An undefeated thoroughbred named Big Brown, owned by two Long Islanders, is the favorite to win his fourth race – the Kentucky Derby.
The chestnut colt is owned by a company of investors run by Michael Iavarone, 37, of Bethpage, and Rich Schiavo, 58, of Woodbury, both former Wall Streeters who went into the horse game.
Iavarone said he spotted Big Brown last September, when the stallion left the field behind to win at Saratoga in his first race.
“I was looking at a 2-year-old that just won by 12 to 14 lengths, which you don’t see,” said Iavarone. “I told Rich we need to own this horse, he’s just incredibly talented.”
They purchased a 75 percent ownership in Big Brown for $2.5 million, with an eye on the Derby.
“We’re really excited about it,” said Schiavo. “It’s something you can’t put into words. Clearly, he’s the horse to beat.”
In baseball terms, Big Brown “is a young phenom who just got himself into the major leagues, and everybody knows he’s something special,” said Iavarone, a former investment banker.
He said the thoroughbred, now a 3-year-old who has a sweet tooth for peppermint mints, is already worth “ten times what we paid for him,” and not just because he won his second and third races and garnered more than $1 million in purses.
Big Brown is special, said Iavarone, because he has a natural athletic ability and loves to win. “Racehorses know when they win races,” he explained.
“Nothing bothers him,” although the noise of the crowd, the crowded field of 19 other horses, and other factors at the Derby on May 1 will test him, said Iavarone.
“I can’t tell you the winner, but I’ll tell you who I want to win – Big Brown first and Court Vision second,” Iavarone said with a grin, naming the two horses they have entered in the Derby.
“Big Brown looks like the real deal, and he may prove to be the real deal,” said Daily Racing Form handicapper Noel Michaels. “But there is something about the Derby – there are no guarantees.”
Michaels said the odds are long against success, because the last time an undefeated newcomer won the Kentucky Derby was 93 years ago, in 1915.