A Brittain to Remember : Trainer and Pebbles, His Star Pupil, Will Be Ready When They Return to U.S.

Trainer Clive Brittain returned home Friday, flying back to England with Pebbles’ 1985 Eclipse Award under one arm and a dossier of information on American horse racing under the other.

Of the two items, the second is perhaps the more important. The first represents something already accomplished--Pebbles having earned her Eclipse as best female turf horse of 1985 for her victory in the $2-million Breeders’ Cup Turf Stakes Nov. 2 at Aqueduct.

The dossier, on the other hand, represents the future, in particular Brittain’s intention to build upon his Breeders’ Cup success. His plans are ambitious and include sending horses to the post in the Kentucky Derby, Arlington Million and Breeders’ Cup this year.

Europe’s leading money-winning trainer last year, Brittain believes in the future of trans-Atlantic racing. He predicts that an increasing number of European horses will be competing in the United States in years to come and that more and more American horses will be sent to race in Europe.

Brittain, 51, wants to be in the vanguard of that movement. An unassuming man with a quiet, confident air, he has set his own sights on conquering the colonies and apparently has the horses to give it a try. He has 115 in his barn at Newmarket, among them 65 2-year-olds.

Pebbles, referred to by Brittain as the “filly of the century” even before her Aqueduct triumph, is the key to the trainer’s hopes. She will be trying to defend her Breeders’ Cup title next Nov. 1 at Santa Anita, and, in an interview earlier this week, Brittain outlined his plans for Pebbles’ year.

“She won’t start until the middle of the (English) season,” he said. “The Eclipse will most certainly be her first race. Then we’ve got a choice between the King George Stakes and the Benson and Hedges Gold Cup, but Sheik Mohammed (of Dubai, Pebbles’ owner) is keen to come over for the Arlington Million, which I am, too, so we’ll probably find she’ll run maybe twice and then go for the Arlington Million.

“We’re not too certain whether we’ll go for the Irish Champion or wait for the English Champion. Again, if we decided to go for the mile and a half with her later on, she could even take in the Arc (France’s Arc de Triomphe) before she comes over.”

Brittain said that Pebbles travels well, as evidenced by her performance at Aqueduct in November.

“I was very pleased with the way she traveled,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it. She came over 16 kilos (35.2 pounds) overweight, and when she got back home she was 16 kilos underweight. So she had a turnaround of 32 kilos but lost no condition at all.’

Understandably, Brittain has a special feeling for the 5-year-old mare and enjoys reciting her triumphs over such top European horses as Rainbow Quest, Slip Anchor, Commanche and Palace Music. “She made them look like hacks,” he said.

His confidence in Pebbles is reflected by the fact that it cost $225,000 to supplement her into the Breeders’ Cup last fall.

At least three Brittain-trained horses will be running in the United States this year. Besides running Pebbles in the Arlington Million and Breeders’ Cup, Brittain will send Bold Arrangement to the Kentucky Derby and Blue Grass Stakes, and Jupiter Island to the San Juan Capistrano Handicap.

Brittain admitted that he is even considering setting up operations on both sides of the Atlantic, saying that he would not need to change his training methods in order to compete here.

“I feel that if I came to America for any period of time I would train exactly the same as your trainers do here,” he said. “I don’t think you can beat the system. I mean, it’s worked and proven itself.

“If you come from England, you don’t come over with any secrets or anything special. You just come over with a horse that’s good enough.”

Is he considering coming over?

“Yes, more and more,” he said. ‘Within the next two years I’m hoping to put together my own training track in the Newmarket area which we’ll put down to dirt. I’ve got the site picked out but I haven’t got it bought yet. I need another Breeders’ Cup purse.

That last remark was said with a chuckle, but Brittain’s reference to putting down a dirt track in a country where all racing is done on turf reflects his vision of the future. He sees major changes ahead in English racing.

“I think there are drastic changes coming in our racing,” he said. “We certainly must have a dirt track before long. That’s a must, definitely. I can see that happening in the next five years.

“The international racing will certainly become more of a challenge. I can see horses flitting both ways, coming from the States to race in England and certainly more horses being shipped out to race from England.”

What was once a sport has become a business, but Brittain does not see that as necessarily being a bad thing.

“Actually, it’s a gigantic business and, I think, a very important business,” he said. “It employs--I couldn’t quote you figures, but it’s a hell of a lot of people. With the betting and the revenue the government takes out, it’s one of the big certain earners. They (the government) never lose on it; they only take out, unfortunately.”

Brittain, whose horses have won a fair share of the so-called classics, does not believe the huge purses being offered for newly established races are a threat to the classics.

“I think the money must be termed very important but I don’t think you’ll ever change the system of the classics because it’s the unknown potential of the 2- and 3-year-olds (that makes them attractive),” he said. “Anyway, you’ll find your biggest money earners are going to be 4-year-olds when the classics are out of the way.”

Brittain has been involved in horses and horse racing for the better part of 40 years.

“This will be my 15th season (as a head trainer),” he said. “We’ve never been at the top, but we’ve never been far off it. I think I was the biggest money earner in Europe last year. Henry Cecil won a million (pounds, $1.4 million)--the first time any English trainer had done it--but then we came quickly after and ended up winning about 100,000 (pounds, $140,000) more than he did.”