New 'Tribe' on the Derby Scene

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After signing the ticket on a son of Curlin for $110,000 on day six of the 2014 Keeneland September Yearling sale, trainer Keith Desormeaux could hardly contain his enthusiasm when dialing up owner Matt Bryan of Big Chief Racing.

“He called me and said, 'This is the one,'” Bryan revealed.

The 46-year-old continued with a laugh, “He was hyperventilating at the time and left this really long message. I'd give anything to hear it again today.”

Subsequently named Exaggerator, “the one” heads to the GI Kentucky Derby as a major player off a jaw-dropping score in the GI Santa Anita Derby Apr. 9, good for a co-division leading 103 Beyer Speed Figure. In addition to that runaway tally in the slop, he was previously a strong second behind the unbeaten champion Nyquist (Uncle Mo) in the GII San Vicente S. Feb. 15 and a close third after making an aggressive middle move in the GII San Felipe S. Mar. 12. The dark bay also boasts a solid foundation at two, including a win in the GIII Delta Downs Jackpot S., a runner-up finish in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity and a respectable fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

Produced by a stakes-placed half-sister to Canadian champion Embur's Song (Unbridled's Song), Exaggerator, bred in Kentucky by Joseph B. Murphy, will head to stud at WinStar Farm upon the conclusion of his racing career.

“Just to have this quality of a horse is really exciting and I give all the credit to Keith Desormeaux,” Bryan, a married father of two, commented. “It's a dream come true. Owners, trainers and jockeys–this is what we all strive for. This is a storybook tale.”

Bryan, the chief executive officer of M.G. Bryan Equipment Co., a Grand Prairie, Texas-based engine and generator distribution company founded by his father 30 years ago, campaigns Exaggerator in partnership with Ronnie Ortowski of Rocker O Ranch LLC, Desormeaux and Sol Kumin's Head of Plains Partners.

“For my family to be a part of it with Keith and [jockey] Kent Desormeaux and Ronnie Ortowski and his family is just phenomenal,” Bryan said. “Are we excited? We're so excited that we're pinching ourselves. Ronnie and I talk about it every night. And he's only been involved [in horse ownership] for 18 months. He's been a good friend of mine for a long time… Sol's guys just bought in recently [after the San Vicente].”

He continued, “Everybody's excited. My wife and two daughters are trying to figure out which hats and dresses to wear. The family enjoys it and it's something we as a family have enjoyed doing together. It's been a lot of fun.”

If it feels like Bryan and Desormeaux have been down this path before, well, they have. Sort of. The very first horse that the trainer purchased on behalf of Bryan's operation at public auction was the 2013 GII Risen Star S. upsetter I've Struck a Nerve (Yankee Gentleman). The $82,000 OBSAPR acquisition never made it to Louisville, however, and was subsequently retired following that 135-1 shocker with a career-ending ankle injury.

Big Chief Racing also campaigns last term's sidelined Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up Swipe (Birdstone) ($5,000 KEESEP); and recent impressive GIII Providencia S. heroine Decked Out (Street Boss) ($75,000 KEESEP). Other standouts to carry Bryan's green-and-white silks include: GIII San Juan Capistrano S. winner Crucero (Admiral's Cruise) ($40,000 claim); Cinderella S. heroine and GII Sorrento S. runner-up La Grange (Curlin) ($17,000 KEESEP); Pike Place Dancer S. victress Miss Machiavelli (Artie Schiller) ($20,000 KEESEP); and Landaluce S. winner and GI Chandelier S. third Right There (Eskendereya) ($55,000 KEESEP).

“Keith has an incredible eye for a horse and we've been really blessed with some great ones,” Bryan said. “We're making this a business. I call Keith the Warren Buffett of horseracing. He's a value investor. We don't have an unlimited budget like some of these guys that we're competing against. Our strategy is to buy 10-12 yearlings at the Keeneland September Sale and we might also buy a few at the OBS 2-year-old sales, too. I don't want to have a gigantic stable of 50 or 60 horses. I don't know the right number yet, we're still working through that. Our goal is to race higher quality, whether it's claimers, allowance, stakes or graded stakes horses.”

A fan of the sport since a youngster–he describes watching Seattle Slew's Triple Crown run on a small television at the age of eight as “the coolest thing”–Bryan was left with a lasting impression after experiencing his first horse race in person on a family vacation two years later.

“My parents were really good about taking us traveling to different places,” Bryan explained. “They took us to San Diego one summer and over the weekend, we went to a racetrack in Tijuana. My parents let us walk down to the rail and we watched them break and come back around. Just to be able to feel the thunder of those horses was just so thrilling.”

He continued, “I had a great uncle that had a Thoroughbred farm in Texas. I would watch the horses train–he'd race at Ruidoso–but I never went to the races again besides the one I saw in Tijuana until attending college at the University of Oklahoma. Remington Park had just opened and I started to learn how to read the Racing Form and just loved it. Then Lone Star Park opened and that was exciting and we'd go out there with friends, too.”

Bryan first delved into horse ownership through the Texas-based partnership group Don't Tell My Wife Stables. After meeting Desormeaux at a 2-year-old sale in Texas through the group's co-managing partner Kirk Godby, Bryan was quickly on his way. All he needed? A name for his fledgling stable.

“Keith would always call me chief,” he explained. “'Hello chief. How you doing chief? How's it going chief?' He'd chief me all the time! I'm a pretty good-sized guy–6′ 4″ and 230 pounds. I didn't really want to run under Matthew Bryan, so I came up with Big Chief Racing.”

Represented by a pair of runners in the top four during last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile as well as the morning-line second choice in the Run for the Roses, it sounds like the 'Big Chief' is certainly off to a pretty promising start.

“To have this kind of success in this quick of time is just truly amazing,” Bryan concluded.