Suffolk Downs Trying To Lure Big Brown With $5M MassCap Purse
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MassCap To Raise Purse If Curlin (l),
Big Brown Remain Unbeaten, Run In Race |
Suffolk Downs Owner Richard Fields said that the thoroughbred track for the Massachusetts Handicap (MassCap) race on September 20 will raise the purse to $5M if horses Big Brown and Curlin "remain unbeaten this summer and start in the race," according to Mark Blaudschun of the BOSTON GLOBE. The purse increase includes a "$1[M] participation bonus for each horse." The MassCap carries a purse of $500,000, but Fields said that Suffolk's largest shareholder, Coastal Development, LLC, for which Fields serves as Chair, will fund the additional money. Blaudschun writes if Big Brown Saturday wins the Belmont Stakes to capture the Triple Crown, the horse's "options remain enormous." Big Brown could "go to stud" at Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky, which last month paid more than $50M for the horse, or Big Brown could "finish his career" at the Travers Stakes in August and the Breeders' Cup Classic in October (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/6). In Albany, Tim Wilkin reports if Big Brown wins the Belmont but either he or Curlin loses a race after that, the MassCap will offer a $3M purse with a $500,000 participation fee. Big Brown co-Owner Michael Iavarone said that the "plan remains to have" Big Brown run in the Travers Stakes and then "close out his career" in a race against Curlin at the Breeders' Cup (Albany TIMES UNION, 6/6). But Iavarone said of the MassCap purse, "That's a lot of money, and Suffolk is a nice, safe racetrack. I know we'd love to run against Curlin" (N.Y. POST, 6/6).
TRIPLE BOOST? In N.Y., Vic Ziegel writes even if Big Brown wins Saturday and becomes the first horse since Affirmed in '78 to capture the Triple Crown, horse racing "is what it is and what it is is barely breathing." Iavarone, when asked of the impact of Big Brown losing Saturday's race, said, "If that happens, racing is back in the toilet again" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/6).
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