Big Brown Victorious at Monmouth Stakes
The Breeder’s Cup Classic will take place on 25 October 2008, and on Saturday, 13 September 2008, Big Brown competed in his last racing event before getting ready for the Breeder’s Cup. The Monmouth Stakes was run on turf to prepare Big Brown for the synthetic track on which the Breeder’s Cup will be run for the first time this year. And even though Big Brown was up against a brilliant field of older contenders and had to navigate a course that had been softened by rain, the three year old colt did not miss a beat and gave his all to win the $500 000 Monmouth Stakes.
Monmouth Park lured just over seventeen thousand spectators when they announced that Big Brown would be competing in the Monmouth Stakes. With names such as Silver Tree, Shakis, Fargedaboudit Sal and Proudinsky in the nine horse line up, Big Brown had a formidable field of contenders to beat. The Monmouth Stakes is the second straight victory for Big Brown since his unfortunate loss in the Belmont Stakes and his seventh career victory out of eight starts.
Big Brown, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, took the lead soon after leaving the starting gates, but it seemed that the mighty horse might lose his leading position as the rest of the field began closing in on him just before the stretch. But Big Brown remained determined in his quest to win and fought hard to hold his position. He managed to cross the wire a neck before second place finisher, Proudinsky, and took home the title and $300 000 for his connections. Big Brown and Proudinsky were followed home by Shakis, Silver Tree, Fagedaboudit Sal, Hotstufandthensome, Get Serious, Nightscape and Kiss the Kid. After the race, winning jockey, Kent Desormeaux was quoted saying: “I think he showed you what kind of heart he’s got. When Proudinsky got to his neck, I knew I had him. My horse just resurged and kept digging all the way to the wire.”
Big Brown will be seen again in his next start at the Breeder’s Cup. They were anticipating the entry of Curlin, current Horse of the Year, but it seems that these two horses are on two different racing paths. Curlin will be participating in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and it does not seem as if the Breeder’s Cup is on his calendar. Even though there is no epic face-off to look forward to, thousands of fans will be crowding the race course and watching their television sets in the hope that Big Brown can win the Breeder’s Cup, one of the most prestigious racing events in horse racing.
