His star filly sidelined by pneumonia as a 2-year-old, trainer Chad Brown wasn’t sure Always a Runner ever would race.
“Her career was really up in the air,” Brown said. “She didn’t have to be here today. She didn’t have to run. She could have never run, easily. I’ve had it happen.”
But Always a Runner got well and has rewarded the patience of her connections, giving Brown his first Kentucky Oaks victory.
Always a Runner and jockey Jose Ortiz rallied five-wide off the turn, took the lead with half a furlong to go and pulled away for a 1 ¼-length victory in Friday’s $1.5 million, Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks in front of 103,290 fans at Churchill Downs.
“I’ve seen a lot of different setbacks with horses, but this is way up at the top of the list in perseverance,” Brown said. “For a horse to overcome things, this is at the top.”
Always a Runner and jockey Jose Ortiz covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.82 and paid $13.04 on a $2 win wager.
Meaning rallied for second place, and Counting Stars was third.
It was an historic night for the Oaks, which was televised in prime time for the first time. Post time had been at 5:51 p.m. in recent years but was moved to 8:40 p.m. for this year’s race.
Ortiz, who recorded five victories on the day, didn’t seem to mind.
“It was a very long day,” Ortiz said, “but it was a great day for me. I got five wins and capped it off with the Oaks. It was a good vibe.”
Good vibes were few and far between for Always a Runner last fall.
She was a $1.05 million purchase as a yearling, and Brown said he could see her potential as soon as she arrived at his barn last year.
Then came the phone call and the pneumonia diagnosis. Earlier this week, Brown called it a rough fall for his 2-year-olds – many of whom were ill – but said Always a Runner may have suffered the worst.
“This filly was struggling,” Brown said. “She had a severe case of it and was in a clinic for over a month. Everyone was patient, and we had a wonderful team of veterinarians that helped her get back. We would have never thought we’d be here today when I got that phone call.”
Always a Runner finally got to the track in February, winning her debut at Tampa Bay Downs. After another brief illness, she won the Grade 3 Gazelle on April 4 at Aqueduct.
All the while, Brown was trying to balance conditioning with care.
“It’s a fine line you walk of how far you push for this,” Brown said. “If you swing and you miss and you’ve really trained them hard to do it and you don’t win and you’ve compromised your season, that can happen. … When you have the right horse and the right team, things have a way of working themselves out.”
Always a Runner raced midpack early as the Bob Baffert-trained Explora set fractions of 23.84 seconds for the quarter-mile, 48.51 seconds for the half-mile and 1:13.00 for three-quarters.
Ortiz was thrilled with his position the entire race.
“I saved ground, tipped out right at the quarter-pole,” he said. “It was just a dream trip. I was very happy to be in the position I was.”
As Explora faded, Meaning briefly took the lead before Always a Runner raced by.
“When I asked her, she exploded,” Meaning jockey Juan Hernandez said. “I thought we had it for a second. The other filly was just a little faster than we were today.”
Always a Runner earned $855,600 for co-owners Douglas Scharbauer and Three Chimneys Farm. She’s undefeated in three career starts, earning a total of $987,800.
Scharbauer gave all the credit to Brown, who made all the right decisions following Always a Runner’s illness.
“What a fantastic job,” Scharbauer said. “ I’ve never seen it happen like this.”
Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; [email protected]. Follow on X @KentuckyDerbyCJ.
