Trainer Chad Brown has made an artform out taking turf distaffers who began their careers overseas and bringing their form to the next level under his program.
Having saddled the winners of the last five editions of the $100,000 Sweetest Chant Stakes (G3T), Brown will look to add to his race-specific dominance when he leads over 9-5 morning line favorite Rymska against eight others in the turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Gulfstream Park Feb. 4.
Formerly campaigned in France, where she won two of three starts, including a listed stakes, Rymska arrived in the United States in the fall of 2016 to run in the Miss Grillo Stakes (G3T) at Belmont Park Oct. 2. After finishing second in that spot for her former trainer, Pia Brandt, the daughter of Le Havre remained in New York and was moved to Brown's barn.
Her original owner, Alain Jathiere, sold partial interest in her to U.S.-based partners, Sheep Pond Partners, Tom Coleman, and Norton Herrick, and the filly was pointed to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T), where she finished fifth beaten 3 1/4 lengths by stablemate New Money Honey.
"She was training particularly well going into the Breeders' Cup and didn't run bad at all," said Brown, who last month won his first Eclipse Award for outstanding trainer. "Now that I've had the opportunity to have her in our program a little longer, I see a horse that has improved as she has turned 3. She has been able to adapt to our system and we've gotten to know her better. I expect a good race from her."
Rymska, who Brown said has been training "very forwardly in the mornings," drew post 7 and will be ridden for the first time by Joel Rosario.
Brown has also entered Ramona Bass' Okinawa, a maiden winner who won her third start by wiring the field in a mile turf race at Gulfstream Dec. 17.
Glenn Hill Farm's homebred Compelled was a runaway winner of the Juvenile Filly Turf Stakes for Florida-breds at Gulfstream Park West in November and stands as the 5-2 second choice on the morning line. Unraced since then, the War Front filly has had a steady workout regime at Tampa Bay Downs for trainer Tom Proctor.
New York-bred Fifty Five is making her stakes debut in the one-mile Sweetest Chant and enters the race off of back-to-back victories for trainer Tom Bush and her owners and breeders, John and Sandy Crowe of Empire Equines.
Fifty Five is a daughter of the Bush-trained multiple grade 1 winner Get Stormy , and Bush also conditioned Fifty Five's dam, the stakes-placed Soave.
The late-developing Fifty Five broke her maiden in her second start while competing against state-breds at Aqueduct Racetrack in November. She returned to capture a first-level allowance/optional claimer at Gulfstream Dec. 31, when she won the 1 1/16-mile race by a half-length over fellow Sweetest Chant entrant Tamit, a recent workmate of champion turf female Tepin.
In both of her wins, Fifty Five trailed the field early and turned on the burners in the stretch to overpower her competition.
"She's had her share of trouble in her races, but when you're on the turf and you come from as far back as what she seems to like, she will probably find trouble on a regular basis," Bush said. "Gulfstream normally isn't kind to closers, that's for sure, but she was able to do that in the allowance race. I think (Tamit), who finished second, has a legitimate reputation."
Gulfstream Park, Saturday, February 04, 2017, Race 11Entries: Sweetest Chant S. (G3T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Okinawa (KY) Javier Castellano 114 Chad C. Brown 6/1 2 2Tamit (IRE) Julien R. Leparoux 114 Mark E. Casse 5/1 3 3Compelled (FL) Jose Lezcano 118 Thomas F. Proctor 5/2 4 4Mo Justice (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 114 Christophe Clement 10/1 5 5A Great Time (MD) Emisael Jaramillo 114 Michael J. Trombetta 20/1 6 6Just Sassy (FL) Jorge Ruiz 114 David R. Brownlee 50/1 7 7Rymska (FR) Joel Rosario 118 Chad C. Brown 9/5 8 8Bahama Halo (KY) Luis Saez 114 Todd A. Pletcher 12/1 9 9Fifty Five (NY) Nik Juarez 114 Thomas M. Bush 10/1
