Kentucky Derby Favorite Big Brown Cruises in Work

Posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2008

Florida Derby winner and 2008 Kentucky Derby favorite Big Brown blew through five furlongs at Palm Meadows early Thursday morning in :58 3/5, and while most trainers handle their nerves by counting sheep at night, horse trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. eagerly counts the days in the runup to the May 3, 2008 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

“It’s a horse race, and I have the best horse in the race. It’s that simple,” he told a group of reporters assembled outside his office. “We’re going to Kentucky to win, anything less than that is not going to be OK with us. There’s such good karma going around the stable now that I don’t see how he can get beat.”

Dutrow watched Big Brown work from the top of the stretch and after his colt finished in a straight line, tight against the rail, he told exercise rider Michele Nevin “I can’t believe he went that fast. He looked like he was just galloping along when he went past me.”

Big Brown, who is owned by IEAH Stable and Paul Pompa Jr., will be Dutrow’s first Kentucky Derby starter, and his famously laid-back trainer is not getting caught up in the hype.

“I’ve never been in this kind of spot before but I don’t feel any pressure, not as long as my horse is going good. I’m having fun. This is what I was born to do.”

The son of a successful New York-based trainer, the younger Dutrow, 47, has already trained a Horse of the Year in Saint Liam, who took the 2005 title after winning that year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic. Most horsemen will tell you that Breeders’ Cup pressure is immense, and that Kentucky Derby pressure is somewhere beyond that. Most horsemen feel it differently from Big Brown’s trainer.

“I love the spot I’m in. I can’t see anyone going into this race nearly as well as we are,” he said.

Big Brown has won all three of his starts, the first two by a combined 24 lengths and his last, the $1 million Florida Derby, by five lengths while competing against South Florida’s best 3-year-olds in training.

He ran on turf in his first race, at Saratoga Sept. 3, when owned solely by Pompa and trained by Patrick Reynolds; on a drying-out track at Gulfstream Park on March 5 well after IEAH Stable had bought in and Dutrow had taken over the colt’s training; and on a fast track in the Florida Derby March 29, from which he broke from Post 12 in the 1 1/8-mile race.

“(The Saratoga race) was amazing,” Dutrow said of the bay colt’s 11Â¼-length victory, “and he took our breath away the first time he ran at Gulfstream,” winning by 12 3/4 lengths.

Much was made of Big Brown’s post position in the Florida Derby, but Dutrow said it was never a concern.

“I thought the only way he could get beat in the Florida Derby was if he ran into trouble, and the outside post assured us that he wouldn’t get into trouble,” he said.

“We thought about the (April 12) Blue Grass, but the spacing from the Florida Derby to the Kentucky Derby (five weeks later) better suited us. We wanted a lot of time after the Florida Derby, and I think a lot of time is best for a race like (the Kentucky Derby).”

Big Brown suffered from quarter cracks earlier in his career, but Dutrow said the colt’s one-time brittle feet are no longer a concern.

“His feet have been cold the last three or four weeks,” he said. “I’m not worried about his feet at all.”

Big Brown is expected to depart Palm Meadows â€“ winter headquarters for Street Sense and Barbaro, the last two Kentucky Derby winners â€“ Monday.

“I have about 80 horses up in New York, and I talk to my people up there every day,” Dutrow said, “but I’d rather be here with this horse because it’s so much fun. He wants to be here at Palm Meadows.”

Getting off his seat long enough to give his colt a peppermint, he said, “We spoil him â€¦ he probably gets away with murder â€¦ but he’s the one who told us he wants to be here.”

Big Brown closed at 3-1, the favorite, after Pool 3 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager.

“It’s an honor to be the favorite now, and he’ll be the favorite on Derby Day, I can guarantee that,” Dutrow said. “We’re a betting stable, and we’ll make sure he’s the favorite.”

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"Kentucky Derby Favorite Big Brown Cruises in Work" was posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 10:36 pm and is filed under Gulfstream Park, Horse Racing Industry, Horses, Race Tracks News, USA Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.