BIG BROWN RETIRED

Big Brown
(Regarding Horses)

IEAH Stables and Paul Pompa Jr.’s GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness Stakes winner Big Brown (Boundary-Mien, by Nureyev) has been retired after suffering an injury yesterday at Aqueduct.

The Thoroughbred Daily News reports that the injury happened during a six-furlong work on turf in company with GI Breeders’ Cup Mile winner and fellow Rick Dutrow Jr. trainee Kip Deville (Kipling). “It looks like he grabbed a part of his foot and tore off a large chunk,” said IEAH Co-President and Co-CEO Michael Iavarone. “We have no choice but to retire him. There’s nothing else we can do.”

Big Brown had been expected to complete his racing career with a much-anticipated match-up against reigning Horse of the Year Curlin (Smart Strike) in the October 25 GI Breeders’ Cup Classic before heading to stud next year at Three Chimneys Farm. Iavarone admitted that the timing of the injury, rather than its severity, caused Big Brown’s retirement. “It’s not a devastating injury, as far as the long-term future of a racehorse,” he said. “It’s a devastating injury for a horse that’s preparing for a race in 12 days. The area where the injury is takes a long time to heal. There is not a lot of blood flow to that area, and it takes a lot of time for that flesh to repair itself. When you’re looking at a race that is 12 days out and an injury that will probably require 60-90 days, and with a deal that you have to turn your horse over to Three Chimneys December 31, we didn’t have a choice.”

Asked if he regretted the decision to send the Derby winner to stud next year, Iavarone said, “I’d like to run him as an eight-year-old, but under the terms that we structured with Three Chimneys, unfortunately, I’m not going to get the enjoyment of that. As much as I’m a fan, I also have to look at it as a business. I needed to find the place to stand Big Brown, and the place we were most comfortable with was Three Chimneys. As part of the agreement, they wanted to stand the horse as a four-year-old, and we capitulated using both our racing fan side and our business mentality.”

Pinhooker Eddie Woods acquired Big Brown as a $60,000 FTKOCT yearling. He was purchased by Hidden Brook for Paul Pompa Jr. for $190,000 out of the 2007 Keeneland April sale. Big Brown made only one start as a two-year-old, romping home by 11 1/4 lengths over the Saratoga turf last September.

IEAH bought into the colt after that impressive effort, but well-publicized foot issues kept the colt on the sidelines until March. He resurfaced with a 12 3/4-length demolition job in a March 5 Gulfstream allowance and the hype quickly followed.

Big Brown lived up to all the superlatives, taking the March 29 GI Florida Derby in just his third start. Arguably, Big Brown’s finest moment on the track came on the first Saturday in May. Making just his fourth start and breaking from the far outside post in the field of 20, Big Brown bounded clear impressively down the storied Churchill stretch to win the GI Kentucky Derby by an authoritative 4 3/4 lengths. His star continued to ascend with an easy 5 1/4-length triumph in the GI Preakness Stakes, and Big Brown was heavily favoured to sweep the Triple Crown races in the GI Belmont Stakes. But, on a sweltering day in the Big Apple and battling a quarter crack, the colt was eased in the stretch of the 1 1/2-mile Classic. Big Brown rebounded with a win in the August 3 GI Haskell Invitational Stakes at Monmouth, and ended his racing career with a win over the Oceanport turf in the September 13 Monmouth Stakes. He retires with seven wins in eight starts and earnings of $3,614,500.

Michael Iavarone gave much of the credit for Big Brown’s success to Rick Dutrow, saying, “This horse came to Rick with well-documented foot problems, and he got more out of this horse then I think any trainer in the world would have.” Despite his impressive accomplishments, Iavarone thinks Big Brown was only getting better. “I don’t think we’ve ever gotten to the bottom of Big Brown,” he said. “He never had the ultimate conditioning leading up to the Kentucky Derby because he battled these little issues. But he developed a heart as big as his physical ability. I think if we ever got to the point that he could have put the two together, we would have seen something that would have been breathtaking. I think he showed it in the Derby and the Preakness, but he was winning those races on raw ability. I think we were beginning to see him develop as a professional racehorse. And it kills me to get this close and not to see it happen.”

Is the breed getting weaker? Part 1

The gallant filly, Eight Belles.
(ASPCA)

The last two runnings of America’s most famous race, the Kentucky Derby (Gr.1), have been remarkable for two different reasons. Last year we witnessed one of the greatest ever winners in Barbaro, and this year we saw another magnificent performance from Big Brown. However, those renewals are equally remembered for a tragedy in common, and that’s the life ending accidents inflicted upon last year’s winner (in Barbaro’s next start in the Preakness Stakes), and the fatal break-down in 2008 of the gallant filly Eight Belles, shortly after she passed the winning post in second spot.

Americans have been left pondering whether or not the breed has been compromised in terms of its soundness; if so, what they’ve done to contribute towards this state of affairs, and how to address it. The matter has reached such proportions that it’s become the subject of inquiry and debate in the Congress on Capitol Hill yet in the end, it’s not really a matter for politicians, it’s a cause for concern among the nation’s horsemen.

It would seem that if it is so that racehorses might be getting “softer”, any number of causes may be contributing to this state of affairs. Yet there is no scientific evidence to support the argument that American horses are any “softer” than their forebears, other than the irrefutable data which reveals that they are starting less frequently in their careers than they were in earlier times. For example, in the 70’s, it was expected of a horse during his career that he would go to post somewhere approaching 30 times, whereas the average number of starts in the early 2000’s is of the order of 15-16. On the face of it, this suggests quite a dramatic turnaround, but there may be a number of contributing factors that have nothing to do with unsoundness and these include:

The cost of keeping horses in training. It’s estimated to be of the order of $40,000 - $50,000 per annum in the States. There are parallels in this country of course, and owners don’t have the appetite for persevering with below average horses once their performances drop.

Coupled with this is the fact that when a good horse has established his status, as well as a substantial value from the perspective of his stud career, there’s almost too much at stake to risk his continuing in racing, for every loss impacts on the public perception of his value. As a result, colts (to a greater extent) and fillies are rushed off to stud, and it’s become the vogue, where horses have had successful three-year-old careers, to pack them off with little opportunity of proving their mettle against their elders, discarding the chance of racing at four and five in favour of the lucrative returns in the breeding shed.

Initially, Ireland’s Coolmore Stud were those inclined to this practice, yet today they have revealed a different dimension to their sportsmanship by keeping the likes of Dylan Thomas, Duke Of Marmalade, Soldier Of Fortune and Yeats in training for an extra season. Of course, one might argue that these horses had not done enough by the time they’d turned four to warrant their retirement to stud, so this might have less to do with sportsmanship than it has to do with enhancing their value, but whatever the reason, it’s brightened up the racing scene in Europe as a consequence.

BIG BROWN vs CURLIN - There can be only one!

Big Brown and Curlin are set to meet in the Breeder’s Cup - lets hope it happens!

RED ROCKS raises doubts about strength of US Racing

Steve Asmussen leads Curlin
(AP Photos)

English galloper Red Rocks (Galileo) has raised new questions about the standard of American racing Red Rocks, who has performed only moderately at home since winning the by giving the horse ranked No.1 in  the world an old-fashioned hiding. 2006 Breeder Cup Turf, beat the World Champion Curlin by two lengths in the G1 Man O’War Stakes at Belmont on Saturday.

Stallions Daily Bulletin reports that the win left trainer Steve Asmussen in a less-than-affable mood and is likely to torpedo plans for Curlin to run in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. While Red Rocks has shown good ability, he finished only sixth at his previous start in the Coronation Cup at Epsom behind Soldier Of Fortune.

The defeat which came after Curlin’s Dubai World Cup win and a hollow first-up victory, could be down to the horse’s inexperience on grass. Curlin was making his first attempt away from the dirt tracks he was brought up on and connections are hoping his performance was down to inexperience on the new surface. His owner, Jess Jackson took some consolation in the reception his horse had received.

“It was a great race for the fans and this is part of what we are trying to do,” said Jess Jackson. “We just didn’t see that late kick from him today. I don’t know if that was because he is still getting used to the turf or what. My feeling right now is that he needs another turf test. I’m disappointed, but this is not a setback.”

While Red Rocks is capable of producing the goods on his day, the concern for the Curlin camp was that he only held off the veteran Better Talk Now by a half length to keep second.

The shock defeat of the 2-5 favourite follows the dismal performance of America’s other boom horse, Big Brown, in the Belmont Stakes at the same track last month.

BIG BROWN : Triple Crown chapter closed.

Big Brown being hugged after the race by Frank Lyons and Michael Iavarone
(AP Photo/Kathy Wilens)

Big Brown started as favourite to win in yesterday’s 140th running of the Belmont Stakes , but lost in heartbreaking style to eventual victor Da’Tara .

The undefeated Big Brown made history by becoming the first Triple Crown hopeful to pull up early and finish dead last in the Belmont Stakes.

“It was hot as hell out there,” said Big Brown’s jockey Kent Desormeaux. “He was empty. He didn’t have anything left, I had no horse.”

Desormeaux’s final comments closed a historic chapter in world Horseracing; “He’s the best horse I’ve ever been on so I took care of him.”

Watch the 2008 Belmont Stakes

Watch Big Brown’s Belmont Stakes post race summary including interviews