Having worked for Hall of Fame trainers Bobby Frankel and Shug McGaughey,
Chad Brown had a solid foundation when he opened his own stable not quite six
years ago. One of his first clients was the outgoing, outspoken Ken Ramsey.
“When he hired me, he said, ‘I’ll give you a few horses to get started and,
man, I want to be the first winner for you, because you’re going to have a good
career,'” Brown recalled Thursday morning. “He was very positive about me going
on my own and was confident I’d do well as a trainer.”
Brown’s relationship with Ramsey came full circle on Wednesday, when he sent
out Granny Mc’s Kitten, a Kitten’s Joy homebred, to win the P.G. Johnson stakes
for Ramsey’s Saratoga Race Course record 19th victory as an owner. Brown has won
three stakes for Ramsey at the meet, including the Sword Dancer Invitational
with Big Blue Kitten, and the John’s Call with Hyper.
“It’s really great to be a part of that for the Ramseys,” said Brown, a native
of nearby Mechanicville, New York. “Ken and Sarah have been with me since I went out
on my own. I’m at my home track. The horse is by their flagship stallion. It all
came together, and I’m so happy to be a part of it for them. The guy trusts me
with a lot of his better horses, and it feels good when you come through for
him.”
It was Ramsey who gave Brown his first career victory, with a gelded son of
Jules named Dual Jewels. Making his 41st career start, Dual Jewels came 10 wide
down the stretch and won by 4 1/2 lengths as the favorite in an 11-horse field at
Churchill Downs on November 27, 2007.
Ridden by Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux, Dual Jewels took the $8,680 winner’s
share of the $14,000 purse, and was promptly claimed for $5,000 by owner-trainer
Mike Johnson.
“We were dropping the horse a couple levels because he really wanted to own the
first winner I trained,” Brown said. “He said, ‘Here’s one right here. I want
you to drop that thing as far as you can,’ and we did. We dropped it in and the
horse won, and there was a bunch of claims for it, at least a dozen. He didn’t
care. He was fine with it. They’ve been with me ever since.
“From having just a
couple horses with me to now having about a dozen horses, they’re not only great
clients of mine, but great owners for the game in general.”
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