WOODFORD RESERVE

MANHATTAN STAKES

(GRADE 1)

JAVIER Castellano used one word to describe the first time he sat on Flintshire but let it drift, long, in drawn-out syllables, like butter over a hot waffle.

“Unbelievable,” Castellano said. A $7.58 million earner before the Grade 1 Manhattan at Belmont Park, Flintshire will do that to you.

“I worked him one time,” Castellano said. “He worked really good.”

And ran even better. Juddmonte’s homebred son of Dansili had been to America before, to finish second in the Breeders’ Cup Turf in 2014 and win the Sword Dancer at Saratoga last summer. Since that win, the six-year-old finished second in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the Hong Kong Vase.

After his December defeat in Hong Kong, Juddmonte relocated Flintshire from André Fabre in France to Chad Brown in America.

AMERICAN DEBUT

Making his debut for Brown, Flintshire toyed with eight rivals in the Manhattan, streaking to a one and three-quarter length win over Ironicus, who found trouble, and World Approval. Castellano was impressed – again or still.

“I’d watched all his races and his replays the first time he came to the country. He told me he’s got one horse that’s really special and he is. He’s a pro horse, he hooked up with the best horse in the country and he showed today he was much the best,” Castellano said. “He’s got great acceleration, A very powerful horse. I’m very blessed and thankful to ride those kinds of horses.”

Brown was blessed to receive Flintshire, a move that caused a stir when the horse didn’t go to Bill Mott.

“Many thanks to Prince Khalid Abdullah for trusting me and my staff with such a remarkable racehorse. He’s special. He ran to his works and the horse, like I said all week, all month, the horse was sent to me in outstanding condition,” Brown said. “Just trying to get him in our programme, keep him where he’s at. He showed the ability to come back to a mile and a quarter with a good turn of foot today.”

Brown has had plenty of good horses since beginning his training career, but Flintshire placed himself at the top of that stack, quickly.

“When you work this animal, it’s just little things. He’s so intelligent. You can pick that up very early on with horses,” Brown said. “This horse, he just walks around the shedrow like he’s the man, and he is the man. He picks things up at light speed, oozes class and we’re privileged to work with him every day.”

While trained by Fabre, Flintshire made his living at one and a half miles. Brown cut him back to one and a quarter miles for the Manhattan. “This race wasn’t our first pick when we got him in and got him into a schedule,” Brown said. “He’s so sharp, work after work, I can’t leave him in the barn for a million bucks when he’s housed just a couple of 100 yards from here. The cutback was fine for him.”

Brown will look at the Sword Dancer at Saratoga and the Arlington Million at Arlington Park in August, with all eyes on the Breeders’ Cup Turf in the fall.

“Obviously the goal for this horse is to take down that race at Santa Anita at the end of the year and walk away with an Eclipse Award. How we get there, there’s more than one way to do it,” Brown said.

“The way he cut back today, and how fast he ran, you’d have to look at the Arlington Million vs the Sword Dancer, a race he already won, but both are big purses. I’ll speak to Garrett O’Rourke and the rest of the Juddmonte team on what we think is the best way to get to the Breeders’ Cup, but everything is on the table.”