Big Brown made his return Sunday in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park with a 1 3/4 length win over a field of six weak rivals. His performance was not the dominant one we got used to in his earlier races, but the win gets him into the $5 Million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on October 25th.

Neither trainer Rick Dutrow nor co-owner Michael Iavarone was willing to commit to Big Brown’s next race. “I think right now Rick will evaluate him and we’ll plan a sensible campaign,” said Iavarone. “The Breeders’ Cup Classic is the ultimate goal.”

Big Brown bounded out of the gate, then relinquished the lead to Cool Coal in the backstretch. Only in the final 100 yards did Big Brown respond to Kent Desormeaux and close the gap for the victory. He improves to six wins in seven starts, and earnings of $3.3 million.