Brown Follows Successful Path to Preakness

Kentucky Derby (G1) Fever can be overwhelming. It can cause horsemen to bumble and stumble, and make decisions that may be unwise and push the envelope a bit too far. But if anyone wants a cure for it, check with Chad Brown. A five-time recipient of the Eclipse Award as Outstanding Trainer of the Year, Brown's approach to managing his 3-year-olds has been golden when it comes to the Preakness Stakes (G1). Brown has two Preakness wins to his credit— his lone Triple Crown victories— and both came with horses who ran in the Wood Memorial (G2), earning enough qualifying points to start in the Run for the Roses, but skipping the opening leg of the Triple Crown to run in the Preakness. Aside from his classic wins in Maryland with Cloud Computing in 2017 and Early Voting in 2022, he also sent out Blazing Sevens in the 2023 Preakness, also with six weeks' rest. That 3-year-old finished second by a head. Brown will be using the same game plan with Iron Honor in the May 16 edition of the $2 million Preakness at Laurel Park and people are wise to it. Even though the colt was seventh in the Wood and has yet to win around two turns, the son of Nyquist was installed as the 9-2 morning-line favorite in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown— largely because of Brown's previous success with that methodology. Yep. Off a seventh-place finish in the Wood. He's the morning-line choice. There is definitely a reward for patience. "You have to have some discipline, but you have to be realistic about your chances. You have to apply risk management. What are the downside scenarios? They go into the decision," Brown said. "What are the upsides? Could the horse have an impact in the Derby? Where will they most likely do something to drastically increase their value as stallions with a big performance? In all of these cases, it was obvious there were and are more upsides and you are avoiding a lot of potential downsides by going in the Preakness." Iron Honor earned a spot in the Kentucky Derby by winning the Feb. 28 Gotham Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack in just his second career start and earning 50 qualifying points. He returned in the Wood, but drew the outside post in a field of 12. The poor luck at the post position draw was just the start of the misfortune for the colt owned by St. Elias Stable, William Lawrence, and Glassman Racing. "It was a terrible post. He took a hard bump on the first turn from a longshot. He slammed him and kept him wide. It put the horse on the bit and he was pulling the jockey. He never relaxed on the backside and it wore him out," Brown said. After Iron Honor finished 4 1/4 lengths behind Albus, Brown scrapped Kentucky Derby plans and pointed toward the Preakness. What Brown has seen in the colt's recent works tells him the son of the Blame mare Orencia bred by Mike and Pat Freeny is poised for a strong effort. "He appears to be getting into a positive space the last few weeks. We like what we're seeing. He's very live in the race," said Brown, who will run Iron Honor without blinkers Saturday. "I see it as a reset. He has a lot of things to prove. His two wins were at one turn and his worst race was at two turns. He's certainly bred to run the Preakness distance, being by Nyquist out of a Blame mare. And he trains like he wants to go long." He's also following what has been a Yellow Brick Road to Preakness success for Chad Brown.