Big Brown works in 1:01.20

Big Brown continued to progress toward his return, working five furlongs in 1:01.20 on a fast main track at Aqueduct on Monday under his regular exercise rider, Michelle Nevin.

Monday's move was Big Brown's third in a series of progressively faster workouts at that distance since his last-place Belmont Stakes debacle, following a 1:06.73 clocking on July 2 and a time of 1:02.86 on July 7. There were only a handful of workouts over the track Monday, and the surface was on the dull side. Two other five-furlong works went in 1:04.11, the fastest three-eighths was 38 even, and the fastest half-mile was 49.01 seconds.

Trainer Rick Dutrow, who caught the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner in fractions of 24, 36, and 48 seconds, and a gallop-out in 1:15, said, "It was all clockwork, no pressure. He took Michelle around there every step. We're in good shape"

Big Brown is expected to make his next start in the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on Aug. 3.