EUROPE will get it’s first serious taste of Big Brown after exciting USA-bred colt Darwin will do his future racing from Aiden O’Brien’s Ballydoyle headquarters in Ireland.
A member of the Kentucky Derby/Preakness Stakes winners first crop, Darwin was sold for top price of US$1.3m at the Fasig Tipton Ready To Run Sale in last March.
The Todd Pletcher-trained colt posted an impressive debut win at Belmont Park in New York during October prior to finishing fourth in the Grade 2 Nashua Stakes after that.
“He picked up an injury in the U.S. and had a break before joining us about two weeks ago,” said Aidan O’Brien. “He is a fine, big colt, but we haven’t started to do anything with him yet.”
Bred in Pennsylvania by Lansdon Robbins and Tom Hansen, Darwin was also a $220,000 FTSAUG yearling. His granddam is Grade I winner Single Blade (Hatchet Man).
Meanwhile, trainer Tim Ice has stated his intentions to restrict stakeswinner Brown Almighty’s future racing to grass after the colt finished midfield on his return from an infrection.
Brown Almighty became Big Brown’s first stakeswinner after he took out the Sunny’s Halo Stakes on turf as a 2yo.
“He’s trained really well on the dirt, but he was just climbing Monday,” Ice explained. “We could blame the track, but the owners and I don’t like excuses. He’s already proven himself on the turf, so hopefully we’ll
have a really nice turf horse this year. His next race will actually be the OBS Sales S. on the [Safetrack, Mar. 11, but then we’ll nominate to all the big turf stakes.”
Big Brown is the sire of 22 winners from 42 starters including Preponderate and Ground Transport who both won on the turf in Florida this month.
Big Brown was undefeated in his two starts on the grass including his 11 3/4-lens debut win at Saratoga as a two-year-old.
