NEWS
Vinery Australia adds Big Brown as shuttle stallion
Posted: Thursday, March 11, 2010 5:35 PM
by Jeff Lowe
Vinery Australia has acquired a significant shareholding in 2008 champion three-year-old male Big Brown, and the five-year-old horse will stand the Southern Hemisphere season at the Hunter Valley farm.
No stud fee has been announced for Big Brown, who is standing for an advertised fee of $55,000 at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Kentucky.
The Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1) winner did not shuttle after his first Northern Hemisphere season in 2009.
IEAH Stables raced Big Brown in partnership with Paul Pompa Jr. and retained a controlling interest in his stallion career. IEAH President Michael Iavarone said he could not yet comment on the new ownership makeup with the addition of Vinery Australia.
Big Brown was valued at $55-million just prior to the Preakness when Three Chimneys struck the deal to stand him.
Out of Mien, by Nureyev, Big Brown won seven of eight career starts and earned $3,614,500. His lone defeat came with the Triple Crown on the line in the 2008 Belmont Stakes (G1).
“It is a great thrill to be standing a horse of the caliber of Big Brown," Vinery's Peter Orton said in a press release. “He was the most superior racehorse of his generation, showing a devastating turn of foot to dominate the best horses in the land.
“Even more appealing to us is his pedigree; bred to run on turf yet brilliant enough to beat the best on their terms on dirt. What might this horse have achieved in Europe running in the classics there also?”
Big Brown also won the Florida Derby (G1) in his stakes debut and rebounded after the Belmont with victories in the Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) and Monmouth Stakes in his final two starts.
“After inspecting the stallion last week, I'm delighted to say he exceeded my expectations on conformation and his suitability to the Australasian style of racehorse,” Orton said. “He stands just on 16.1 hands, possesses a particularly kind temperament and handles himself in the covering barn like a real professional.
“The most pleasing aspect for the future of this stallion is the quality of his first foals that are now arriving in Kentucky. They are all strong compact types with good strong shoulders and powerful hindquarters, typical of the Danzig-line progeny we see here that are so successful in our conditions.”
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer
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Posted by: Alan, Lexington, KY on April 13, 2010 at 10:56 AM
Awesome!
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