Susie Raisher Photo

Opulent Restraint holds on in Listed Chelsey Flower

by Keith McCalmont

Stephanie Seymour Brant’s Opulent Restraint dug in gamely to turn back Rare Art and post a nose win in Sunday’s Listed $150,000 Chelsey Flower, a 1 1/16-mile outer turf test for juvenile fillies, at Belmont at the Big A.

The victory provided four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown a record-extending sixth win in this event and added to a stellar weekend that saw the conditioner sweep Saturday’s stakes action with Listed scores by Child of the Moon in the Athenia and Valuation Metric in the Awad.

Bred in Ireland by Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm, Opulent Restraint, by Dubawi, is the first foal out of the Brown-trained and Stephanie Seymour Brant-owned Significant Form - a multiple graded stakes-winner with wins arriving at distances ranging from seven-furlongs to 1 1/16-miles topped by a score in the 2019 Grade 2 Ballston Spa at Saratoga Race Course.

Peter Brant said they chose to breed Significant Form to Dubawi for the potential of adding more stamina.

“He was, when we bred to him, arguably one of the best stallions in the world,” Brant said. “So, we thought that she [Significant Form] looked like she was a solid miler, mile and a sixteenth, seven-eighths, middle distance horse, and that maybe Dubawi would give her a little bit more distance, but kind of like-to-like in terms of distance.

“We've been lucky with her. She's had some very nice foals, Significant Form,” Brant added. “She's doing very well. She was bred to Justify last. We brought her over here to breed her to Justify, so she is in this country now."

Grace and Grit was ridden to the lead from the outermost post 5 with Mangetsu hustled out of the inside post to maintain rail position as the former marked the opening quarter-mile in 23.43 seconds over the firm footing. She’s Our Tiz tracked in third with Opulent Restraint and Rare Art following in single file.

Flavien Prat angled Opulent Restraint to the outside of She’s Our Tiz down the backstretch as Grace and Grit attempted to open up on the field into the far turn with the half-mile elapsed in 47.64. Opulent Restraint advanced with purpose through the turn with Rare Art following suit as Grace and Grit succumbed to the pressure.

Opulent Restraint was in command in upper stretch and had enough in reserve to stave off the wide bid of a game and determined Rare Art to narrowly score in a final time of 1:41.83.

Peter Brant said he was thrilled with the gritty score and noted there could be more to come from the family line in the near future.

"It was fantastic. It was a very fast time. I'm very excited,” Brant said. “She's been training well. Chad really liked her. You know, we couldn't be any happier.

"We are very proud of her,” Brant added. “She has a full-sister coming over here to Chad for next year, a yearling that is really special as well, so we are very blessed to have these two fillies. She is by Dubawi as well."

It was 1 1/4-lengths back to a rallying She’s Our Tiz in third with Mangetsu and Grace and Grit rounding out the order of finish. Duboff, who is under consideration for the $135,000 Stewart Manor on November 2 here, and main-track only entrant Fortuna Mia were scratched.

Opulent Restraint made a pair of 1 1/16-mile starts this summer at Saratoga under Irad Ortiz, Jr., finishing a rallying fourth on debut in July before graduating on September 1 by a half-length at second asking with a stalking trip.

Prat, aboard for Saturday's aforementioned Valuation Metric score, piloted Opulent Restraint for the first time in the afternoon.

“She was traveling well. I was very pleased that she relaxed. Obviously, a bit of a faster pace today and she relaxed well,” Prat said. “She reacted really well when I asked her to make a run, quickened very fast, but once she got to the front, she was kind of – didn’t know what to do. It felt like the other filly just pushed me.”

Dylan Davis said the Tony Dutrow-trained Rare Art, a last-out fifth in the Grade 2 Miss Grillo on October 6 here, performed well on the quick turnaround.

“She ran great. She got a nice, clean break and was able to save ground into that first turn,” Davis said. “They slowed it down a little bit into the second turn. At the quarter pole, Flavien kind of got away from me a little bit there about two lengths, and she’s [Rare Art] more of a steady type and continued to grind on that leader, just not enough to get there. She ran a great race and was trying to get there, just not enough ground, I guess. She ran hard.”

Opulent Restraint banked $82,500 in victory while improving her record to 3-2-0-0. She returned $3.50 for a $2 win bet as the post-time favorite.

Live racing resumes Thursday at the Big A with an eight-race card. First post is 12:40 p.m. Eastern.

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Belmont at the Big A fall meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.

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