meeting Big brown

In 2008, the racing world came face to face with the possibility of a triple crown winner, but was once again left without one. Big Brown, the 2008 Ky derby winner won the race by a huge margin and went on to repeat in the Preakness Stakes. He was known for frequent quarter cracks because he had "bad" feet, and that was passed on from his sire. He became the derby favorite after winning the Florida Derby from the outside post and became the first horse in a long time to win from post 20 in the derby. Ridden by Kent D. , and owner by IEH stables, he came to the Belmont in a position to be the first horse in 28 years to win the triple crown. In the Belmont, he was pulled up, eased at the top of the stretch because he had a bad start- a horse bumped into him, and he developed another quarter crack and went on to win a few more races before being retired to Three Chimmneys farm in Versailles Ky. After his Florida derby win and Ky derby win and Preakness win, I became a huge fan and wanted to meet him and see his beauty up close. I did!!

In 2009 I had a tour arranged with Three Chimmneys to visit the stallions and farm as a whole, and it was a wonderful experience. The tour started with us signing in at the visitors center , which is beautiful and was had horse nick nacks and a wall dedicated to cards visitors have sent to brown and Smarty Jones. You have to wait until the whole group arrives but its nice to see the cards young children sent to Smarty on his birthday,and date of retirement. So cute!

Once the whole group arrived at the center, we were greeted by a friendly woman who was to be our tour guide, and she was enthusiastic about us being there. The tour began with the overview of the farm's history , and we got to see the green blue grass fields and the beautiful landscape with some horses grazing. It was a cold rainy day and we were wanting to be inside, so the tour guide led us into the Stallion barn. It was very warm and cozy in the barn and she let us explore and I saw Dynaformer sitting in his stall, and some other horses. Here are some original pictures.

The first horse they brought out of the stalls was Smarty Jones, and he was beautiful. He looked tired and I suppose he had had a very long day, so he wasnt very interactive with us.

We were then ushered outside to view BIG BROWN! , and as if by magic, the cloudy skies went away and as the handlers brought him out, the sun began to shine on his beautiful coat. People were amazed by his grace and began to take pictures and as if he knew, he began to hold his head up high and pose for the cameras. He had a perfect confirmation and he looked fit and very very very well taken care of . Heres a pic of the sun shining on him.


They allowed us to take pictures and they talked alot about his career and then told us he had to go to a "date " with a filly.

I strongly urge you guys to visit Three Chimmneys because it is a beautiful farm and the people involved with it are very friendly and take care of the stallions well..