With two seconds and a third in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve since 2018, trainer Chad Brown has high standards for his top 3-year-olds.

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“We’re a little lighter this year with 3-year-olds,” Brown said Jan. 15. “Now that I’ve come very close in the Derby with horses like Sierra Leone [second by a nose last year] and Good Magic [second in 2018], the bar is high in terms of my experience of what it takes if you intend to win the race. Then again, the best horse doesn’t always win.”

Brown is still hopeful that his best 2-year-old will be his premier Triple Crown candidate.

Dual grade 1 winner Chancer McPatrick, who was sixth as the 2-1 second choice in the 2024 FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile presented by TAA, is behind schedule after minor ankle surgery, but Brown believes the March 8 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby and April 5 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland are realistic targets.

The Tampa Bay Derby offers Kentucky Derby qualifying points on a 50-25-15-10-5 scale to the top five finishers while the Blue Grass is worth 100-50-25-15-10 points. Flanagan Racing’s Chancer McPatrick already has 10 points for winning the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes in 2024.

“I want to try and make the Tampa Bay Derby and then the Blue Grass, just because it’s convenient and close and I am trying to make up ground with him,” said Brown, who will be prepping the son of McKinzie for his 3-year-old campaign at Payson Park in Florida. “The Tampa Bay Derby could be a good conditioning race for him.”

Winner of last year’s Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes, Chancer McPatrick has won three of four starts for earnings of $535,000.

Aviator Gui (Coglianese photos/Chelsea Durand)

Brown said Three Chimneys Farm’s homebred Aviator Gui, runner-up in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes, had a slight setback and could be pointed toward the Feb. 15 Risen Star Stakes for his 3-year-old debut.  The Risen Star, won last year by Sierra Leone, at Fair Grounds is the first of seven 50-25-15-10-5 preps for the May 3 opening leg of the Triple Crown.

With the son of Uncle Mo out of the picture for the Feb. 1 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack, Brown said Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith’s Treaty of Rome (Uncle Mo), second in the Jan. 4 Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream Park, and Jan. 3 New York maiden winner Uncle Hulka (Uncle Mo) are possibilities for the 1 1/8-mile test.

The Withers is a 20-10-6-4-2 Kentucky Derby points race.

“Hopefully we can get them on the trail and start picking up some points,” Brown said.