OZONE PARK, N.Y. – There is still a month to go, but trainer Chad Brown has already attained single-year bests in wins, purse earnings, and Grade 1 victories as he sets his sights on a potential third straight Eclipse Award as North America’s leading trainer. Brown won all three Grade 1 races run in the United States over the weekend to give him 19 such victories in 2018, surpassing the 16 he won last year when he captured his second consecutive Eclipse Award. On Saturday, Brown won the Grade 1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct with Patternrecognition and the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar with Raging Bull. On Sunday, Brown won the Grade 1 Matriarch at Del Mar with Uni. Brown has won 219 races in 2018, surpassing the 213 he won in 2017. Brown’s purse earnings through Sunday were $27,068,686, passing his personal best of $26,202,164 established last year. His 2018 figure stands as the second-most all time by a trainer in one year, trailing only Todd Pletcher’s record of $28,116,097 set in 2007. “I think it’s really our best year to date, remarkably,” Brown said Sunday morning in his Belmont Park office. “We put together some great years in a row. When you get done you think, how are we going to do it again? Horses always retire, you never can feel totally comfortable what’s around the corner, what’s going to come in, you just hope. You don’t take for granted how good these horses really are that come through this program. Fortunately, again, we had a terrific group of horses. Our team did a really good job of taking care of these horses all year.” Brown was particularly proud that he won Grade 1 races with horses ages 2 through 6. Complexity won the Grade 1 Champagne for 2-year-olds and Newspaperofrecord won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. The 6-year-old Fourstar Crook took the Grade 1 Flower Bowl. “When you look at the body of work, it’s something really to be proud of, my team, my owners, and the horses, most importantly,” Brown said. “That’s a very diverse group of horses, [and] we were able to, as a team, execute a wide variety of training plans and schedules.” Despite Brown’s success, he is no lock for the Eclipse Award. He will be going up against Bob Baffert, who trained Triple Crown winner Justify. Baffert won his fourth Eclipse Award in 2015 when he guided American Pharoah to the Triple Crown, the first in 37 years. Brown’s mentor Bobby Frankel owns the North American record for Grade 1 wins in a year with 25, set in 2003. Brown won’t threaten that, but he could participate in two more such events with Identity Politics in the Malibu and Competitionofideas in the American Oaks, both Grade 1, $300,000 races scheduled for Dec. 26 and 29, respectively, at Santa Anita. Brown said Patternrecognition came out of his victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Cigar Mile in good order, and the soon-to-be 6-year-old will be considered for the Grade 1, $9 million Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 26 at Gulfstream Park. “I’m certainly open to running our horse in the Pegasus,” said Brown, who noted that a deal might have to be made with a current slotholder for the race, which requires participants to put up $500,000 to run. “I’m going to look into it.” While Patternrecognition has yet to run 1 1/8 miles or around two turns, Brown said that with the colt’s speed, Gulfstream Park “is the track to try it at.” Patternrecognition ran the Cigar Mile in 1:34.98 and earned a 105 Beyer Speed Figure, a career best. A few hours after Patternrecognition won, Raging Bull overcame a wide trip to rally from 11th place and win the Hollywood Derby at Del Mar. It was Raging Bull’s fifth win – third in a graded stakes – from seven starts this year. “I thought he might hang a little bit going so wide on the turn and making that big move,” Brown said. “He had a sustained run really from the half-mile pole home. Extremely impressive, best race to date.” Raging Bull earned a 97 Beyer Speed Figure. Brown was also pleased with Instilled Regard, who finished third in the Hollywood Derby. It was his first race on turf and just his second start since finishing fourth in the Kentucky Derby when in Jerry Hollendorfer’s barn. “He had every right to maybe get a tick tired the last eighth of a mile,” Brown said. “He fought on, secured a Grade 1 placing. We have a lot to look forward to with both horses next year.” Brown said he needed to talk to the owners of both horses before deciding whether to run either in the $7 million Pegasus World Cup Turf, also on Jan. 26. Uni completed a perfect 4-for-4 2018 campaign with a tremendous late rally to win Sunday’s Matriarch by a half-length. She earned a 101 Beyer Speed Figure. Brown, via text, indicated Uni would run again in 2019. Patternrecognition, Raging Bull, Instilled Regard, and Uni will be based this winter at the Palm Meadows training center in South Florida.