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.”

WILFRED KOSTER : A Life Worth Celebrating

Wilfred Koster

We were a day or two late in hearing the news, and it came courtesy of a journalist who phoned to ask for a tribute. That such a legend of our business should have passed without us knowing is probably the best indication that the horse game is no longer about lifestyle: it’s about all the things Wilfred Koster represented. Firstly, he was a model of hard work, he was an exemplar in the sphere of integrity and honesty, and while his forthrightness sometimes got him into trouble, the one thing you could never say about our friend Wilf, was that you didn’t know where you stood with him. Beyond that, though he was the son of a gifted breeder of racehorses, he was even more gifted in his own right, leaving behind a legacy of at least three colossi of our sport: National Emblem, London News and Argonaut, besides many, many others of abiding talent. Wilfred had an instinct in the breeding of thoroughbreds that most would call genius, yet it wasn’t only in the design of his horses, but in his consummate horsemanship, his understanding of the land, his sympathy with his people and his ability to bring them all together in a spectacular harmony.

Besides, he was one of the last great “on-the-farm” breeders, the business having been largely hijacked by venture capitalists in the past 30 years.

He was far-sighted to a degree that left few stones unturned, and in leaving himself the time to pass on to his son Vaughan, everything he could of his God-given gifts, he exhibited his rare capacity for planning. But perhaps the best example of this lay in the fact he took a personal interest in every facet of his business, right down to what his staff should be doing on the day of his funeral.

“I think we’ll leave the horses out that night, so that the staff can attend the proceedings, and return home without concern.” To his last breath, he was still attending to his accounts personally, getting to his feet himself, enjoying the company of his family, and remembering how lucky he’d been to spend his life the way he did, and where he did.

Which brings us to another point. We can’t imagine a National Sale without Wilf, his wise counsel at meetings, and his ready laugh at gatherings. A whiskey after a day at the sales will somehow taste different.

Throughout history, there are very few thoroughbred farms anywhere that’ve survived the third generation. For all the great breeders of the world, we can think of only two, both Australian, in the form of the Kellys of Newhaven Park, and the Thompsons of Widden Stud, who’ve successfully made it beyond these boundaries. Wilfred (and let’s not forget the contribution of his lovely wife, Shirley,) has pretty much guaranteed the continuity of what this family stands for, both ethically, and in thoroughbred lore, for at least one more generation.

The teams at Summerhill, Hartford, Vuma and Goss & Co Insurance salute you all, Shirley, Tanya, Nikki, Tess and Vaughan and wish you long life. We’ve no doubt that the memories of Wilfred will be your strength in the days and years ahead, and for South Africa’s sake, we are comforted that the legacy will go on.

BIG BROWN and KENT DESORMEAUX cruise to Victory in Preakness

Kent Desormeaux and Big Brown (Jason Szenes/European Pressphoto Agency)

Joe Drape of The New York Times reports that the first time Kent Desormeaux came to this venerable old racetrack, he was a kid from the bayou, barely removed from Louisiana bush track match races where boys like him, as part of their early lessons, rode against horses strapped with bags of rocks, or a rooster, and sometimes a monkey. He was the Cajun Kid, who won nine riding titles in Maryland and still holds a single-season record for victories here — 599 of them in 1989.

Now Desormeaux, 38, is a Hall of Fame jockey, a hard-knocks one. He moved his wife and childhood sweetheart, Sonia; and his two boys, Joshua, now 15, and Jacob, 9; to New York from California two years ago. Desormeaux had gone sour out West and needed to be reminded what it felt like to be on a good horse.

As the sun dimmed here Saturday, and he was peeking under one shoulder and then the other, looking for somebody — anybody — to come and get him, Desormeaux knew that he was on a great horse, not a good one. Big Brown had floated him around the track; they had maybe an eighth of a mile to go and, lord, if Desormeaux did not feel his colt had sprouted wings.

“I looked between my legs, under my arms, and they were eight back,” he said. “I just stopped riding and reeled him in and made sure he didn’t pull himself up.”

The chart is going to say Big Brown soared to a five-and-a-quarter-length victory in the 133rd running of the Preakness Stakes. Anyone who watched the big bay colt with a celestial stride here or on television knows he could have won by 12 lengths. The performance will not make folks forget about the injury the filly Eight Belles sustained moments after finishing second in the Kentucky Derby and led to her euthanization on the racetrack.

After a tragedy-free afternoon, however, the sport of horse racing will welcome the talk of Big Brown perhaps becoming the 12th Triple Crown champion, and the first since Affirmed in 1978, over the next three weeks.

“This is the best horse I’ve ever ridden — I’ve said it,” said Desormeaux, an ebullient man who has won the Kentucky Derby three times and, in 1998, pulled into Belmont as the pilot of Real Quiet with a chance to capture the Triple Crown. “The important thing is we get to move into the next town and he’s going back to the barn with only using a half a tank.”

Horse enthusiasts have plenty to be excited about as Big Brown joins Majestic Prince (1969), Seattle Slew (1977) and Smarty Jones (2004) as the only colts who headed to the Belmont Stakes undefeated and trying for the Triple Crown. Only Seattle Slew managed to cement that piece of sports immortality.

For Desormeaux, however, nosing Big Brown into the starting gate at that grand old racetrack on Long Island three weeks from now, for the mile-and-a-half Test of the Champion, will not be about how he has successfully revived a career or how he potentially may find a measure of redemption.

In 1998, many believe Desormeaux got Real Quiet beat in the Belmont Stakes. Desormeaux moved his colt early on the turn and kicked off to a four-length lead only to be caught at the wire by Victory Gallop. It took an interminable photo finish to figure out that Desormeaux and Real Quiet lost by a nostril.

Instead, Big Brown’s victory today will be one for Sonia, Joshua and especially his youngest son, Jacob, to savor. Jacob was born with Usher Syndrome, a degenerative disease that affects his hearing and will eventually take his eyesight.

With the help of a cochlear implant, Jacob certainly heard the crowd of 112,222 crackle as Big Brown galloped this overmatched field of 11 rivals into submission over 1 3/16 miles.

What he saw was truly remarkable as Big Brown tracked from third place behind Gayego and Riley Tucker through three quarters of a mile in a rapid 1 minute 10.48 seconds, and then inhaled them.

Then as horse and rider hit the far turn, it was over, and they crossed the wire in 1:54.80. As Desormeaux put it, “I said, ‘bye, bye,’ ” before deciding that was not even enough of a description. “Whoooooooooo!”

Neither his fellow jockeys nor trainers cared to argue with that description. Not Julien Leparoux, who rode Macho Again to second place. “We just got beat by a monster,” he said. “He might just be a Triple Crown winner. This is the best second place I’ve ever had.”

Not Graham Motion, the trainer of the third-place finisher, Icabad Crane.

“Big Brown’s a very, very good horse,” he said. “He’s the real deal. It’s exciting for the game.”

Big Brown, a son of Boundary out of the mare Mien, is indeed a new star for a game that desperately needs one. He was the champion of $2 bettors who made him the odds-on favorite and raked in a $2.40 return. The colt brought home the $600,000 first-place check for his owners, International Equine Acquisitions and Holdings and Paul Pompa Jr.

It pretty much looked like small change after they announced in the postrace celebration that they had sold Big Brown’s stallion rights to Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky. They did not disclose the price, but a person with knowledge of the deal said it topped $50 million.

Sad perhaps for horse racing fans is that Big Brown will not race as a 4-year-old and perhaps will not step on a racetrack again after the Belmont.

None of this dampened the enthusiasm of Desormeaux. The Cajun Kid is now a New York man. When he uprooted his family to revive his career, it meant making sure Jacob had specialists and educators ready to help him negotiate a difficult future.

On Saturday, Jacob rooted his father home and fell into the arms of his mother and brother as soon as Big Brown crossed the finish line. He has now seen his father and Big Brown win the Derby and the Preakness. No matter what happens in three weeks in New York, that is enough for Desormeaux. He does not know how long Jacob will have his sight.

“I know he saw this one,” he said, “that’s all I know.”

 

BIG BROWN draws 7 for Preakness

Michael Iavarone (Ed Reinke/Associated Press)

It will be post seven for IEAH Stable and Paul Pompa Jr’s Big Brown (Boundary) in Saturday’s Gr1 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. The Gr1 Kentucky Derby hero, who bucked 79 years of history when he captured the Run for the Roses after breaking from post 20, gets a much more manageable post for the second leg of the Triple Crown, at least historically speaking. Thus far, 11 Preakness winners have left from stall seven.

Pimlico odds-maker Frank Carulli installed Big Brown as the heavy 1-2 favorite. At the Preakness draw, IEAH president Michael Iavarone confirmed that stud plans for the two-time Grade 1 winner would likely be announced today, and that Big Brown would definitely be retired after his three-year-old year.

2008 GrI PREAKNESS STAKES
1 Macho Again
2 Tres Borrachos
3 Icabad Crane
4 Yankee Bravo
5 Behindatthebar
6 Racecar Rhapsody
7 Big Brown
8 Kentucky Bear
9 Stevil
10 Riley Tucker
11 Giant Moon
12 Gayego
13 Hey Byrn

Up until yesterday, Big Brown has had some exceptionally poor luck drawing post positions. He drew post 12 for the March 29 Gr1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream, regarded by many as the kiss of death since no horse had won from there since the track was reconfigured a few years ago. He put his doubters to rest with a five-length tally that earned him favoritism for the May 5 Gr1 Kentucky Derby.

His post there? The right-next-to- the-hotdog-vendor post 20. IEAH President Michael Iavarone laughed yesterday at the Preakness draw when asked about landing a favourable spot in the starting gate Saturday. “ I don’t know, ” he said. “ He gets to save some ground for the first time. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. We’ll find out. ” Iavarone added that the IEAH team is still riding high after Big Brown’s Derby romp. “ For the first six days, we were still trying to figure out what happened, but for the last six days reality set in and it’s been incredible, being able to share this with our family and friends, ” he said.

BIG BROWN defies history in Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby (Michael J. Marten /Getty)

Neither post 20 nor history could stop him. Big Brown (Boundary) was 2-1 in the GI Kentucky Derby on the strength of just three sparkling wins, the fewest any had sported since Regret in 1915.

Despite a wide trip, he assumed command at the head of the lane and opened up impressively. “When he turned for home, we knew the game was over, and we were all going crazy,” exalted winning trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. Eight Belles (Unbridled’s Song) ran bravely to be a clear second, but broke down in both forelegs while galloping out and was euthanized.

Click here to watch video of Big Brown winning the Kentucky Derby 2008.

Saturday, Churchill Downs
KENTUCKY DERBY PRESENTED BY YUM! BRANDS-GI ,
$2,211,800, CDX, 5-3, 3yo, 1 1/4m, 2:01 4/5, ft.
1—BIG BROWN, 126, c, 3, by Boundary  
        1st Dam: Mien, by Nureyev
        2nd Dam: Miasma, by Lear Fan
        3rd Dam: Syrian Circle, by Damascus
2—Eight Belles, 121, f, 3, Unbridled’s Song—Away, by Dixieland Band
3—Denis of Cork, 126, c, 3, Harlan’s Holiday-Unbridled Girl, by Unbridled

Click for the Big Brown eNicks report and 5-cross pedigree.

Extract from Thoroughbred Daily News