SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A few days before the GI Acorn Stakes at Saratoga last month, trainer Chad Brown was gushing about his 3-year-old filly, 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Always a Runner (Gun Runner).“She is a super talented horse,” Brown said back then. “I am excited for everyone here to see her live. For 3-year-old fillies, she is right up there and is as talented as we have had. She just has it.”The Acorn wasn't kind to Always a Runner, who had won her first three starts, including the GI Kentucky Oaks. In the Acorn, she finished second, 3 3/4 lengths behind Counting Stars (Honor A.P.), who was fourth in the May 1 Oaks at Churchill Downs.Always a Runner, owned by Douglas Scharbauer and breeder Three Chimneys Farm LLC, gets her chance for redemption Saturday when she faces Counting Stars and seven others in the $500,000 GI Coaching Club American Oaks at 1 1/8 miles.{"poll":{"id":"5","name":"TDN Market: Always a Runner","template":"1","template_base":"classic","skin_base":"","status":"published","meta_data":{"options":{"poll":{"status":"published","enableAutoRefresh":"no","redirectAfterVote":"no","redirectUrl":"","redirectAfter":"","notificationMessageLocation":"top","startDateOption":"now","startDateCustom":"","endDateOption":"never","endDateCustom":"","endDateDisplay":"no","endDateText":"","endDateCountdownText":"","showTotalVotes":"no","showTotalAnswers":"no","useCaptcha":"no","enableGdpr":"no","gdprSolution":"ask_consent","gdprConsentText":"","voteButtonLabel":"Predict","showResultsLink":"no","resultsLabelText":"Results"},"access":{"votePermissions":["guest"],"enableCustomVotingWeight":"no","votingWeights":[]},"results":{"showResultsMoment":["after-vote","before-vote"],"customDateResults":"","showResultsTo":["guest"],"resultsDetails":["votes-number","percentages"],"roundPercentage":"no","backToVoteOption":"no","backToVoteCaption":"","sortResults":"as-defined","sortResultsRule":"ascending","displayResultsAs":"bar"}},"style":{"poll":{"backgroundColor":"#ffffff","borderSize":0,"borderStyle":"none","borderColor":"#ffffff","borderRadius":8,"paddingLeftRight":10,"paddingTopBottom":10},"questions":{"paddingLeftRight":0,"paddingTopBottom":10,"textColor":"#000000","textSize":20,"textWeight":"normal","textAlign":"center"},"answers":{"paddingLeftRight":0,"paddingTopBottom":4,"textColor":"#000000","textSize":18,"textWeight":"normal"},"buttons":{"backgroundColor":"#ffffff","borderSize":1,"borderStyle":"solid","borderColor":"#000000","borderRadius":5,"paddingLeftRight":16,"paddingTopBottom":6,"textColor":"#000000","textSize":18,"textWeight":"normal","align":"center"},"errors":{"borderLeftColorForSuccess":"#008000","borderLeftColorForError":"#ff0000","borderLeftSize":10,"paddingTopBottom":0,"textColor":"#000000","textSize":14,"textWeight":"normal"},"captcha":[]}},"total_submits":"0","total_submited_answers":"0"},"elements":[{"id":"5","poll_id":"5","etext":"Will Always a Runner win the G1 Coaching Club American Oaks?","etype":"question-text","status":"active","sorder":"0","meta_data":{"makeRequired":"yes","allowMultipleAnswers":"no","allowOtherAnswers":"no","answersDisplay":"vertical","answersColumns":"2","answersAlign":"left","answersSort":"as-defined","multipleAnswersMinim":"","multipleAnswersMaxim":"","otherAnswersLabel":"Other","otherAnswersCount":1,"otherFieldType":"single-line","otherFieldSize":"small","otherMaxCharsAllowed":"0","addOtherAnswers":"no","displayOtherAnswersInResults":"no","resultsColorForOtherAnswers":"#058dc7"},"subelements":[{"id":"11","poll_id":"5","element_id":"5","stext":"Yes","stype":"text","status":"active","sorder":"0","meta_data":{"makeDefault":"0","makeLink":"0","link":"","resultsColor":"#058dc7"},"total_submits":"0"},{"id":"12","poll_id":"5","element_id":"5","stext":"No","stype":"text","status":"active","sorder":"1","meta_data":{"makeDefault":"0","makeLink":"0","link":"","resultsColor":"#ed561b"},"total_submits":"0"}]}],"total_submits":0,"messages":{"buttons":{"anonymous":"Anonymous Vote","wordpress":"Sign in with WordPress","facebook":"Sign in with Facebook","google":"Sign in with Google"},"voting":{"poll-ended":"This poll is no longer accepting votes","poll-not-started":"This poll is not accepting votes yet","already-voted-on-poll":"Thank you for your vote","invalid-poll":"Invalid Poll","no-answers-selected":"No answer selected","min-answers-required":"At least {min_answers_allowed} answer(s) required","max-answers-required":"A max of {max_answers_allowed} answer(s) accepted","no-answer-for-other":"No other answer entered","answer-for-other-too-long":"Answer for other is too long","no-value-for-custom-field":"{custom_field_name} is required","too-many-chars-for-custom-field":"Text for {custom_field_name} is too long","invalid-value-for-email":"Invalid Email","consent-not-checked":"You must agree to our terms and conditions","no-captcha-selected":"Captcha is required","not-allowed-by-ban":"Vote not allowed","not-allowed-by-block":"Vote not allowed","not-allowed-by-limit":"Vote not allowed","thank-you":"Thank you for your vote"},"results":{"single-vote":"vote","multiple-votes":"votes","single-answer":"answer","multiple-answers":"answers"},"captcha":{"accessibility-alt":"Sound icon","accessibility-title":"Accessibility option: listen to a question and answer it!","accessibility-description":"Type below the [STRONG]answer[\/STRONG] to what you hear. Numbers or words:","explanation":"Click or touch the [STRONG]%ANSWER%[\/STRONG]","refresh-alt":"Refresh\/reload icon","refresh-title":"Refresh\/reload: get new images and accessibility option!"}},"date_format":"F j, Y","nonce":"520aac6687","page_id":527411,"tracking_id":"https:\/\/www.thoroughbreddailynews.com\/feed"}The Mike Repole-owned, Todd Pletcher-trained Zany (American Pharoah) is also entered to run in the $150,000 GIII Monmouth Oaks at Monmouth Park on Saturday.In retrospect, Brown says Always a Runner, who will be ridden by Jose Ortiz, may have had a little bit of a Kentucky Oaks hangover when she ran in the June 5 Acorn, which was also run at 1 1/8 miles.“She may have felt the Oaks a little bit in that last race, the last part of that race,” Brown said in his office at his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. “I don't necessarily think that she bounced–she ran such a big race in the Oaks. She might have needed another week or two to recover from that to be at her absolute best.”Always a Runner had five weeks between the Oaks and the Acorn; she will have just over seven between the Acorn and the CCA Oaks.Brown gave credit to the Mark Casse-trained Counting Stars for her effort in the Acorn.“I thought she ran terrific,” Brown said. “I thought she had a challenging trip in the Oaks but is a really nice horse.”He is also quite sure of the ability in his filly. Having the extra time to recover from the Acorn givers Brown added confidence that Always a Runner will run back to what she showed in the Kentucky Oaks.“I have seen her bounce out (of the Acorn) and she has really looked good,” Brown said. “I am excited to get her back.”Brown is also running Directive (Gun Runner), who will be making her graded stakes debut in the CCA Oaks for owner/breeder Juddmonte. She has two wins and a second in three starts–all of them this year–and will be ridden by Flavien Prat.Kilwin wins the Twin Brides | Coady MediaKilwin's Comeback Will Stop Next at SaratogaAfter over a 10-month layoff, Kilwin (Twirling Candy) reemerged last Sunday and won the Twin Bridges Stakes at Ellis Park. The 4-year-old bay filly, trained by Rusty Arnold, is undefeated in three career starts on the dirt after spending much of her career on grass.Kilwin will try to keep her dirt record spotless in her next start, which is scheduled to be the $500,000 GI Ballerina at seven furlongs at Saratoga on Travers Day, Aug. 29.“That is where she is going as long as everything is good,” Arnold said by phone from his base at Keeneland. “That is where we are headed as long as she says she is ready to go.”Owned by BBN Racing, LLC and Rick Howard, Kilwin won last year's GI Test Stakes at Saratoga, overcoming a horrible start to win by a neck.“One of the reasons we are going back there is it's Saratoga,” Arnold said. “And we like the distance and, in my opinion–and she has to prove it–when she is on her game, she is as good as any of these fillies, especially going seven eighths.”Kilwin went on the equine disabled list following a sixth-place finish in last year's $2 million GII Music City Stakes at Kentucky Downs, a 6 1/2-furlong race on the grass. She came out of that race with issues in her hind end. That ended her season, and Arnold gave her all the time Kilwin needed.Earlier this year, she was close to returning when it was found she had a different issue in her back end. More time off. After being evaluated by Dr. Larry Bramlage at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, he wanted Kilwin to get another 30 days off. Arnold gave her 60.“I sat down with Braxton (Lynch) and Brian (Klatsky of BBN Racing) and said, 'let's not panic,” Arnold said. “Her last 90 days have been perfect, and she has not missed a beat, never missed a work and got to (Twin Bridges) the right way. Everything went right for a change and, hopefully, things keep going in the right direction.”Kilwin began her career with five straight races on the grass, winning two of them.She began her 3-year-old season with two losses–to the highly regarded Shisospicy (Mitole), who was named last year's Eclipse Award winner for female sprinter–and Lynch and Klatsky asked Arnold about a surface switch.“I was probably a touch negative on it at first,” Arnold said. “We breezed her on the dirt a couple times and she went really well. There was a race at Churchill (Leslie's Lady Stakes) and we didn't want to face Shisospicy again.”A victory in that seven-furlong race led her to the Test, also at seven furlongs. Following that win, the money in the Music City Stakes was too tempting to turn down and Arnold put her back on the Kentucky Downs grass. That didn't work out, she got hurt and now, here she is.Arnold is not sure who will ride Kilwin in the Ballerina but said it was offered to Jose Ortiz, who was on her in the Test last year.Scottish Lassie with trainer Jorge Abreu | Sarah Andrew“She will leave the paddock with a good rider on her,” said Arnold, who said Kilwin will ship to Saratoga from Keeneland about 10 days before the Ballerina. “That won't be an excuse.”Saratoga-loving Scottish Lassie Ready to Roll in ShuveeThere was disappointment at the end of 2025 when Scottish Lassie (McKinzie) did not make the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff. Trainer Jorge Abreu had to scratch her after it was found she had an issue with her right-front foot.“You work all year for that moment and when that happens, there is nothing you can do,” Abreu said at his Saratoga barn Thursday morning.Scottish Lassie, owned by Sportsmen Stable, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Photos Finish LLC, Corms Racing Stable and Abreu, had a bone chip removed from her right front (“it was very small, the size of a pin hole,” Abreu said) and did not return to racing until last month.It was a successful comeback as Scottish Lassie won by 8 1/2 lengths in gate-to-wire fashion.The competition gets a little stiffer Friday when she faces six others in the $250,000 GII Shuvee Stakes for fillies and mares aged 4 and up. The distance is 1 1/8 miles.Abreu, a former exercise rider and assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito and Chad Brown, has been training on his own since 2016. He has two Grade I wins on his resume, both by Scottish Lassie. Besides last year's CCA Oaks, she also won the Frizette Stakes as a 2-year-old.Scottish Lassie comes into the Shuvee at 100 percent, Abreu says. He expects a big effort Friday and then hopes she will head to the $500,000 GI Personal Ensign on Aug. 29, Travers Day.“If she is right, I am not afraid to run against anybody,” Abreu said. “When you run in graded stakes, you still have to face good horses. Nothing is a walkover. I am not going to hold back because this one is running or that one is running.”The post Saratoga Notebook, Presented By NYRA Bets: Brown Expects Always A Runner To Rebound In CCA Oaks appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.