More Than Ready nears 200 stakes wins

More Than Ready filly Pianist is on the wish-list of Breeders’ Cup hopefuls being prepared by Saratoga based trainer Chad Brown.

Brown is building up a strong team for the Santa Anita championships in November and Pianist could be a late inclusion after winning the LR Given Stakes (1600m) by five lengths at Belmont on Thursday.

Pianist (3f More Than Ready – Red Piano by Red Ransom) became the 104th stakes winner for Vinery champion More Than Ready and they have won a total of 199 black-type races.

Pianist was part of a winning double for Brown in New York.  His undefeated mare Awesome Feather (Awesome Of Course) returned from a long lay-off to nail the LR Nasty Storm Stakes by 11 lengths.  She is being prepped for the Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic.

Earlier in the week, their new stablemate Samitar (Rock Of Gibraltar) claimed the G1 Garden City Stakes at Belmont.  She had won the Irish 1000 Guineas before transferring to Brown’s barn.  Connections will set her for the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Keeneland on October 13 before making plans for the Breeders’ Cup.

Brown’s two year-old team is headed by Balance the Books (Lemon Drop Kid).  He won the G2 With Anticipation Stakes during the Saratoga summer season and is a likely candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

The stable’s three year-old division was headed by Street Sense colt Street Life.  He won the Broad Brush Stakes at Aqueduct and the Curlin Stakes at Saratoga but he was retired after sustaining a severe leg injury in the G1 Travers Stakes in August.

Brown, 34, worked as an assistant to Bobby Frankel for six years before branching out on his own in 2007.  Within a year, he was celebrating a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf victory at Santa Anita with Maram (Sahm).

He bought Pianist for $100,000 at the 2010 Keeneland September yearling sale.  The chestnut filly is raced by Dan Zucker and Hidden Brook Farm partner Jack Brothers.  She is closely related to Irish 2000 Guineas winner Prince Of Birds (Storm Bird) who shuttled to Australia in the 1990s.

More Than Ready created history at the 2010 Breeders’ Cup when he sired Pluck and More Than Real to win both divisions of the BC Juvenile at Churchill Downs.

Meanwhile, Vinery shuttler Congrats received a Breeders’ Cup setback when his top-class fillies Turbulent Descent and Emma’s Encore were unplaced in the G2 Gallant Bloom Hcp (1300m) at Belmont Park on Saturday.

– Karl Patterson