Racehorse TALK

Big Brown, the 2008 champion 3-year-old male and winner of that year's Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, started back under tack Monday morning Aug. 17 at Robert N. Clay's Three Chimneys Farm near Midway, Ky.

The farm typically exercises the majority of its stallions by galloping them a mile and a quarter under tack six days a week on its quarter-mile training track. This regimen allows them to maintain an acceptable level of fitness both mentally and physically throughout their life as a stallion. Big Brown completed his first year at stud this year.

Big Brown grabbed a quarter while preparing for the 2008 Breeders' Cup Classic and was subsequently retired. He was not ridden during his first year at stud in order to give his injury any and all necessary time to heal.

Big Brown's first ride was an easy workout, in which he jogged the first three laps, galloped the next 1-1/2 laps, then jogged the last half of a lap.

(Originally published at BloodHorse.com.)