Posts Tagged ‘keeneland 2-year-old sale’

By Ray Paulick

Big Brown went to the lead at the start and never looked back in winning Saturday’s 1 1/8-mile Monmouth Stakes, a $500,000 turf race designed by Monmouth Park for the two-time classic winner. The Rick Dutrow-trained colt, sent off the 3-5 favorite, opened a clear lead down the backstretch, then held off a determined stretch run from second choice Proudinsky to win by a neck in 1:47.41 on a turf course rated good. Shakis circled the field to be a fast-closing third, another half-length back.

(VIDEO, EQUIBASE CHART)

The Monmouth was Big Brown’s first race agaist older horses, and he was the only 3-year-old in the nine-horse field, carrying 120 pounds, one more than the 5-year-old German-bred Proudinsky.

"Couldn’t have been better," said Michael Iavarone, who manages the IEAH Stables that owns Big Brown in partnership with Paul Pompa Jr. Big Brown used the Monmouth race as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Kent Desormeaux rode Big Brown confidently, rating him on the lead and in the clear down the backstretch and around the far turn after getting a modest early challenge from longshot Get Serious, who was hustled up to engage Big Brown in the run to the first turn. Proudinsky tracked Big Brown into the stretch and moved up to engage him inside the furlong pole, but was never able to seriously challenge the winner, who was under a hand ride down the stretch and got only a few under-handed taps on the right shoulder from Desormeaux’s whip, Fractions of the race were : :23.46, :46.83, 1:11.21, and 1:35.39. The final time of 1:47.41 gave Big Brown a final eighth in a snappy 12.02 seconds.

Big Brown was making his first start on grass since breaking his maiden by 12 ¾ lengths going 1 1/16 miles on the Saratoga turf in his career debut Sept. 3, which turned out to be his only start as a 2-year-old. He was trained then by Pat Reynolds, who picked him out of the Keeneland April 2-year-olds in training sale, where he was purchased by Paul Pompa Jr. for $190,000.

After Big Brown’s maiden win, IEAH Stables purchased a 75% interest in the colt and turned him over to Dutrow, who handles most of IEAH’s runners. It was expected he would run in the Pilgrim Stakes on grass, followed by the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, but a quarter crack sidelined him for several months.

Big Brown returned to win a March 5 allowance race at a mile on the Gulfstream Park dirt after the race was taken off turf, and, with the exception of a series of grass workouts, it’s been dirt ever since for the son of Boundary out of Mien, by Nureyev. He won the Florida Derby, Kentucky Derby and Preakness before losing his bid for the Triple Crown while being eased in the Belmont Stakes. He came back to win the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park Aug. 3 and is using the Monmouth race as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Classic on the new Pro-Ride synthetic track at Santa Anita Oct. 25.

The win at Monmouth was Big Brown’s seventh in eight starts. He was bred in Kentucky by Gary Knapp’s Monticule Farm. Big Brown paid $3.20 to win. Big Brown will retire at the end of the year to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Clay’s Three Chimneys Farm to stand the 2009 breeding season. Three Chimneys reportedly purchased a 10% interest in the colt midway through the Triple Crown. At that time, the colt’s value was estimated at $50 million.