Belmont-at-Saratoga Win Now a Possible Dream for Brown

When Chad Brown started training in 2007, he, like anyone else, had a list of hopes and ambitions. Winning the Belmont Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course was not one of them. "I never would have imagined it," Brown said. Some 18 years ago, the thought of holding the final jewel in the Triple Crown at the Spa would have been laughable or dismissed as another Internet hoax. But once the New York Racing Association decided to rebuild Belmont Park, it happened for the first time last year, and Year Two of Belmont Week at the Spa starts June 4. For Brown, who grew up a short drive from Saratoga in Mechanicville, N.Y., it adds even more significance to a storied American Classic. "This is a rare piece of history," Brown said. "For me, to have my kids, my parents, my friends, here at Saratoga, it will be so special to win the Belmont here." Brown will take a second swing at a Belmont-at-the-Spa win June 7 when he sends out Amo Racing USA's Hill Road, a son of Quality Road who was third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) a year ago and is coming off a win in the Peter Pan Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack. At a morning-line price of 10-1 in a field that includes Sovereignty (2-1), Journalism (8-5), and Baeza (4-1), who were 1-2-3 in the Kentucky Derby (G1), he's a much different possibility than Brown's starter in the initial Belmont at the Spa. Sierra Leone was the favorite in the 2024 Belmont Stakes and he closed for third for Brown on a speed-favoring track, incurring a loss that still stings the five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer. "There are only going to be three Belmonts in the history of Saratoga," Brown said, referring to the common belief that Belmont Park will not be fully operational next spring and the race will return to the Spa in 2026, "and I had the favorite in the first one and couldn't get it done. It was a close race, and he ran very well, but he just couldn't get there. That was one of my biggest disappointments since this is my hometown. If we can somehow pull this off this year, it would be a very nice consolation prize for last year." A winner of two of five starts with $336,496 in earnings, Hill Road was bred by Lynch Bages and Camas Park Stud out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Exotic Notion. Bought for $350,000 from the Paramount Sales consignment at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, he certainly looked like he will relish the mile-and-a-quarter distance of the Belmont when he closed from eighth and powered to a three-quarters-of-a-length win in the mile-and-an-eighth Peter Pan. Prior to that, he was third in the March 8 Tampa Bay Derby (G3) in his 3-year-old debut. "I thought his last race was pretty good, considering he ran against the bias," Brown said, who took over Hill Road's training after the colt rallied from 10th to finish third in the Juvenile in his first U.S. start. "I like the horse. He's had some hiccups along the way, but they were minor." Those "hiccups" built up enough that they forced Hill Road to miss the Wood Memorial (G2) and ultimately the Kentucky Derby. "He got started a little late this year," said Brown, who is searching for his first Triple Crown win outside of two victories in the Preakness Stakes (G1). "I ran him at Tampa a couple of works short. He only had five breezes and he ran quite well. Then he got sick before the Wood and he missed more time. I trained him up to the Peter Pan and I felt that was a gutsy effort on another speed-favoring track, like it was for the Juvenile, when he had another gap in his training." But since the May 10 Peter Pan, it has been smooth sailing. "Now I've had no missed time with him," Brown said. "I feel the race is a real war, especially with the top three choices being very good horses. He has his work cut out for him. But what I like about my horse is when you take out who he is running against, and just look at my horse, I think he's ready to make a big move off his speed figures. I just don't know if it will be good enough." Another big question mark is whether there will be enough pace to aid Hill Road's closing kick with Rodriguez (6-1) and Crudo (15-1) the lone speedsters in the field of eight. "The jockeys are going to have to pay attention," said Brown, who will give jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. a leg up on Hill Road in Saturday's $2 million race. "My horse does not have tactical speed like the favored horses in the field. They are definitely going to be ahead of Hill Road. They are big, fast cruising horses who can move when they want. My guess is the pace might not be that fast and it may favor Rodriguez, but I think there will be some early movement. Someone has to go out after them." With pace known to make a race, those early fractions could be the key to deciding whether Brown, a seven-time training champ at Saratoga, can turn what was once an impossible dream into a big dose of storybook reality.