Bracket Buster has returned home to Keeneland following his Oklahoma Derby win and trainer Vicki Oliver said late last week that his next move will be determined soon.
She said he could run back one more time this year in the Grade 3, $350,000 Fayette on Oct. 25 at Keeneland, or he may have wrapped up his season in the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby on Sept. 28 at Remington Park.
“We’ll just see how he trains and make our decision in the next 10 days or so,” she said.
Bracket Buster came into the Oklahoma Derby off two Grade 1 races on the East Coast, one effort a troubled fourth-place finish to Journalism in the Haskell, the other a runner-up finish to Sovereignty in the Travers. He won the Oklahoma Derby by 3 1/4 lengths and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 100.
“I thought he ran a big race,” Oliver said. “That was kind of the race I was hoping for and he showed up. He didn’t have to run into Sovereignty or Journalism, which was a bonus for him. I think we found the right spot for him to show his talents.
“He came out great, came out very good. We’re kind of kicking around the idea of shutting him down now, or maybe running at the end of Keeneland, just so he can run out of his own barn, in the Fayette. We’ll just have to see what we do.”
Bracket Buster is a son of Vekoma who is owned by BBN Racing.
Oliver was making her first trip to Remington and made some history while in Oklahoma City. She became the first woman trainer to win the Oklahoma Derby in the race’s 37 runnings. There have been 13 women, including Oliver, who have saddled a collective 17 horses in the richest race of the meet.
“People told me the next day,” she said of the history note. “It was a great trip. The people were very nice, very accommodating. It was a great place to go run a horse. The track was really good. The accommodations were really good.”
And for Oliver, so were the results.
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