Dramatic stakes win left Brown “speechless”

Tzilacatzin’s (Captive Audience) win on Jun. 1 came as a number of firsts for his connections: it was the first stakes win of trainer/driver Chris Brown’s career, and the first victory of that kind for owner/breeder Jen Clark.

The narrow triumph in the $54,800 Alberta Sires Stakes Marksman at Century Downs was also Brown’s first trip to the winner’s circle in 2024. He was 0-for-43 driving and 0-for-30 training before the win, which was also Tzilacatzin’s first in nine starts this year.

“Speechless,” he said of how he felt after the race. “At the moment, I was kind of in shock. I didn’t actually think I won it.”

Brown wasn’t the only one unsure — track announcer Murray Slough called “Tzilacatzin, possibly, at the line.” Leader One Hot Minute had pulled away by three lengths on the far turn with Tzilacatzin in the pocket, and it took until mid-stretch for the chasing gelding to hit his best stride. Tzilacatzin motored and chased down One Hot Minute for a photo finish. Brown also said the length disparity between the horses caused doubt that his had gotten up. But Tzilacatzin did reach past the pacesetter, putting his head in front to win at 26-1.

TZILACATZIN REPLAY

Brown said the win was a load off his shoulders.

“(It was) a lot of stress relief,” he said. “I put myself on a high pedestal, and I finally got the win, but I thought I’d have the win a lot sooner.”

It was the biggest single-race purse to date for the Wawanesa, Mani. native. He officially started his career in 2006 at the fair tracks of Manitoba and took his first win in August of that year with Quandary at Kilarney. He spent eight more years in Western Canada, making his driving debut in 2011, before moving to Ontario in 2014. It was an important move for Brown, who had his best season in the province — a 15.3 per cent win rate as a driver and 17 per cent training in 2015.

It was also the locale of his most cherished win — even more so than the stakes score earlier this month with Tzilacatzin.

“Everyone doubted me going to Ontario and thought I would kind of not make it there and not do so well, so when I finally won my first race in Ontario, that was probably my favourite win,” Brown said. “To finally get one where a lot of eyes, a lot of people look at you, it means a little bit more.”

That achievement came with Betterlatethnnever in 2015, whom he trained and drove to five wins that year en route to a season that still stands as his best in wins and earnings. He said he developed as a horseman while working in Ontario and applied lessons learned there in the Jun. 1 win. He was suspended in 2017 — which he explained as being “young and stupid” — and moved back to Western Canada, using the time off to “do some growing up.”

Back in Manitoba in 2019, Brown worked with top trainer Trevor Williams, whom he credits with helping him reenter the industry. He catch-drove for Williams across Western Canada and built his business back to 10-year highs in starts as both a trainer and reinsman in 2023, when he was named Alberta’s Driver of the Year Under 150 Starts. He said he believed in 2019 that he would never be able to pursue racing as a career, but he is now full-time with eight horses in his care. Since his training debut in 2006, he is 46-for-745 and 34-for-727 as a driver.

“I’m back in full swing with my fiancé and making, hopefully, money,” he said with a chuckle.

The Alberta Sires Stakes Marksman win secured him a payday of $2,740 as Tzilacatzin’s trainer/driver. The rest of the cheque went to owner Clark, whom Brown met through Constance Kolthammer, the horse’s former trainer.  Clark has spent a relatively short time in racing but breeds and rears her own horses, including Blue Star Mercury, the winner of last year’s Western Canada Pacing Derby.

Brown praised the owner for the aptitude and passion she has shown for racing.

“For someone that hasn’t been in the business for very long to do her own breeding, to break them, and to do everything she’s done with them so far, I gotta give her kudos,” he said. “Most people, by all means, would’ve given up a long time ago and just gotten rid of them.

“For her to get that win, I think it was a huge accomplishment on her end, and a huge accomplishment in general — showing you don’t have to have a big barn, you can still win races off homebreds.”

Clark and Brown will aim for more stakes success this season with Tzilacatzin. Last Saturday, the gelding finished fourth in his elimination of the Moore’s Mile Breeders’ Stake, qualifying for the $90,000 final on Jun. 15.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink