Iavarone: Big Brown Will Not Race at 4

fbwinnersfbwinners Senior Member
edited September 2008 in Horse Racing Forum
Iavarone: Big Brown Will Not Race at 4
Email Print RSS by Steve Haskin
Date Posted: September 13, 2008
Last Updated: September 14, 2008


Derby winner Big Brown
Order This Photo
Photo: Jeffrey Snyder
Michael Iavarone, co-president of IEAH Stables, clarified a story published in today's Washington Post that was picked up by other publications that stated Big Brown may race as a 4-year-old. Iavarone said that although IEAH has the right to race Big Brown at 4, the colt will be retired at the end of the year.

“(John Scheineman) called me (Friday) and asked me why we’re running Big Brown on the grass and I told him we always wanted to get this horse on the grass; we think he’s a grass horse,” Iavarone said. “So, he says, ‘Is there anything in your contractual agreement with Three Chimneys that says you get a bonus if you win a stakes race on the grass?’ I told him there’s nothing at all in the contract that says we get any benefits if he wins any kind of race on the grass. The only thing that exists in the contract between us is that we have the right to buy out Three Chimneys’ percentage if we wanted to go on and run the horse as a 4-year-old. He asked if that’s going to happen, and I said that right now there’s no shot of that happening, but anything can happen at IEAH. So, he wrote that we’re ‘entertaining thoughts of postponing Big Brown’s retirement and racing him another year.’

“I just don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea. When I refer to the fact that anything can happen at IEAH, if you watch what’s happened over the past six months that’s pretty much the way it’s been. It was just a general comment. The bottom line is that the horse will be sent to Three Chimneys in December. He definitely will be retired.”

Big Brown, despite the imminent soft course for this afternoon’s Monmouth Stakes, will run in the 1 1/8-mile race, Iavarone said.

The race is designed as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, to be run on a synthetic surface for the first time.

Comments

  • rayphilrayphil Senior Member
    edited September 2008
    I wish they would just make up there mind. I know that they are not going to race him as a 4 year old. I just read earlier that they were considering it. When it comes down to it he is a good horse but even if he wins the classic I dont think that he is a great horse.
Sign In or Register to comment.