UPTOWNCHARLYBROWN settled into a steady gallop four lengths off the leader down the backstretch and he was ready go when jockey Daniel Centeno asked. The question came around the final turnand he was on even terms at the top of the stretch. He drew away with authority in the final furlong to win easily.

"We wanted to try him off the pace today and you never really know how that will work out," said Centeno. "But we stayed outside of horses and he was running easily. Then I asked him for run getting to the stretch and it was "BOOM!" - did he respond! He was getting tired at the end and switching leads late but I tapped him at the wire and we went out an extra eighth after the finish getting ready for the Sam Davis."

Conditioner Alan Seewald said of his trainee’s victory, “You always have to run the race, but I was pretty confident in him and pretty sure that he was going to be able to run his race as long as he didn’t bounce or go backwards on us. The reason we ran in this race was to get the money earnings to get into the (Grade III) Sam Davis and I didn’t want to enter him off of a maiden race. We needed a race in between. I think the further he runs the better he’ll be.” When asked if he thought Uptowncharlybrown might have the ability to compete on a national level, Seewald responded, “We hope. We hope. You gotta have a dream.”

UPTOWNCHARLYBROWN races for Fantasy Lane Stable. Bred in Kentucky by Juan Bruno and Rose Hill Farm, he is out of the Langfuhr mare, La Iluminada.

Tom Cooley Photography