The Acorn Stakes (G1) may not have belonged to trainer Chad Brown and jockey Flavien Prat—their Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Always a Runner finished second to Counting Stars—but three other stakes on the June 5 card at Saratoga Race Course did.
First, they struck with Ways and Means in the Bed o' Roses Stakes (G2), followed a few hours later by Fitz Right in the Wonder Again Stakes (G2T), and then with Portfolio Duration in the New York Stakes (G1T). The latter race offered the afternoon's biggest prize—a purse of $750,000.
Seth Klarman of Klaravich Stables campaigns both Ways and Means and Portfolio Duration, while Fitz Right races for partners Michael Dubb, William Lawrence, The Elkstone Group, and Michael Kisber.
Portfolio Duration, one of four fillies and mares Brown started in the New York Stakes, was one of the smallest earners in the field of eight before the race began, but she is much richer exiting it. In winning the race under a perfect, front-running ride from Prat, she picked up the first-place prize of $412,500 to increase her career bankroll to $630,400. The 4-year-old bay filly is 3-2-0 in five starts.
Drawn on the rail and coming out of shorter races, Prat utilized her post and tactical speed to take advantage of what was a paceless 1 3/16-mile turf affair. She cruised effortlessly to the lead, carving out comfortable splits over the first 6 furlongs of the race of :24.39, :49.21, 1:12.17, and 1:35.36, and then used her acceleration to turn back stablemate Kathynmarissa and ultimately hard-charging French invader Cankoura by a head.
"We thought that stretching out, she could be the speed. She gave me a good run, tried hard," Prat said.
Her final three-sixteenths of a mile in :17.14 made catching her difficult. She hit the wire with a final time of 1:52.50. Exiting a runner-up finish in the May 2 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile Stakes (G2T) at Churchill Downs, she paid $10 to win as the race's third favorite.
Only Cankoura, seventh early, posed the greatest late danger to Portfolio Duration, but the winner tenaciously kept her at bay.
The runner-up's connections reacted with disappointment upon watching the video replay and seeing the results posted on the infield jumbotron.
Brown said it felt good to win the New York Stakes for a third graded stakes win Friday.
"We went into this Belmont festival with great entries, loaded for bear. We knew going in," said Brown, who won his sixth New York Stakes, all since 2016. "I knew going in, they're not all gonna work out."
Brown, Prat, and Klaravich Stables also added a dead-heat second-place finish from Fully Subscribed in the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) in Friday's final stakes race.
Favored Gezora, making her first start in the New York Stakes for trainer Bill Mott after being transferred out of the Brown barn by owner Peter Brant, raced keenly while wide without cover and threw in the towel early on the second turn to fade to last. Other horses, such as third-place Kathynmarissa and fourth-place City Girl, another Brown trainee, also seemed compromised by having to make up ground against the race flow.
Portfolio Duration, a daughter of Night of Thunder out of the Dansili mare Shemya, was bred by Michael Wates in Britain. Mike Ryan, agent for Klaravich Stables, bought the filly for the equivalent of $190,371 from the Kilminfoyle House Stud consignment to the 2023 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. She is one of two graded/group winners produced by her dam.
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