Brian Klatsky: Horses, Hoops & Hard Work

COLTS NECK, NJ  (June 1, 2021), Community Magazine

BY LILIANN PARAS

Hidden Stash made a “Run for the Roses” last month, resulting in lasting memories for Brian Klatsky who grew up in Rumson and has lived in Colts Neck for the past fifteen years.

Brian and his business partners, Brendan O’Brien and Kentucky horsewoman, Braxton Lynch, co-founded BBN Racing, and own Hidden Stash and many other racehorses. Although the partners and horse trainer, Vicki Oliver, sensed there was something special about Hidden Stash, they still found themselves in awe of having their horse race as number 13 in the 147th Kentucky Derby on May 1 at Churchill Downs.

Brian’s exuberance for competition has been the driving force behind his varied accomplishments in business, basketball and horse racing. In business, he enjoys success as a partner in Gold Coast Wealth Management in Red Bank, and his financial acumen has played an integral role in BBN’s success. In the basketball realm, a local youth athletic program he began when his sons Alex and Brandon were in grade school now attracts statewide membership and graduated many top players. One of Brian’s greatest joys was watching his son and teammates win the Tournament of Champions (TOC) for Ranney School. His son Brandon is a junior there, and Alex is a freshman basketball player at the University of Florida. In the world of racing, Brian estimates having an interest in 100 horses throughout 20 years in the business, and currently maintains close to 20 horses.

To some, basketball and horse racing may appear to be worlds apart, but Brian explains how, in his world, they have intersected in meaningful ways.

PHOTO CREDIT: BBN Racing/Mark Brown

CM: When and how did you first get interested in horse racing?

Brian: On my first day of college at Skidmore in Saratoga, I was with a group of basketball players who went with a jockey’s son to a simulcasting of Belmont Park at the Saratoga Harness track. I grew up five minutes from Monmouth Park and until I learned about racing in my freshman year of college, I didn’t realize I had a gem in my backyard my whole life. I was home from college the summer of 1991 and got all excited for the Haskell. I remember the stories about Hansel, the Preakness and Belmont winner that year, like it was yesterday.

CM: What is your involvement with basketball?

Brian: I played basketball in college. More than ten years ago, I started Team Rio University with my boys, Alex and Brandon, and it has since grown into something much bigger than I ever envisioned when I was in the gym with them as first and third graders. We started at the Central Jersey Hawks with my uncle Fred Klatsky from Holmdel, with a group of Mid-Monmouth travel basketball players. Our success led others from around the state to join us and we grew into a sponsored Under Armour Program. It evolved into a boys and girls program to deliver a complete student-athlete basketball development and educational advancement program. In the last decade, we have graduated more than 100 NCAA Division I scholarship athletes, seven McDonald’s All Americans, and nine NBA players.

CM: You and partner Brendan O’Brien both played basketball in college and many of your racing investors are die-hard fans. What parallels do you see between the two sports that you know so well?

Brian: I think the most interesting parallel is evaluating young prospects.  When I go to the Keeneland or Fasig Tipton yearling sales it feels like an AAU tournament to me. It’s all about scouting prospects and projecting what a young player, or horse, will look like in a few years. I now respect what college coaches go through when evaluating talent. Trying to predict which kids are going to grow, who is going to work hard and not be distracted by girls, which kid is going to be coachable and fit in your system, etc. is always very difficult to quantify based on recruiting rules. When our selection team is at a yearling sale, we are asking the same questions: Which horse is fully grown, who is going to stay sound, who has the pedigree and class to want to compete and run hard? One difference between the two is that horses haven’t learned how to use social media yet! It’s one distraction they don’t have. But horses get distracted by the craziest things as small as a shadow on the ground.

From left: Nicole Klatsky, Alex Klatsky, Maxine Klatsky, Brian Klatsky, Alan Klatsky, and Brandon Klatsky | PHOTO CREDIT: BBN Racing/Mark Brown

CM: How did your interest in racing develop into a business venture?

Brian: I never thought of racing as a business; it is a hobby that I am passionate about and as with any passion, you want longevity. I can’t compare horses to anything like traditional investments. You cannot forecast earnings on athletes that do not come with guaranteed contracts. Health and luck are so much part of the game. It’s almost impossible to build any predictable financial models around racehorses. The key for me has always been about working with the right people- whether it’s horsemen, or managers for our equity fund. Due diligence, trust, and hard work are paramount for any successful venture. I was very fortunate that in 2000, Jeremy Rosen of Lincroft introduced me to trainers Vicki and Phil Oliver and to G. Watts Humphrey, Jr. who has been a great mentor to me on the business and the industry as a whole. 

CM: Speaking of financial models, what kind of matters do you handle at Gold Coast Wealth Management? How has this knowledge contributed to BBN?

Brian: Gold Coast Wealth Management is a private investment advisory firm. We started off as a family office and evolved into an investment boutique for clients seeking a custom and personal advisory relationship. We also run our own equity fund and manage our client’s accounts on the Charles Schwab platform. The business model that Braxton, Brendan, and I devised for BBN is a bit different, allowing partners to quantify their risk and enjoy the sport without any financial stress. The capital structure of BBN Racing allows partners to make a single one-time capital contribution that budgets all the horses’ expenses through their three-year-old career and assumes zero revenue. With this model, partners are never asked again for a capital call. The horses’ earnings and sales proceeds are returned to partners as distributions.  Instead of getting bills, they get checks. If it is economically justifiable to race a horse past its three-year-old career, we hold back some of its earnings to afford continued training. Each year BBN creates a new partnership that buys six to eight horses.  Each partner is invested in that full crop and gets two to three years of action from that single investment.

CM: What is your particular role in this team effort to develop champion horses?

Brian: Our team has worked together for years and has a special chemistry. We have a combined 200 years of experience. My role has been to align and select the right horse people, and to manage the financial discipline of the model. I make sure we budget properly, stay disciplined to our price limits in the auction rings, and provide transparency for all of our partners.   

Hidden Stash Trainer Vicki Oliver (center) with her parents G. Watts Humphrey, Jr. (left) and Sally Humphrey | PHOTO CREDIT: BBN Racing/Mark Brown

CM: What was it about Hidden Stash that attracted BBN?

Brian: Hidden Stash was our sleeper pick in the BBN II crop of yearlings from the 2019 Keeneland sale. His sire, Constitution, was an exciting young stallion that won the Florida Derby and had his first crop of runners at the track that year. Just a matter of days after the sale, his first big progeny began to rise with Tiz the Law and Independence Hall. We liked Hidden Stash because he had a very athletic look and was underdeveloped at that time. We believed he was still growing, and all felt his upside was significant. We examined him several times and he was a bit stubborn to walk and show off his long stride. If the sale had been a couple of weeks later, there is no way we would have been able to afford him.

CM: To be a part of the Kentucky Derby is a phenomenal accomplishment. What were some of your first impressions when you arrived at Churchill Downs?

Brian: The Derby is the pinnacle of the sport. We never planned or envisioned the reality of being in it. Our goal was always to buy good athletes and develop them. There are lots of great races and you can have lots of success without ever running in the Derby. In life, I have always been about the journey more than just the destination. I had been to the Derby about 15 times and never once realistically thought we would be running in it one day. When we arrived at Churchill Downs for the derby draw, it all hit home. I had tears in my eyes when they called Hidden Stash with the number 13 post. For us this wasn’t just a dream- it was a fantasy come true!

CM: How did the team feel about getting assigned Number 13?

Brian: All we wanted was to be somewhere in the middle.  Number 13 was well received.  The superstitions around 13 made us all even happier with the draw.

Brian Klatsky and Brendan O’Brien in front of Churchill Downs | PHOTO CREDIT: BBN Racing/Mark Brown

CM: What was the most memorable part of the experience?

Brian: My biggest memory was walking with Hidden Stash from the barn to the paddock before the race. This was the culmination of 20 years of hard work, friendship, and remarkable horsemanship for all of us. I have known Vicki and her husband Phil from their earliest days training at Monmouth Park. Vicki put herself and all of us in contention to make history with a Derby winner, and the first winning horse to be trained by a woman. Watching Vicki enter the paddock locked arm-and-arm with her parents to saddle a Derby horse was one of the most touching moments I ever had in sports.

CM: What were the unexpected aspects, positive and/or negative?

Brian: The negative aspect was the stress in the three weeks leading up to the race. I never expected that hanging over my head 24/7. In racing, so many things can go wrong. I knew we were so close and I feared the phone call every day that something had come up and we would have to pull out. All it takes is a bad step, elevated temperature, cough, or soreness and all bets are off. I struggled to sleep and eat for almost the whole time. On the day of the race, all of that dissipated. We made it! In a 20-horse field anything can happen. I knew we had a good horse and chance. Unfortunately, Hidden Stash has a closer running style. We hoped for a fast early pace, that would allow for him to make a big run late and close in on the early leaders. Things didn’t set up for him to run his race, but he came out in great order and has his best running days still in front of him.

CM: What has been more exciting, going to the Derby, or winning the Basketball TOC at Ranney?

Brian: I struggle with this question. Watching my son grow up with friends from Ranney, and then to win the TOC was remarkable and really special for all of us. The Kentucky Derby was also a very special environment. I can’t answer the question, but I will say that being there for Derby Day made me want to get back and actually win the race someday.

LEXINGTON,  KY (April 26, 2021), Lexington Herald Leader

LEXINGTON,  KY (April 26, 2021), Courier Journal – Jonathan Saxon  –

For the first time in six years, the Kentucky Derby race could feature a long shot horse trained by a female trainer.

Vicki Oliver, who has trained Hidden Stash on his road to the Kentucky Derby, is the lone female horse trainer in this year’s Run for the Roses and the first woman since Carla Gaines brought Bolo to the Derby back in 2015.

But the fact that she is a female trainer in a heavily male-dominated industry doesn’t mean much to Oliver.

“You’re just doing your job, whether I’m a man or a woman,” she said.

Hidden Stash has potential to spring a Tampa Bay Derby surprise

OLDSMAR, FL (March 3, 2021) – A busy weekend of Kentucky Derby prep races is liable to uncover a surprise or two. Vicki Oliver hereby volunteers to provide the surprise with Big Blue Nation.

Oliver is the trainer of Hidden Stash, one of the live contenders Saturday in the Tampa Bay Derby at Tampa Bay Downs. A late-closing third in the Sam F. Davis here Feb. 6 after winning back-to-back races in Kentucky to end his 2-year-old season, Hidden Stash stands to improve enough to enter the Derby discussion with a big finish in the 1 1/16-mile Tampa Bay Derby.

Or so Oliver is hoping.

“We believe he’s good enough for the Derby,” Oliver said from her winter base at Payson Park on Tuesday, shortly after Hidden Stash had his final pre-race breeze when going a half-mile in 49 seconds.

Hidden Stash was part of a capacity field of 12 3-year-olds when entries were drawn Wednesday for the Grade 2, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby, one of three 50-20-10-5 points qualifiers for the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, along with the Gotham at Aqueduct and the San Felipe at Santa Anita. Candy Man Rocket, the Sam Davis winner, is the 2-1 morning-line favorite for the Tampa Derby, with Hidden Stash the second choice at about 5-1, according to track oddsmaker Tommy Creel.

Oliver is the daughter of the iconic owner-breeder G. Watts Humphrey Jr. of Harrodsburg, Ky., and as such, her 23-year training career has paralleled the philosophy long ago adopted by her father, who is her main client. Humphrey, like many top breeders, sends his most valuable colts to market while keeping most of his fillies for future considerations. In fact, all six of Oliver’s graded stakes wins have come with fillies or mares, so “it’s pretty exciting to have a nice colt like him,” she said.

Hidden Stash, a chestnut colt by the red-hot Constitution, was a $50,000 yearling purchase at the 2019 Keeneland September yearling sales for Big Blue Nation Racing LLC. Big Blue Nation is more generically known as the worldwide fan base of University of Kentucky sports, and that fandom is a common thread within BBN Racing, a partnership pieced together a few years ago by Brian Klatsky and Brendan O’Brien. After two sprints, Hidden Stash won a Keeneland maiden race and a Churchill Downs allowance, both at 1 1/16 miles. He was beaten just 1 1/4 lengths by Candy Man Rocket in the 1 1/16-mile Davis.

“We think more distance will be his thing,” Oliver said. “We really thought about going in the Louisiana Derby,” a 1 3/16-mile race on March 20 at Fair Grounds, “but that’d be a one-and-done because you’d pretty much have to go straight into the Derby,” which will be run May 1 at Churchill. “So we thought if we don’t get enough points at Tampa, we can always run once more back home in the Blue Grass” on April 3 at Keeneland.

For the record, 17 women trainers have run horses in the Kentucky Derby, with Carla Gaines (12th with Bolo in 2015) being the most recent. The best finish was by Casual Lies, the 1992 runner-up for Shelley Riley.

Besides Hidden Stash and Candy Man Rocket, the other 10 entered in the Tampa Bay Derby are Awesome Gerry, Boca Boy, Helium, King of Dreams, Moolite Strike, My Liberty, Promise Keeper, Sittin On Go, Super Strong, and Unbridled Honor.

Hello Hot Rod, sold at auction since winning the Jan. 31 Jimmy Winkfield at Aqueduct, was not entered after recently suffering “a little setback,” said Shawn Davis, who now trains the Maryland-bred colt.

The Tampa Derby is one of five stakes on a 12-race Saturday card. The others are the Florida Oaks, Hillsborough, Challenger, and Columbia.

Even after a heavy downpour Wednesday morning, turf racing was still held as scheduled here later in the day. Dry conditions were expected to continue until Saturday, when a 90 percent chance of showers and high-60s temperatures are in the local forecast.

Tampa will admit as many as 2,500 fans Saturday with a $15 general admission. Pandemic-related protocols apply.

Hidden Stash wins back-to-back two turn races as a two year-old

LOUISVILLE, KY (Nov. 28, 2020) – Making his fourth start for Victoria Oliver, Hidden Stash outfinished Scarred to win by a half-length in a 1 1/16th mile allowance race at Churchill Downs, coming off of a three-length win in a Keeneland maiden race at the same distance.   Hidden Stash stalked the pace early on while four wide on the second flight, was in the three path into the lane, made a bid in the stretch and edged past Scarred.  Hidden Stash will ship to Payson Park in Florida for his winter training.  He will target the start of his three year old campaign in the Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in February.

Son of Constitution romps in maiden win on Keeneland closing day

LEXINGTON, KY (Oct 24, 2020) – BBN Racing’s Hidden Stash trained by Victoria Oliver wins by 3 in a maiden special weight going 1 1/16th miles on Keeneland’s closing day.  Hidden Stash was making his 3rd lifetime start and first attempt at two turns.   A full race replay can be seen on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX6CWX0Cg2I.  Hidden Stash was purchased for $50,000 in the September 2019 Yearlings Sale at Keeneland.

Grade 1-Winning Millionaire Concrete Rose to be Offered at 2020 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale

LEXINGTON, KY (Aug. 5, 2020) – Grade 1 winner and millionaire Concrete Rose will be offered as a racing or broodmare prospect during the premier Book 1 of this year’s Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, which begins Monday, Nov. 9, and follows the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Keeneland on Nov. 6-7. Concrete Rose, a 4-year-old daughter of successful young sire Twirling Candy who has won six of seven races and earned $1,218,650, will be consigned by Lane’s End, agent for co-owners Ashbrook Farm and BBN Racing.

“We’re excited to offer Concrete Rose as a racing or broodmare prospect with such great companies as Lane’s End and Keeneland,” Ashbrook Racing Manager Bo Bromagen said. “Working with them as partners gives us the greatest opportunity to showcase her.”

“Lane’s End proudly welcomes Grade 1 winner Concrete Rose back to our sale consignment, this time as a racing/broodmare prospect at Keeneland November,” Lane’s End Director of Sales Allaire Ryan said. “Concrete Rose was previously sold by Lane’s End at Keeneland September in 2017 and from the start of her racing career has been a banner sale graduate for us and for our versatile resident stallion Twirling Candy. To date, she is the sire’s leader of lifetime top performers with over $1.2 million in career earnings – more than Grade 1-winning sons Gift Box and Collusion Illusion.

“We are thrilled for the opportunity to highlight our November consignment with a filly of her caliber,” Ryan added. “Her combined talent, looks and breeding will make her a sought-after prospect for any top-level program.”

“Concrete Rose is a once-in-a-generation elite athlete that everyone dreams of owning,” BBN Racing Founding Partner Brian Klatsky said. “It’s been an honor and a privilege for all of our partners at BBN Racing to be associated with her. She has already created memories of a lifetime and is not done yet.”

“She is something to have in your barn,” trainer Rusty Arnold said. “Great mind on her. She is not complicated. She is easy to train. You hear this from trainers, but she is one of those horses you just stay out of her way and she’ll say ‘I’ll get the rest done.’ ”

Concrete Rose’s connections had high hopes for the filly when she began her career in a maiden race at Saratoga at odds of 12-1.

“About the eighth pole, I decided she was a good horse because she was about five lengths back and she flew by the leader and galloped out pretty strong,” Arnold said. “From that day on, she trained like a special horse, and she acted like a special horse.”

Advancing to graded stakes company in her next start, Concrete Rose proved her talent with a 3-length triumph in Keeneland’s JPMorgan Chase Jessamine (G2).

“She’s beautiful, incredibly athletic, stands over some ground,” Bromagen said. “She’s well-balanced with a great shoulder and hip. But her mind really makes her stand apart. She’s incredibly smart. When she progressed from her 2- to 3-year-old year, you could sense the change in her personality from doing things on talent to really taking ahold of the bit and going after them.”

Concrete Rose opened her 3-year-old campaign with a win in the Florida Oaks (G3) at Tampa Bay Downs and remained undefeated for the year. Her outstanding performance at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Oaks Day in the Edgewood (G3), in which she defeated Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) winner Newspaperofrecord (IRE) by 3¾ lengths, cemented her status among the sport’s most talented 3-year-old fillies on turf. She polished her resumé in her next race with a nearly 3-length victory in the $750,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1), a showcase of division standouts.

That dominance continued in her next race at Saratoga, where she won the inaugural $750,000 Saratoga Oaks Invitational by 4¾ lengths. With the victory, the superstar captured two-thirds of the New York Racing Association’s new Turf Tiara series.

“I’ve never seen a filly win by the margins that she did on the turf,” Arnold said. “Usually turf races are very close; the runners all stay together. Other than her Tampa race, which was coming off a layoff, she never had a close race.”

“Watch the replays of her races,” Bromagen said. “The greatest testament to her ability is what she’s shown on the race track: the horses she beat and the level of competition.”

Out of the winning Powerscourt (GB) mare Solerina, Concrete Rose is from a family of successful North American and international performers. Her family includes Horse of the Year and Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Ferdinand.

“Concrete Rose is an extremely accomplished racehorse – one of the best of her generation in her division – and her future is exciting whether she returns to the race track or begins her career as a broodmare,” Keeneland President-Elect and Interim Head of Sales Shannon Arvin said. “Keeneland is thrilled for the opportunity to present Concrete Rose at the November Sale with all the support a performer of her stature deserves.”

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For more than 80 years, the Keeneland Association has devoted itself to the health and vibrancy of the Thoroughbred industry. The world’s largest Thoroughbred auction house, Keeneland conducts four sales a year, in January, April, September and November, and presents online auctions through the Keeneland Digital Sales Ring. Graduates of Keeneland sales dominate racing across the globe at every level. In April and October, Keeneland offers some of the highest caliber and richest Thoroughbred racing in the world. In 2020, The Summer Meet at Keeneland presented five days of racing from July 8-12. Keeneland hosted the Breeders’ Cup World Championships in 2015 and will hold the event again on Nov. 6-7. Uniquely structured, Keeneland is a privately held company with a not-for-profit mission that returns its earnings to the industry and the community in the form of higher purses and millions of dollars donated in support of horse industry initiatives and charitable contributions for education, research, and health and human services throughout Central Kentucky. Keeneland also maintains the Keeneland Library, a world-renowned public research institution with the mission of preserving information about the Thoroughbred industry. To learn more, visit Keeneland.com.

For more information contact Amy Gregory at 859 361-3490 or Amy Owens at 859 421-2566

BBN Staff |

Kentucky Ghost pulls away in deep stretch to break his maiden.

Mary LaRue for Blood Horse |

Twirling Candy filly put up slow fractions and pulled away easily in the stretch.

Concrete Rose has barely faltered in her seven-race career.

With only one loss to date, the 3-year-old daughter of Twirling Candy  added the second leg of the New York Racing Association’s inaugural Turf Tiara—the $695,000 Saratoga Oaks Invitational Stakes—to her résumé Aug. 2, one month after winning the first leg, the Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T).

Only this time, the filly trained by Rusty Arnold for Ashbrook Farm and BBN Racing did it in a walkover.

As five 3-year-old fillies left the gate on the Saratoga Race Course turf, Concrete Rose inherited the lead. She and jockey Julien Leparoux set a dawdling pace, completing the first quarter-mile in :25.58 and the half in :51.41.

At the top of the turn for home in the 1 3/16-mile test, rivals behind her shuffled for position, but Concrete Rose, running freely on the lead with her ears up, cruised along unfazed.

In the stretch, Leparoux simply shook the reins, tapped her once with his whip, and Concrete Rose took off. Before completing the distance in a final time of 1:55.34 over firm turf, the jockey affectionately patted the filly’s neck and let her coast home.

“They gave me the race in the first part of it,” Leparoux said. “We ran very slow, but she finished very strong. She’s a very special filly, and I’m very excited to be riding her.

“I was very confident the whole way around, and I knew she was going to kick home,” Leparoux added. “I’m very happy for the connections. There are a lot of people here that love her.”

Happen got up for second, 4 3/4 lengths behind the winner, and Kelsey’s Crossheld for third. A steward’s inquiry involving fourth-place finisher Coral Beach and fifth-place Olendon did not result in a change in order.

The winner returned $2.60 and $2.10 with no show wagering.

“It was a nice year for me to come up with a nice horse,” Arnold said. “We’re excited. She’s so easy. I’m just on for the ride.

“I was happy when they hung up a half-mile in :51 and three-quarters in (1:15.93). She’s a fast horse, and they turned it into a sprint home. She had done nothing when they hit the half-mile pole, so we were in a good spot.”

Bred in Kentucky by Ron Patterson, Concrete Rose is out of the Powerscourt mare Solerina. The filly has won four graded stakes, and the Belmont Invitational was her first top-level score. Her only loss came in an off-the-board effort in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T).

“We feel good. She handled the month turnaround really well,” Arnold said. “The (grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Presented by Lane’s End Oct. 12 at Keeneland) has always intrigued me a lot. That was the plan at the beginning of the year. However, it is going to be tough not to try to win these three races (of the Turf Tiara) the first year they have it. To win all three, that would be awful special, so there will be a lot of talking going on.”

Sean Morris for NYRA |

After sitting a perfect trip just off a leisurely pace, Concrete Rose bounded away once given her cue at the top of the stretch, posting a 2 3/4-length win in Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational in capturing the first leg of the newly minted Turf Tiara for trainer Rusty Arnold.

Concrete Rose, a daughter of Twirling Candy owned by Ashbrook Farm and BBN Racing, entered the Belmont Oaks off a dominant score in the Grade 3 Edgewood on May 3 at Churchill Downs but had yet to run beyond 1 1/16 miles. She passed that distance test with flying colors on Stars & Stripes Day at Belmont Park, completing the 1 ¼-mile turf event for 3-year-old fillies in 1:59.97 on the firm inner course.

“It’s a long year, but her last two have really moved her forward,” Arnold said. “I was impressed today. I was very, very happy with how she ran.

“[I was concerned] I rested her too much,” he added. “Everyone had run and we hadn’t run in two months and a couple of days and I was a little worried. Her training went smooth, her works went smooth and everything went well. Sometimes your plan works and sometimes it doesn’t work, but this one worked.”

The complexion of the race changed dramatically when 8-5 favorite Newspaperofrecord, who broke on top, was rated back by Irad Ortiz, Jr., which allowed Japanese invader Jodie to strike the front and set tepid fractions of 24.29 seconds for the opening quarter-mile, 49.16 for the half, and 1:14.14 for three-quarters.

The speedy Newspaperofrecord was rank as Ortiz tried to get her to settle, but Julien Leparoux had no such trouble aboard Concrete Rose, who willingly took up position just off the leader in second and coasted along in the early stages.

The field continued to cruise around the far turn, going a mile in 1:37.79, but in a hurried top of the stretch, Concrete Rose quickly overtook front-running Jodie and blitzed her competition with a final quarter-mile completed in just over 22 seconds.

“I thought Chad’s horse [Newspaperofrecord, No. 2] would be on the lead unless they came for her, but I guess today they tried something new and took her back a little bit,” said Leparoux. “The Japanese horse [Jodie, No. 7] wanted to go, so I was happy to be second and my filly relaxed beautiful for me the whole race. I knew at the quarter-pole, I had a lot left. She made a big run at the end. It was nice.”

Concrete Rose returned $7.80 on a $2 win wager and increased her earnings to $818,650.

Despite the soft pace, the Aidan O’Brien-trained Just Wonderful emerged from the back of the pack with a flourish to nip Cambier Parc for second. The Coolmore color-bearer was making her second start in two weeks – with a trans-Atlantic trip in between – after finishing a distant eighth in the Group 1 Coronation at Royal Ascot, a move similar to the one O’Brien employed last year when he sent out Athena on just six days rest to take the Belmont Oaks.

“She likes to drop in at the races at home, so we decided to do the exact same thing here,” said Just Wonderful jockey Wayne Lordan. “I thought she came home really well. It’s her first time going that trip as well, and for the future she’ll get that trip. Hopefully, she can come back out here and compete again. I’m delighted with the run.”

Trainer Chad Brown, who had won three of five editions of the race and had three entered in this year’s running, could do no better than third, with his Cambier Parc taking that position. It was another two lengths back to the Japanese-bred Jodie in fourth.

Dyna Passer, Cafe Americano, Coral Beach, Olendon and Newspaperofrecord completed the order of finish.

The next leg of the Turf Tiara, which culminates in the $750,000 Jockey Club Oaks on September 7 at Belmont, will be the $750,000 Saratoga Oaks presented by Encore Boston Harbor on August 2 at Saratoga Race Course. As to Concrete Rose’s participation in the race, there is no doubt in Arnold’s mind that his talented turf filly will be present.

“Absolutely. Unless there’s an issue,” said the trainer. “That’s why we rested her and hopefully it worked.