Horse Racing Fantasy Community

Have you ever wondered what kind of training a horse receives in the weeks leading up to the Kentucky Derby? I want to give you a little bit of a behind the scenes look at what kind of preparation is involved with getting a horse like Big Brown ready for the Derby. It’s important to understand that ultimately, the decision of how each individual horse is prepared is up to the trainers and owners, two groups of people who are very smart and definitely know their stuff. But this training regiment is an example of something you might see with a horse like Big Brown.

Because his last race was the Florida Derby in late March, it’s important that he continue to work out, though it will be at a level that is designed to help him stay in top fitness condition. Though it’s hard to say exactly what his workout routine will be, this is an example of what a horse like Big Brown will be doing (preparation-wise) in the weeks leading up to the Kentucky Derby.

Once a week, he’ll have a practice race where I will ride him for probably five to six furlongs. We already know that Big Brown has tons of speed, so his routine will be what we call “maintenance work.” I’ll breeze him, which means that I’ll let him go a lot faster in the gallop, but not all out. For example, if we’re running a race that’s five furlongs, I’ll try and breeze him right around a minute or so. If it’s six, it will probably be about a minute and thirteen seconds. Those are great exercises for a horse like Big Brown. They essentially just help to keep the speed in him and not let him fall off on his fitness. Other than the practice races, he’ll probably walk a couple days a week and gallop three or four days a week. He’s already where we want him, so that “maintenance work” is what we’ll be doing with him until Derby day.