“Seeing Lightnin Runner win the Original Gold was amazing,” Brown said. “When she made the lead turning for home, I knew she was going to be tough to catch.”

Bred by the Browns, Lightnin Runner began her career under the guidance of trainer Angel Rodriguez for owner George Nyren, who had bought her privately from the Browns as a yearling. Lightnin Runner would then have the distinction of winning the track’s first maiden special weight event for two-year-olds in 2022, beating male rivals in the process, then later won the Rachel’s Turn Stakes at two and the Its Binn Too Long Stakes at age three.

Late last year Nyren sent Lightnin Runner back to Brown to train. The longtime local conditioner, with over 3,100 wins to his credit, has watched the daughter of Battalion Runner regain her winning ways. With several allowance preps under her belt, Lightnin Runner forged a mild upset in the Original Gold Stakes under Carlos Lopez, offering Brown the awkward, yet enviable, opportunity to present the trophy to himself

“That whole night was so incredible,” Brown said. “I’m so honored that they named a stakes race for Original Gold, and now it’s the first stakes race of the year. She was an incredible mare for us. She won back-to-back runnings of the Cavada [in 2004 and 2005], and she was the first to do it.”

A winner three times in six outings already at age four, Lightnin Runner now sports nine wins and over $250,000 banked from 18 career tries. She is rapidly approaching the numbers that Original Gold posted for Brown during a career in which she won seven races, including the Cavada twice, and earned just shy of $375,000 in 17 outings.

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While Lightnin Runner has established herself as a serious Cavada contender this fall, Golden Key is also rounding back into form for Brown. A six-year-old Uncle Lino gelding, Golden Key fittingly is out of Golden Debutante, whose dam was none other than Original Gold. Golden Key is making his grandmother proud, having won his last start against allowance foes, and he now owns a solid 12-5-6 slate and roughly $325,000 banked from 30 lifetime tries.

“He was really good that last start,” Brown said. “He beat Penguin Power going 4 1/2 [furlongs], and anytime you beat Penguin Power you know you did something. He’s always been a talented horse with a lot of early speed.”

The Jeff Runco-trained Penguin Power has won the last two editions of the West Virginia Dash for Cash Breeders’ Classic, the one-turn sprint on WVBC night.

Though Golden Key already owns a dozen wins, only one of them has come in a stake. That was the 2021 Coin Collector, midway through his three-year-old campaign. He has mostly kept to allowance company. That, Brown said, is by design – but could change soon.

“He’s going to get a few chances to run in the 4 1/2 stakes up here this summer and fall,” the conditioner explained. “Right now I’m just letting him run through his conditions. That’s what I try to do with all mine. There’s no point rushing them.”