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Uptowncharlybrown at home with trainer McLaughlin

Posted: Tuesday, June 01, 2010 1:28 PM

by Frank Angst

Out of the toughest of situations, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin is doing his best for Uptowncharlybrown and the three-year-old Limehouse colt’s late trainer, Alan Seewald.

Seewald saddled Uptowncharlybrown to victory in the Pasco Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs and was preparing the horse for the U.S. classics when he died on April 11 at age 62. Six days later, assistant trainer Linda White saddled Uptowncharlybrown to a third-place finish in the Coolmore Lexington Stakes (G2) at Keeneland Race Course.

Bob Hutt, owner and president of racing partnership Fantasy Lane Stable, which owns Uptowncharlybrown, wanted to point him to the Belmont Stakes (G1). He thought a Belmont-based trainer would be the best option.

“I had called in February about purchasing Uptowncharlybrown,” McLaughlin said. “They weren’t interested in selling—which was fine, of course—but I think when it came time to deciding on a new trainer that may have helped me. They knew that I liked the horse.”

Working as an assistant for trainer D. Wayne Lukas at Monmouth Park 19 years ago, McLaughlin got to know Seewald, who was based on the Jersey Shore.

“I know it was about 19 years ago because both of our wives were pregnant and I remember we had baby showers together,” McLaughlin said. “Alan was a good trainer. He never had a huge stable, but he did a good job with the horses he had.”

White advised McLaughlin in the transition of the horse, but Uptowncharlybrown was easy to work with from the start for his new trainer.

“There’s no tricks to him. He’s a very straight-forward horse,” McLaughlin said. “We are going to take the blinkers off him. Linda didn’t really think he needed them, but they tried it for a couple of races to put more speed into him. My horses kind of have speed anyway and going a mile and a half, we don’t think he’ll need them.”

McLaughlin said Fantasy Lane’s purchase of Uptowncharlybrown for $57,000 at the 2009 Ocala Breeders Sales Co. spring sale of two-year-olds in training is testament to the operation’s skills. This will be the first horse McLaughlin has trained for Fantasy Lane, which has kept the majority of its stable with White.

“He’s been working well for the race,” McLaughlin said. “We’re not sure about the distance, but he’s talented and he’s preparing really well.”

Frank Angst is a Thoroughbred Times senior staff writer based in Lexington and on location at Belmont Park