Brancusi Survival Story Has His Small-Time Breeders Living a Dream

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From Simple Pleasures Farm in Harrodsburg, Ky. to the powerful stable of Michael Tabor. The journey of Kentucky Derby hopeful Brancusi has taken his dedicated breeders, Nancy Much and Charles Whetzel, to the threshold of America's greatest race.

Brancusi, who ran a bang-up race to finish a close third in the recent San Felipe Stakes, is the first foal bred by Much and Whetzel, and is out of the first mare they puchased after getting into the Thoroughbred breeding business three years ago.

When Brancusi was born on March 15, his dam, Treize, had a terrible time giving birth and almost died. She retained her placenta, then developed a toxemic infection and wasn't able to produce any milk. While Treize was administered Genticin to flush out her system, her Deputy Commander foal had to be fed by hand by Much and Whetzel in a scene right out of "Born Free."

At first, they tried to bottle feed him, but he didn't take to the nipple, so they drip-fed him by placing a syringe in the back of his mouth and dripping in Foal-Lac, a powdered artificial milk supplement. They had to hold his head up so he'd be able to swallow it. Because he was unable to get any colostrum, he had to be administered a supplement intravenously. "We have pictures of him in his stall with bandages around his neck and needles stuck in him," Much said.

With the mare ill and the foal suffering from dehydration, veterinarians recommended sending them to the Hagyard, Davidson & McGee clinic in Lexington, but Much and Whestzel refused, feeling it would be too stressful on them. It was then suggested they put the foal on a nursemare, but Much didn't want to separate the mare from her foal without at least giving them a chance. She had faith that Treize would recover quick enough to be able to nurse. "I felt there was no way she wasn't going to be able to produce milk," she said. "She was a mother. She was going to be able to nurse this baby."

When the vet bills began to reach into the thousands of dollars, the vet asked Much and Whetzel how much the foal was worth. "I guess they figured we were backyard horse people and couldn't afford to keep doing this," Much said. "We basically told them the sky's the limit. We had no qualms paying whatever it cost to get him over the hump. They didn't realize how much was riding on this little guy. He was our first and only foal, and she was our first and only mare."

The foal began getting his strength back and was placed in a paddock with Treize. Ten days after giving birth, she finally was well enough to be to able to produce milk and began feeding her foal, who grew into a strong, healthy, attractive colt.

That November, Much and Whetzel put him in the Keeneland mixed sale, consigned by Taylor Made as agent, and he was purchased by Talus Bloodstock for $100,000. The following year, he was pinhooked into the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale, where he was sold to Michael Tabor, through agent Robert Scanlon, for $375,000.

"That clinched it for the horse," Much said. "By going to Michael Tabor, and then turned over to Patrick Biancone, we knew he would be brought along the right way and get as much time as he needed."

Much, who had been involved in dressage for most of her life, had decided she wanted to get into the Thoroughbred business and teamed up with Whetzell, who had worked for her on her farm in Tennessee. Previously, he had been an exercise rider at Ocala Stud and for Eaton Sales, where he specialized in working with difficult horses.

"I couldn't have done this without him," Much said. "He's a horse whisperer, and he would die before he'd let any horse he was handling get hurt. He felt responsible when this happened because he was the one who convinced me to buy this mare (at the 1999 Keeneland November sale). He was looking for a mare who was in foal to Deputy Commander, because he felt Deputy Commander was one of the best new sires of that year. We went to the sale for one day and looked at five mares, and decided Treize was the one.

"She had good conformation, not flawless, and a very good straight walk," Much said. "I use my dressage training to look at horses, and I was really into biomechanics. I understood what it took to move a horse forward. She was like her sire, Alysheba; she had that certain look to her. We went back the next day. I was a novice and knew nothing. I just sat on my hands and waited for everyone to finish bidding. Then I raised my hand at $64,000 and got her on one bid. I found out that her weanling by Capote had sold earlier in the sale for $180,000, and couldn't understand why she went for only $64,000. When she had this problem I thought maybe she had the same kind of problem before and that's why she went so cheaply, but we found out it was because of a dissolution of a partnership. Since then, she's been perfect."

The following year, she produced a Tabasco Cat colt, whom they sold as a weanling for $71,000. In 2002, he was bought by Kenny McPeek for $110,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale. Last spring she produced a grand-looking Artax colt, already named Artrageous, whom they're hoping to get into this year's Saratoga yearling sale. And in April, Treize is due to foal to the cover of Souvenir Copy.

"She's been our mortgage payer," said Much, who had bought a 122-acre tobacco farm, which she named Simple Pleasures and tranformed into a Thoroughbred operation. "It was just the two of us," she said. "We started from nothing and did everything ourselves. We killed all the fescue and got rid of the tobacco, then planted orchard grass in our pastures. We were able to fence the pastures in using federal grant money."

Since Treize, they have expanded their broodmare band. They purchased an Ack Ack mare named Weejiner for $62,000 in foal to Smoke Glacken and now have a total of two.

When they watched Brancusi break his maiden by 5 lengths at Santa Anita on Feb. 15, then finish third in the San Felipe after opening a clear lead in midstretch, they couldn't believe this was their little foal whom they had nursed back to health.

"We're just so excited," Much said. "We know we're lucky. We probably did some things right, but if he hadn't gotten into the right hands, things probably would have been different. It's just so amazing that he made it. Here he is now this huge, healthy, althletic-looking colt. We had our whole future resting on this one little horse and his mom."

Now, Brancusi returns home to Kentucky for the Blue Grass Stakes, and Much and Whetzel are excited about seeing their horse again. "We don't have a reserved seat at Keeneland," Much said. "Every time we go there we just end up in general admission. I went into the Keeneland Web Site when I found out he was running in the Blue Grass, but all the reserved seats were taken. But we'll find someone who will let us sit with them.

"Regardless of what happens from now on, we're just so thrilled we've gotten this far with a horse who was such a longshot. Before the San Felipe, when we saw he was 50-1, we said, 'That's no big deal, his odds were a lot longer than that when he was born.'"

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