Horse Racing Fans Network | blogs, forums, videos, racing calendar, horseplayers, past performances, groups » Blog » Big Brown wins Monmouth Stakes turf Breeders Cup prep

VIEW FULL VERSION: Link

Title: Big Brown wins Monmouth Stakes turf Breeders Cup prep
Tags: BigBrown Monmouth BreedersCup 2008
Blog Entry: Big Brown lead wire to wire to win the $500,000 Monmouth Stakes at 1 1/8 miles in his turf stakes debut. The final time was 1:47.2. Big Brown's regular rider Kent Desormeaux was on the mount for trainer Rick Dutrow. The 2008 Kentucky Derby winner beat second choice Proudinsky by about a neck. Proudinsky piloted by Ramon Dominguez for Robert Frankel. Shakis--the third betting choice--was third with Joe Bravo on board for Kiaran McLaughlin. Silver Tree--fourth choice--filled out the superfecta of graded stakes winners--Eddie Castro was the jockey for the Bill Mott trainee. Big Brown (post 4) was sent to the lead out of the gate, with Get Serious (#8) the only willing challenger. Those two departed about six lengths in front of the rest of the field as they came to the first turn, but Big Brown opened up about 2 1/2 lengths more as they traveled the turn. The pace was fast, but never suicidal, over a turf rated "good". With Get Serious unable to keep stride as the pace accelerated at the top of the lane, the cavalry charge of graded stakes winners took over the role of chasing down the leader. Big Brown responded sternly and would not yield, holding off a very close Proudinsky (#6) to his immediate outside, with Shakis (#3) gaining on those two, and Silver Tree (#11) coming up the rail for fourth. FRACTIONS: 23.46 - 46.83 - 1:47.2 - 1:11.21 - 1:35.39 - 1:47.41 Drum Major, trained by George Weaver; and Ballonenostrikes, trained by Dennis Manning were scratched out of the race. Big Brown was sent off as a 3-5 favorite and returned $3.20 to win. All exotic returns were super low with the strong betting choices coming in the exact order of preference. The $2 Exacta returned $11.40, the $1 Trifecta paid $15.20, the $1 Superfecta returned $44.60. The Monmouth Stakes is Big Brown's final prep for the Breeders Cup Classic this November. Horses who do well on turf may do just as well on synthetic, and the BC Classic at Santa Anita will be Brownie's synthetic debut, so this performance bodes well for him. Although this inaugural Monmouth Stakes--written into Monmouth's schedule for Big Brown--was Big Brown's turf stakes debut, his very first race was on turf, and he won that by more than 11 lengths. His second race was also scheduled for turf, but--as happy accidents would have it--an off track made it his debut on dirt instead--he won that by more than 12 lengths. Next thing you know, Brownie was on the Derby trail, winning an eye-opening Florida Derby... and the rest is history. The Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner will be retired to stud at Three Chimneys in December.