Brown Hopes to Follow Familiar Path With Blazing Sevens

For trainer Chad Brown, it's a path he has followed with tremendous results. In 2017 with Cloud Computing and last year with Early Voting, the four-time Eclipse Award winner made the tough decision to skip the Kentucky Derby (G1) with those 3-year-olds and wait for the Preakness Stakes (G1). So, when Brown talked with owner John Capek about the best option for Rodeo Creek Racing's Blazing Sevens, skipping the Derby after picking up enough qualifying points to run through a third-place finish in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) was not a trip into uncharted territory. Cloud Computing was third in the Wood Memorial (G2) and Early Voting second in Aqueduct Racetrack's definitive prep, and both used the extra two weeks of rest to turn in career-best and career-shaping efforts in the second leg of the Triple Crown. Yet there was one difference in the 2023 discussions. Seth Klarman, who owned Brown's two Preakness winners, has one of the sport's largest and most successful stables and grew up in Baltimore. John and Carla Capek have raced just three horses this year and have never been involved in a Triple Crown starter. This latest decision was indeed tougher from an emotional standpoint. Yet it followed a familiar path. Blazing Sevens was kept out of the Derby, and on May 20 the son of Good Magic will try to emulate the heroics of Cloud Computing and Early Voting in the 148th Preakness at Pimlico Race Course. "Chad and I and (bloodstock agent) Peter Bradley discussed the options going into the Derby and we wanted to do what was right for the horse. As owners, there's a lot of excitement at the Derby. It's a classic race with a lot of promotion around it, but we knew he needed more time and more training to get him into his best form," Capek said about the 2022 Champagne Stakes (G1) winner who is the 6-1 fourth choice in the Preakness morning line. "We stepped back." Brown said charting the right course was complicated out of a desire to give the Capeks an opportunity any owner would always cherish. "One of the hardest decisions you'll ever have in horse racing is when you have the points and don't run in the Kentucky Derby. Not only for me, but the owners. I'm likely to have more starters, but when you own horses, you never know. An owner has only their team. I train for a lot of teams," Brown said. "John and Carla Capek are wonderful clients and I relayed to them what I thought was best based on my experience and they went with it." Of course, what may or may not haunt the connections for years to come is a question that will never be answered. Could Blazing Sevens have won the Derby? "Maybe, but we thought it would be better to win the Preakness than finish in the middle of the pack at the Derby, so we put ourselves in a position to do that," Capek said. "I think for the interests of the horse and his career and what we want to do over the course of time with Rodeo Creek Racing, that was the right choice. We'd like to see Blazing Sevens be a grade 1 winner at 2 and get a couple more at 3. That's where we are and what we are shooting for and I think we're in the best position to get that started at the Preakness." Brown believes whatever may have happened at the Derby, the performance will be that much better in the Preakness—especially after some recent sharp works have the colt seemingly on edge for a strong effort Saturday. "You never know what would have happened in the Derby. We had a few things working against us in the Derby but I don't see many things going against us in the Preakness," Brown said. "I can see some similarities between Blazing Sevens and Cloud Computing." Named for a jackpot bet in blackjack that Carla Capek has hit a few times, Blazing Sevens' career has followed a different path than those of Cloud Computing and Early Voting. While the two Preakness winners started their careers in February and December, respectively, Blazing Sevens was already a grade 1 winner by then. Bought for $225,000 from the Eaton Sales consignment at The Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton's New York Sale of Select Yearlings, Blazing Sevens won his July 24 debut at Saratoga Race Course by 6 1/4 lengths. He crossed the wire a distant third behind eventual 2-year-old champ Forte in the Hopeful Stakes (G1) on a sloppy track but rebounded to take the Champagne, also on a sloppy track. A fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) ended his 2-year-old campaign and his first start at 3 was dismal as he finished eighth in the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) at Gulfstream Park, 26 lengths behind Forte. "The Fountain of Youth was probably a little early in his schedule," Capek said. After the setback in the Fountain of Youth, the colt bred by Tracy Farmer out of the Warrior's Reward mare Trophy Girl bounced back with a much better showing in the Blue Grass, but finishing six lengths behind Tapit Trice was not viewed as the kind of forward move that merited a start in the Kentucky Derby. It told the connections that some extra rest would be beneficial. "He got tired in the final eighth and flattened out," Brown said about the Blue Grass, "and that's why I didn't want to go to the Derby in four weeks. But now with six weeks' rest he's a fresh horse, and from what we're seeing in the morning the tank is definitely filling up. " It's filling up so much that Capek is brimming with confidence. "He has continued to show improvement in his workouts and runouts," Capek said. "He's probably in his best form ever." The same could have been said about Cloud Computing and Early Voting heading into the Preakness. Whether the comparisons between them and Blazing Sevens are even more noteworthy after the Triple Crown's middle jewel is one of the mysteries that will be solved Saturday.