Nearly 14 years ago, Chad Brown began training in Kentucky, winning his first race with Dual Jewels at Churchill Downs in November 2007. Now one of the four-time Eclipse Award winner's assistants is following suit, kicking off his U.S. training career with a stable at the Louisville oval.
Whit Beckman, part of Brown's team from 2016 through this summer, has a small group of horses stabled at Churchill Downs and hopes to run his first horse sometime next month at Keeneland.
Well, his first in America. Beckman, 39, has already been a head trainer in Saudi Arabia, training overseas for two seasons. But in the U.S., he has assisted some of the top barns in the country. In addition to Brown, he worked for Todd Pletcher and Eoin Harty, putting him within some star-studded barns at times. That followed his initial experience under horsemen Walter Bindner and David Scanlon in Kentucky.
Watch: Beckman Discusses Start of His Churchill Downs Stable
"I am very grateful for the path that I have taken to this. There are not a whole lot of guys that get to work with Eclipse Award teams for six or seven years, Breeders' Cups, Derbies. I look back on it with a lot of gratitude."
Just two horses and a pony comprised Beckman's stable last week. Two more racehorses are expected arrivals Sept. 28.
"But we are on our way," he said.
Still, the initial two horses in his stable, Think Twice and Truly Mischief, are bred to have ability. The former is a 2-year-old daughter of Malibu Moon, the latter a 2-year-old son of Into Mischief . Both are unraced.
Truly Mischief is out of the stakes-winning Yes It's True mare Truly Blushed. The colt is a full brother to grade 3-placed Souper Dormy and a half brother to Truly Marie, who was stakes-placed at Santa Anita Park.
Think Twice, from the family of champion My Miss Aurelia, is also out of a Yes It's True mare, Cautionary Tale, who has one black-type runner, the stakes-placed Adorable, from six foals.
Think Twice, who recorded her first published breeze Sept. 26 at Churchill Downs, three furlongs in an easy :39 3/5, is owned by her breeder Haymarket Farm, headed Chip Montgomery. Montgomery was a neighbor to Beckman when he grew up in Louisville.
From a family with a horse background, Beckman moved to the city when he was 2, and graduated from St. Xavier High School in 2000. His father, David Beckman, is an equine veterinarian who practices in Oldham County. His mother, Diane, has been involved with show horses.
"(Chip) always told me when I went on my own, he would support me. So as soon as I let him know, he sent me this filly," Beckman said outside Barn 33 at Churchill Downs.
Truly Mischief, owned and bred by Newtown Anner Stud, also breezed Sunday at Churchill Downs, timed in a half-mile in :51 3/5.
Beckman notes there are differences for a trainer of a small stable compared to being part of a more extensive operation.
"You go from the top of the anthill all the way down to the bottom," he acknowledged."It's a lot of things you take for granted, that you get comfortable with, in those massive stables where you have so many options—say company for your horses, going to the gate, so many things. Once you get out here with two horses, it suddenly becomes a lot more work, trying to put a puzzle together."
Brown, who relocated to his home state of New York soon after beginning training at Churchill Downs, calls Beckman well prepared to train. Beckman has overseen Brown's runners in Kentucky.
Other former assistants for Brown, such as Jorge Abreu and Cherie DeVaux, are successful trainers. DeVaux competes throughout much of the year in Kentucky. She won a race at Churchill Downs Sept. 16 with Spy a Star.
"Whit's very experienced. He's worked for several top trainers and did a fabulous job for us," Brown said. "I think he has the experience to go out and be a head trainer."
Beckman said it was always his intention to train. So when Brown chose to withdraw his horses from Churchill Downs late this summer, not finding it economically viable with grass racing suspended amid turf course reconstruction, it seemed "time to make the next move," Beckman said.
Beckman, who has a daughter who lives in Lexington, intends to race at Turfway Park in Northern Kentucky this winter after Keeneland and Churchill Downs conclude their falls meets. He wants to let his stable grow naturally and be intimately involved in operations, calling upon his roughly 20 years of experience.
"Glad I stuck in there and didn't make any moves before I thought I might be ready. So now it's just all green lights, and I feel over-prepared," Beckman said.
