Brancusi, a $350,000 yearling purchase, has only reached the winner's circle once, but also earned a second and two thirds from his five career starts. His only foray into stakes company produced a sixth-place finish in the Champagne Stakes (gr. I) at Belmont Park this past fall."We thought he'd win his last race and so did many others looking at his odds that day (8-5), even though I didn't think he'd win it that well," Biancone said. "But because he won like that I believe we'll give him a chance in one of those (stakes) races."Brancusi is named for the Romanian abstract sculptor Constantin Brancusi, who died in 1956. The artist's sculpture "Last Danaide" sold for more than $18 million last May, making it the most expensive piece of its kind sold at auction in history.
Michael Tabor's Brancusi, who impressed while winning a one-mile maiden event by five lengths at Santa Anita on Feb. 15, may turn up next in either the El Camino Real Derby (gr. III) at Golden Gate Fields Mar. 8 or the San Felipe Stakes (gr. II) on Mar. 16, trainer Patrick Biancone said. The son of Deputy Commander worked 1:11 4/5, handily, over Santa Anita's fast main track on Friday."This is the type of horse who will get better as it gets longer. It was very hard for him early in his career because we ask them to do things they don't really want to do," Biancone said, referring to the fact that most two-year-old races are sprints. "He ran very well considering all of that."
