Chad Brown has won the last four renewals of Belmont's GI Longines Just a Game S. and has four chances to take him home his fifth Saturday. Leading the quartet is last out GII Churchill Distaff Turf Mile heroine Blowout (GB) (Dansili {GB}). Prior to that victory, the bay missed by a neck in to Sweet Bye and Bye (Sky Mesa) in a Saratoga optional claimer last August and came up a neck short again in Belmont's GIII Noble Damsel S. in Septemer. She was defeated by a nose in Del Mar's GI Matriarch S. Nov. 29 and returned to winning ways May 1 at Churchill.
“Flavien [Prat] really gets along with her well,” Brown said. “We saw that in the Matriarch. He has great hands and she can be difficult, but he really gets along with her and timed it right. She likes this track very much. She ran one of the best races I've ever had a horse run in defeat that day [in the Noble Damsel], when she got away from Johnny [Velazquez] and went :44 and kept going. I don't know how she was still there at the end. If she can settle at all, she has a good closing kick. She has run well on good ground in the past, but I prefer for it to be firm.”
While Blowout is most comfortable on the front end, her barnmate Tamahere (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) prefers to come from behind. Rallying to victory in this venue's GII Sands Point S. in October, the bay was sixth in the Matriarch and second last out in Keeneland's GI Jenny Wiley S. over a yielding course Apr. 10.
“This filly would be no shock to win this race, either,” Brown said. “She's going to really appreciate the cut back to a mile and she loves Belmont. She's been training very well and is a legitimate contender here.”
Juddmonte homebred Pocket Square (GB) (Night of Thunder {Ire}) is already a Group 3 winner in France and seeks her second win on these shores after taking a Keeneland allowance Apr. 7.
Rounding out the Brown contingent is Regal Glory (Animal Kingdom), who scratched out of Thursday's GIII Intercontinental S. in favor of this spot. She enters off victories in the GIII Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf S. in September and Aqueduct's Apr. 11 Plenty of Grace S.
The biggest threat to the Brown crew is likely to come from the Charlie Appleby-trained Godolphin duo of Summer Romance (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) and Althiqa (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}). Winner of the G3 Princess Elizabeth S. at Epsom in July, Summer Romance was off the board in both the Aug. 1 G1 Prix Rothschild and the Jan. 28 G2 Cape Verdi S., which was won by the aforementioned Althiqa. Summer Romance enters off a victory in the G2 Balanchine S. at Meydan Feb. 18, in which her traveling companion finished third.
“They all traveled over well and have trained well since they've been there,” Charlie Appleby said. “There's been a little rain and the track's very wet this weekend. The fillies are fit and well and have plenty of experience under their belt. The reason we went to America is they carry Group 2 penalties here in Europe for the forthcoming season and the Group 1 older fillies races aren't until later in the year, anyway, so we thought it might be a good opportunity to get a Grade I.”
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
