Harness: Brian Brown building a reputation as a developer of champions

Which name comes to mind when you think of great developers of young Standardbred talent? If Brian Brown isn't in the conversation then perhaps you need to check the statistics.

Brown currently trains the best 2-year-old filly pacer in North America Geocentric and helped develop arguably the top two 3-year-olds currently in training – Confederate and Seven Colors. The 58-year-old trainer has been selecting yearlings and producing champions for years, most notably Fear The Dragon, Downbytheseaside, Limelight Beach and so many others just in the last decade.

Brown is developing these talented horses at price points that are certainly attractive. Seven Colors was a $93,000 Lexington purchase in 2021 with Brown signing the ticket. He also put in the final bid of $65,000 on 2017 Pacer of the Year Downbytheseaside back in 2015.

"We've been fortunate straight back to Won The West that raced for the Burkes," said Brown, recalling the $35,000 purchase he made at Harrisburg in 2005 that went on to earn $3.9 million. "We've had several that, whether we kept them and raced or they went somewhere else, they did well."

Brown certainly feels a sense of pride when the horses he develops go on to greatness, even if he isn't the one calling the shots when they reach the top of the Standardbred mountain.

"Yeah, I still know that I had a part in it. My life is buying young horses and getting them going," he stated. "I would love to still have them and race them, but if I had to just train older horses, I don't know if I'd like this anymore."

Of course the disappointment of losing top horses is very real. Brown trained Confederate to five wins in seven starts as a 2-year-old last year while earning just north of $443K. The Diamond Creek Racing-owned son of Sweet Lou was thought by most to be the best of his class entering 2023. Despite no wrongdoing on his part, the colt was moved from Brown's home base in Ohio to trainer Brett Pelling in order to keep Confederate in the New Jersey area under the watchful eye of racing manager Marcus Johansson.

Confederate lived up to the promise and leads all North American Standardbreds in earnings at $1,077,929 this year. He also set a world record by becoming the fastest 3-year-old pacer in history when he stopped the Red Mile timer in 1:46 1/5.

"I'm not going to tell you it wasn't disappointing to lose Confederate, but Adam [Bowden – owner Diamond Creek Racing] has taken care of me pretty good on that horse, so I really can't complain. It makes losing the horse a lot easier. Don't get me wrong, it is not the same as having him," said Brown. "I still root for the horse every week. We still like the horse. He's a hell of a horse.

"Confederate was the best horse last year and I was sure coming out this year he would be the best horse. I can't say that though because the pressure isn't on me anymore. I would only be putting pressure on Brett and I didn't want to do that," continued the affable Brown. "Confederate came to us late as a yearling, and we took our time and brought him along slowly. It worked out great. You just hope during yearling time people remember that you were the one training originally and not just who is winning all the races now."

The aforementioned Seven Colors was in Brown's barn for his entire 2-year-old campaign and up through the Cane Pace on August 5 at the Meadowlands when the colt finished second behind Confederate. At that point he was sold and has gone on to win the Milstein Memorial at Northfield Park and Pennsylvania Sire Stakes final at Harrah's Philadelphia. It was another blow for Brown, but one he agreed made sense for the owners.

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"I got some money when they sold him," said Brown. "I wasn't against selling him, but I knew I was giving away my last chance of competing in the major races like the Jug and the Breeders Crown. But the money was really good at the time and I sure couldn't tell the owners not to sell. It was a good business move at the time."

While new trainer Andrew Harris was quick to praise Brown for his work with Seven Colors after the Milstein, at one point social media was abuzz when Brown's name wasn't brought up after Confederate won an early stakes race. The social angst was something the trainer said he addressed at the time on a Facebook post to clear the air that he wasn't offended and that the connections treated him very well. Now months later, he simply said "It's time to let that go."

It is certainly easier to turn the page when you come to the barn every morning and see Geocentric in the stall. The Pennsylvania and Kentucky Sire Stakes champion rookie filly has never lost in seven career starts under the tutelage of Brown, who has nearly 1,900 career training victories (as of 1991 when USTA records begin) in his 40 years in the sport. Geocentric is expected to start during the first week of October at The Red Mile before taking Brown to the Breeders Crown at Harrah's Hoosier Park on the final two weekends in October. Perhaps that will be the key for him to pick up another Crown win as his last came in 2017 over that same surface with then 3-year-old pacing filly Blazin Britches.

Brown, whose other Breeders Crown win came in the Mare Pace Crown final with Color's A Virgin in 2015, has seen his share of bad luck in the Crown races, with a number of second-place finishes over the last eight years. Most recently, Confederate found himself in an impossible spot and charged home to just miss last year. Gulf Shores fell a neck shy in 2021, also in the 2-year-old colt pace. Downbytheseaside was second twice, as a 2- and 3-year-old in the colt pace finals in 2016 and 2017.

"I never really thought about it," said Brown about the poor fortune before diving into his memory banks. "Confederate should've won last year. He just got into a bad spot. Downbytheseaside was coming back at the end of his 3-year-old race but just ran out of time. Color's A Virgin [fourth in the 3-year-old filly pace in 2014] was by far the best filly but a horse got parked on the outside and jammed the flow up while she was third-over. She paced home in 25 4/5 to be fourth. It's all water under the bridge now."

With the major yearling sales in Lexington and Harrisburg fast approaching, it may be worthwhile to give 2017 Trainer of the Year Brown a call. If history is an indicator, he may just be training another standout 2-year-old in 2024 that he developed and there is no time like the present to jump on the bandwagon.