While all eyes were focused on trainer Chad Brown's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) winner Hard to Justify, it was Brown's other entrant, Dynamic Pricing, who came out victorious in the $529,670 Edgewood Stakes (G2T) at Churchill Downs May 3.
Breaking from post 9, jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. was able to slide Dynamic Pricing in behind the leaders and sit a mid-pack trip while moving down the backside.
Following Maxisuperfly's fractions of :22.96, :47.90, and 1:12.93, Ortiz set his filly down in the stretch for the drive over the yielding turf. She responded with a sustained rally and nailed longshot Way to Be Marie on the wire by a half-length. Dancing N Dixie rounded out the trifecta.
#10 Dynamic Pricing gets up just in time to take the Edgewood Stakes @ChurchillDowns at odds of 8/1!
— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) May 3, 2024
Jockey: @iradortiz
Trainer: Chad Brown
Owner: Klaravich Stables Inc
🎥 #TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/ug2c9XnecP
Dynamic Pricing completed the 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.10 and paid $19.82 for a $2 win bet.
"She showed a lot of heart," Brown said. "She's a light-framed horse, has a really good turn of foot."
Bred by Epona Bloodstock in Ireland, the 3-year-old daughter of Night of Thunder was purchased by Klaravich Stables for $204,442 at the 2022 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. Now a two-time winner in four starts, Dynamic Pricing increased her career earnings to $355,125.
Dynamic Pricing began her career with a debut victory at Aqueduct Racetrack and a graded stakes placing in the Sweetest Chant Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream Park. However, she left Brown perplexed by her most recent performance, a seventh-place finish in the March 9 Florida Oaks (G3T) at Tampa Bay Downs. After victory in the Edgewood, Brown feels comfortable chalking that loss up to her not liking the Tampa course.
"I always had high hopes for this filly," Brown said. "Now I can officially draw a line through her race at Tampa."
Where one question was answered for Brown, another one was asked as Hard to Justify failed to threaten in the stretch after stalking the pace in second and fading to finish ninth.
"Not sure what happened, I thought maybe she was a little close to that early pace," Brown said. "She was training pretty well."
However, Brown noted that the runner-up, Way to Be Marie, was sitting just off of Hard to Justify's hip and stuck around. Brown hopes he can draw a line through the Justify filly's 3-year-old debut and continue forward into bigger targets this summer, as does jockey Flavien Prat.
"I had a good spot, just came up empty," Prat said. Brown mentioned that Prat told him that she had come off the bridle.
Despite Hard to Justify not firing, Brown finally earned his first victory in the Edgewood Stakes after several second-place finishes, including Breeders' Cup winners Rushing Fall and Newspaperofrecord.
"It feels pretty good," Brown said. "I've brought in some really nice horses in this race in the past and I wasn't able to get it done. To finally get one is great. It's always a race we point for."
