3 Kelso [Zulu Kingdom], restricted Listed Curlin presented by Casamigos [Sea Strike] and West Point presented by Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital [Spirit of St Louis].
“The Alabama [was special], I had my family here and it was a horse that’s three-for-three for us,” Brown said. “Of course, Ways and Means has meant so much to us – she’s closing out her career soon and it was a really great win. We had the Personal Ensign and the Diana, a couple of those Grade 1 wins that were special in their own right, and a lot of exciting 2-year-olds that debuted and won.”
Linda Rice finished second with 40 wins and Brad Cox took third with 23 wins.
Manny Franco was the leading rider at Saratoga for the first time in his career with 73 wins, adding to 18 other titles on this circuit and four year-end honors as the top rider at NYRA, a title he is on pace to claim again as he currently holds a 65-win lead [214 wins] on the year over Flavien Prat.
“It feels unreal – I’m still in the sky,” said Franco, who is represented by agent John Panagot. “I work hard every day here and when you work hard, you see the result. We’ve been having a lot of good chances, good horses, and I’m always trying to get the most out of these opportunities.”
The record for wins by a jockey at a 40-day Saratoga summer is 68, a feat accomplished by Hall of Famer Ramon Dominguez in 2012. Franco completed this meet with 73 wins having competed on 44 of the 45 cards during a summer meet that was expanded to allow for the construction of a new Belmont Park.
The 31-year-old native of Carolina, Puerto Rico posted a meet record of 370-73-49-59 and total purse earnings of $8,460,130, good for a win rate of 19.73 percent and in-the-money percentage of 48.92. The year-end leading rider at NYRA in 2018-19, 2023 and 2025 has won every NYRA meet this year, adding to his success at the Aqueduct winter [65 wins] and spring meets [22 wins], as well as the Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet [53 wins].
“I win at Aqueduct and Belmont, so this one definitely means a lot,” said Franco. “This is the one I wanted to have the most, and here we are.”
The highlight of Franco’s summer was a gutsy victory atop the Brad Cox-trained Leading Change in the Grade 1, $1.25 million DraftKings Travers on August 29, keeping the colt undefeated through three starts. Cox and Franco also enjoyed a collaborative victory in the Grade 1 Spendthrift Farm Hopeful with The Good Life.
Franco’s other top scores came with the Brown-trained My Gun’s Loaded in the Alabama, and with Survie to beat the boys in the Christophe Clement Turf. In addition, Franco won the Grade 2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame [Bottas], Grade 3 Prioress [Mashallah], Listed Harvey Pack [Twenty Six Black], Listed Galway [Cadenza], Johnstone [Munnings Express], West Point [Spirit of St Louis] and Yaddo [Midnight Concerto].
“These horses – The Good Life, Survie, My Gun’s Loaded, man it’s amazing,” Franco said. “All of them count. I’m just happy to get all those opportunities.”
Beyond his stakes victories, Franco also equaled the Saratoga single-day win record for a jockey with six wins on Friday, August 7 that were topped by his Grade 2 Hall of Fame score with Bottas.
Flavien Prat finished second with 67 wins, with Jose Ortiz landing third with 66 wins.
Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables earned their 32nd owners’ title at a NYRA meeting, and eighth at the Spa. Each of their 17 wins came with horses trained by Brown.
“Seth Klarman is a huge supporter of ours, and for him to have another owners’ title is really rewarding,” Brown said of his longtime client. “He really wants to have top horses, and that’s the main focus, but in the process, he’s won a lot of races and he participates here at NYRA at all different levels. He loves racing in New York and it’s his primary focus, and he’s a wonderful partner with NYRA as one of their biggest owners over the last decade or more.”
Among Klaravich Stables’ victories were graded coups with Fully Subscribed in the Personal Ensign and Shuvee, and Ways and Means in the Ballerina. Klaravich also campaigns the promising New York-bred juvenile filly Cash Burn, a 13 1/2-length winner of her debut on August 20.
Klaravich Stables posted an overall record of 80-17-17-13 with $2,413,276 in purse earnings.
Linda Rice was second with 15 wins and Michael Dubb finished third with 10 wins.
Live racing will resume on Friday, September 18 as racing returns to Belmont Park for a card headlined by the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup, a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic in October at Keeneland.
To help unveil the new Belmont Park to a national audience on September 18, FOX will present live coverage of the Jockey Club Gold Cup as part of its Belmont Park: Return to Racing telecast to air from 3-4:30 p.m. Eastern. For the complete broadcast schedule, please visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule/.
For additional information on the new Belmont Park, please visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/.
NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Belmont Park, and the best way to bet every race of the fall meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.
