By admin 
Five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown’s barn at Saratoga Race Course was dressed up with the flower blankets from a trio of winning fillies on Saturday’s Travers Day card thanks to stellar performances from Ways and Means in the Grade 1, $500,000 Resorts World Casino Ballerina, Fully Subscribed in the G1, $500,000 Personal Ensign and Naomis in the G2, $400,000 Lake Placid. All three fillies were piloted to victory by Flavien Prat, who won five races on the 14-race card.
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Ways and Means, owned by Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables, continued her tremendous form at the Spa, where she has won 6-of-7 starts, with a 5 1/2-length romp in the Ballerina, a seven-furlong sprint for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up. The winning effort returned a 104 Beyer Speed Figure. In victory, she earned a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in October at Keeneland after which she is likely to be offered at public auction.
“It was a very special result. She’s got six wins in seven starts at Saratoga, that’s just a remarkable career that’s coming to an end soon,” Brown said. “To do that on Travers day with the Klarmans here and my family here, with a horse that’s really become our barn favorite through the years, and to shine on Travers Day like that was special.”
Ways and Means, a Kentucky homebred, is by the Brown-trained Practical Joke, a multiple G1-winning millionaire campaigned by Klaravich Stables in partnership with William H. Lawrence. Practical Joke’s G1 scores include the 2016 Hopeful and 2017 H. Allen Jerkens at the Spa, as well as the 2016 Champagne at Belmont Park. Ways and Means is out of the Klaravich Stables and Lawrence-campaigned Warrior’s Reward mare Strong Incentive, a maiden winner at Saratoga in 2015 for Brown who closed her brief career with a win against fellow Ontario-breds later that year in the Jammed Lovely at Woodbine.
Brown is hopeful that Ways and Means, who he noted was in good order Sunday morning, will complete her career with a win in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint and cap what would surely be a Championship campaign.
Brown has won the Filly and Mare Sprint on three occasions, with Wavell Avenue in 2015 at Keeneland and twice with Goodnight Olive [2022, Keeneland; 2023, Santa Anita Park], the latter mare using the Ballerina as a springboard on both occasions [winning in 2022, running second in 2023] en route to back-to-back honors as Champion Female Sprinter.
“I think she’s as good as them. Hopefully, she can stay healthy and get in that race the right way,” Brown said. “She’s the best looking filly that’s ever come into my barn. She’s got to come with one more big one in the Breeders’ Cup. It’s a race we’ve won three times, and we’ve had success at Keeneland.”
Klaravich Stables also captured a “Win and You’re In” berth to this year’s Breeders’ Cup with Fully Subscribed, who scored by 9 3/4-lengths in the nine-furlong Personal Ensign for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up to earn her way into the Distaff. The victory registered a career-best 106 Beyer.
The 4-year-old Tiz the Law chestnut entered from a half-length score over returning rival Scottish Lassie, a dual G1 winner, in the G2 Shuvee on July 24 here. After finishing second in a pair of G1s earlier this year – to Shred the Gnar in the La Troienne at Churchill and to the reigning 2025 Champion 3-Year-Old Filly Nitrogen in the Ogden Phipps presented by Ford – Brown was thrilled to see Fully Subscribed earn her first top-flight win.
“She’s really stepped up and moved forward like we thought she could,” Brown said. “She’s put it all together finally. She’s always trained really good but yesterday was a breakthrough performance.”
Fully Subscribed will use either the nine-furlong G2, $250,000 Beldame on Sept. 25 at Belmont Park or the nine-furlong G1, $650,000 [$150,000 KTDF] Spinster on Oct. 3 at Keeneland as a bridge to the Breeders’ Cup.
Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, Thirty Year Racing and Michael J. Caruso’s Naomis closed from last-of-8 to make her stateside debut a winning one with a stunning half-length score in the G2 Lake Placid, a one-mile inner turf test for sophomore fillies. She earned an 88 Beyer.
“I wasn’t sure there was enough real estate to get there at a mile, but that was some quick turn of foot. She had trained like she had a lot of promise,” Brown said.
Naomis had initially been considered for the 1 1/16-mile G3 Lake George presented by Surfside on Aug. 1 here but spiked a temperature and re-routed to the Lake Placid.
She captured the G2 Prix de Sandringham on May 31 at Chantilly in her final start in her native France after being privately purchased. The City Light bay did win at 10-furlongs as a 2-year-old at Lyon-Parilly and Brown said he plans to stretch out Naomis to nine furlongs for her next outing in the G1, $750,000 [$150,000 KTDF] Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup on Oct. 10 at Keeneland.
“That was a good spot to start her on form as she had been running a mile over there, but I think there’s more run there,” Brown said.
Brown landed fifth and sixth, respectively, with Emerging Market and Sea Strike in Saturday’s G1, $1.25 million DraftKings Travers.
Klaravich Stables’ Emerging Market captured the Louisiana Derby in March at Fair Grounds ahead of a 10th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby in May at Churchill Downs. The Candy Ride chestnut was fifth in the Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets in June here and followed with a runner-up try versus elders in an optional-claimer on July 25 in which he was wide and far back before closing well.
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Emerging Market exited post 1-of-10 in the Travers under Ricardo Santana, Jr. and made a five-wide run down the lane to finish 5 1/4-lengths back of the victorious Leading Change.
Flanagan Racing’s Sea Strike, by Midshipman, entered from a rousing 8 1/4-length score in the restricted Listed Curlin presented by Casamigos on Aug. 2 here in just his third career start. The winning effort earned a lofty 102 Beyer. The attractive chestnut exited post 7 under Prat in the Travers and was well positioned in second to the outside of Napoleon Solo at the top of the lane, but landed six lengths back of Leading Change.
“Both horses got good trips, they just didn’t fire,” Brown said. “I think Sea Strike, from the quarter-pole home, it looked like he felt his big number in the Curlin and bounced.”
Brown said Sea Strike was in good order Sunday morning and that no definite plans have been made for him as of yet.
“I don’t think it’s a distance thing. I’m not looking to run him a mile and a quarter the next time I run him, he just didn’t fire the same way from the quarter-pole home,” Brown said.
Brown said Emerging Market will likely take a break.
“No excuse for him. He looks like a horse that might need to be backed up on, given a break and just re-group. I’ll pull the plug on him for a while – he’s sound, he’s just fallen off a bit,” Brown said.
A successful weekend of stakes runners also saw Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb and Richard Schermerhorn’s dual G1-winning New York-bred Spirit of St Louis surpass the $2 million mark in career earnings with a rallying half-length score in Friday’s state-bred $200,000 West Point presented by Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital.
The 7-year-old Medaglia d’Oro gelding won a pair of G1s last year, taking the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational at Gulfstream Park and the Turf Classic at Churchill Downs.
“It’s nice to get him over $2 million, he’s been a solid horse for us,” Brown said. “My team has done a good job of keeping that horse healthy through the years and managing him carefully. He’s had a nice, full career and is still going strong.
“We’ll probably have a couple more starts with him and then work on getting him a second career as an 8-year-old,” Brown added. “He’s such a cool horse, he deserves it, and I think he’ll be happy doing that.”
Brown indicated Spirit of St Louis is likely to stay in New York-bred company. A logical upcoming spot for the dark bay would be a third appearance in the state-bred $200,000 Mohawk on Oct. 24 at Belmont Park – a race he won back-to-back in 2023-24.
Spirit of St Louis, bred by Chester and Mary Broman, has banked $2,035,000 through a 24-12-5-1 record.
Douglas Scharbauer and Three Chimneys Farm’s Always a Runner, winner of the G1 Kentucky Oaks in May at Churchill, worked a half-mile in 48.75 Saturday over the Spa main track. The Gun Runner dark bay is pointing to the G1 Cotillion on Sept. 19 at Parx Racing.
Brown said he is extremely pleased with how Always a Runner is training into the Cotillion.
“She’s working like she was in May again. It’s remarkable that she’s been able to hold form,” Brown said.
Always a Runner has made five starts this year, graduating in February at Tampa Bay Downs and winning the G3 Gazelle in April at Aqueduct Racetrack ahead of her Oaks coup. She followed with a pair of G1 seconds to Counting Stars here in the DraftKings Acorn in June and the Coaching Club American Oaks on July 25.
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This story was originally published August 31, 2026 at 7:49 AM.