OWNER’S HOMEBREDS INCLUDE DOUBLE STAKES WINNER SHADY TIGER
Rusty Brown has brought many of his friends and work colleagues into racing partnerships
Edward “Rusty” Brown knows a lot of people, and he has a knack for bringing them together with the sport he’s always loved—horse racing.
Many of his partners are well-known personalities in the California racing community—trainers such as Bill Spawr, Jeff Bonde, and Bob Hess Jr., and fellow owners Bob Bone, Terry Lovingier, Phil Lebherz, and Alan Klein, among others.
The affable Brown is best known for his partnership with Lebherz and Klein in the syndicate supporting the popular 17-year-old stallion Smiling Tiger that has produced so many winners and sale horses for them over the years. He also is the sole owner of a few horses, most notably his versatile California homebred Shady Tiger, a Smiling Tiger 3-year-old gelding who recently won the Snow Chief Stakes Presented by City National Bank.
But many other partners among Brown’s more than 60 ownership combinations are often people who see how much he enjoys the sport and want to get involved, he says. Some come from his connections in the health insurance industry with a company he co-founded nearly 40 years ago; some are with friends or golfing buddies.
“I try to bring people into horse racing,” said Brown, who lives on a golf course in Irvine called Shady Canyons with Debi, his wife of 20 years. “I’m not what you’d call a student of the game, but I love it. I love being a part of it. I love betting on it. It’s fun to have partners to share it with.”
Brown’s love affair with the sport began as a youngster growing up in Troy, N.Y., near Saratoga Springs, attending harness and Thoroughbred races with his father. When he was 16, he went to work mucking stalls at the Saratoga harness track during the summer.
I try to bring people into horse racing. It’s fun to have partners to share it with.”
— Rusty Brown
“I immediately fell in love with Standardbreds,” Brown said. “It was a dirty job, but I loved hanging around the horses. They were celebrities to me.” He and his friend, future horse owner Roddy Valente, “couldn’t wait to cash our paychecks and drive up to the harness track. We had some good nights, but usually left with just enough money to stop at the diner for a burger on the way home. We still talk about those nights. Special memories for sure.”
Brown moved to Southern California in 1979, beginning his career in insurance with John Hancock and later forming his own company, The Word and Brown Companies, in 1985. With partner John Word, the company specializes in the distribution of group health insurance products through a network of independent brokers in California and Nevada.
The company’s success tempted Brown to invest
in horses. In 2001, he asked Valente, who had become a successful owner on the East Coast, to help him get started. Valente put him in touch with Hess, Spawr, and the late trainer Mike Mitchell.
“I claimed my first horse, Such Charisma, with Bob Hess,” Brown said. “I remember standing with Bob near the winner’s circle at Hollywood Park and watching Laffit Pincay Jr. split horses on the turf and get up at the wire to give me my first win. Winning that race was a feeling I’ve never forgotten. I was hooked.”
Brown hugs trainer Jeff Bonde after California-bred Crazy Hot wins the Generous Portion Stakes at Del Mar
Many winners later, Brown’s involvement in racing deepened when he joined the Smiling Tiger ownership syndicate. Lebherz and Klein, who owned the three-time grade 1-winning sprinter of more than $1.4 million, had big hopes for Smiling Tiger as a stallion and wanted Brown as a partner. They had previously partnered on a few horses trained by Bonde.
“Phil was a direct competitor of mine in (the health insurance) business,” Brown said, “but we both had an interest in horses. He suggested we get together for a drink, and I really liked him. He talked about his plans for Smiling Tiger and said, ‘Let’s put our money together, win some races, and have some fun.’”
Smiling Tiger is currently California’s leading sire in 2024 by progeny earnings with more than $2.1 million as of June 23, and he’s ranked in the top five sires in the state in each of the previous five years.
“It’s been a lot of fun and we’ve had a lot of winners,” Brown said. But while the trio’s earnings as owners have topped more than $3.75 million to date, he says, the arrangement hasn’t been a financial boon.
Part of the problem, he realized a few years ago, was that he owned about 130 horses in partnerships; expenses were out of hand. So, he hired his son, Eric, to track the inventory, monitor their horses’ activity, and mitigate training costs. His stable now numbers about 60.
“It was just too much to keep up with,” Brown said. “Under Eric, we’ve really downsized. He’s done a great job.”
Brown also credits Spawr, who retired as an active trainer in February 2023, with assisting their efforts.
“Bill has taken Eric under his wing. He keeps an eye out for our horses. He’s out at the track almost every day.”
Shady Tiger, winner of the Echo Eddie Stakes before his score in the Snow Chief for trainer Phil D’Amato, is out of the Full Mandate mare Divine Legacy and is “the best homebred I’ve had by far,” said Brown. A second 3-year-old Brown homebred, also by Smiling Tiger, is Mister O, a colt out of the Bold Badgett mare Bold Mystique.
Crazy Hot wins the Generous Portion Stakes at Del Mar
Expected back in action soon is the stakes-winning filly Crazy Hot. She returned to training for Bonde in May after recovering from a slight tendon injury, says Brown, who co-owns the Cal-bred daughter of Goldencents with Cory Thabit. She won the Generous Portion Stakes at Del Mar last September.
Brown says the favorite adventure of his racing career so far was the journey that Twice the Appeal took him and partners Victor Flores and Henry Hernandez on while winning the Sunland Derby (G3) before finishing 10th in the 2011 Kentucky Derby (G1). After the group made the decision to replace jockey Christian Santiago Reyes in favor of two-time Derby winner Calvin Borel, Twice the Appeal lost all