Brokers Tip (USA)
1930 – July 14, 1953
Black Toney (USA) x Forteresse (FR), by Sardanapale (FR)
Family 12-c
1930 – July 14, 1953
Black Toney (USA) x Forteresse (FR), by Sardanapale (FR)
Family 12-c
A talented but unsound colt, Brokers Tip won exactly one race in his career—the 1933 Kentucky Derby, a race that has gone down in history as the “Fighting Finish Derby.” While Brokers Tip and Head Play charged down the stretch, their jockeys grabbed at one another's boots and saddlecloths and slashed at each other with their whips, a display that earned them both 30-day suspensions. Nonetheless, the stewards allowed the results to stand as they judged that both colts had been equally guilty of interfering with one another while not affecting any of the other runners.
Many observers later speculated that Herb Fisher on Head Play might have actually cost his mount the race by his antics, as the best known photo of the finish shows Head Play with his head slightly turned to one side while Brokers Tip appears to be looking straight ahead. Fisher himself insisted to his dying day that his mount had won, claiming that Brokers' Tip owed his placing as the winner to the stewards' regard for Brokers Tip's owner, the popular Colonel Edward Riley Bradley. On the official race chart, however, Brokers Tip is described as “much the best”--an accolade perhaps owing something to the fact that the chart caller, Lincoln Plaut, had publicly picked Brokers Tip to win.
The fourth and last of Colonel Bradley's four Derby winners, Brokers Tip broke down in his next start, the Preakness Stakes. A comeback at age 6 ended dismally with Brokers Tip running out of the money in five starts. In an odd parallel to his racing career, Brokers Tip sired only one stakes winner during his stud career, but that stakes winner was the first-rate stayer Market Wise.
Race record
14 starts, 1 win, 2 seconds, 1 third, US$49,600
1932:
1933:
As an individual
A brown horse, Brokers Tip inherited the bad legs of his maternal grandsire, Sardanapale. He was courageous and willing and stayed well but was too unsound to be able to use his talent consistently.
As a stallion
According to Jockey Club records, Brokers Tip sired 42 winners (37.5%) and 1 stakes winner (0.9%) from 112 named foals.
Notable progeny
Market Wise (USA)
Connections
Brokers Tip was bred and owned by Colonel Bradley's Idle Hour Stock Farm. He was the last of four Kentucky Derby winners trained by H. J. “Derby Dick” Thompson. Following his racing career, Brokers Tip stood under lease to Admiral Cary Grayson at his Blue Ridge Stud in Virginia but got few opportunities. After Grayson's death in 1938, Brokers Tip was put up at auction at the fall Lexington sales and fetched US$1,200 (US$1,400 per tbheritage.com)—about the price of a mid-level claimer at the time. His purchaser, F. P. Orsetti, transferred him to California; later, the horse stood at the Half Circle Club Ranch in Wyoming. Brokers Tip was eventually donated to the University of California—Davis and died there in 1953. His remains now rest at the Kentucky Derby Museum near Churchill Downs.
Pedigree notes
Brokers Tip is outcrossed through five generations. He is a full brother to stakes winner Billionaire and a half brother to Bleebok (by Blue Larkspur), whose granddaughter Bramalea won the 1962 Coaching Club American Oaks and produced 1971 Derby Stakes (ENG-G1) winner Roberto, an important sire. Bleebok is also the second dam of multiple stakes winners Apatontheback and Advocator and third dam of the good sprinter and sire Delta Judge.
Forteresse, the dam of Brokers Tip, was imported to the United States in 1926. She was a half sister to 1931 Prix de Royallieu winner Brunhild (by Teddy; third dam of 1955 Argentine Triple Crown winner Tatán) and was produced from the Ossian mare Guerriere, who never raced. The next dam in the tail-female line, Amazone III, was sired by 1894 English dual Classic winner Ladas out of Cross Roads, by 1886 Grand Prix de Paris winner Minting.
Books and media
Fun facts
Photo credit
Photographer unknown. From the private collection of Dale Wyatt; used by permission.
Last updated: November 12, 2022
Many observers later speculated that Herb Fisher on Head Play might have actually cost his mount the race by his antics, as the best known photo of the finish shows Head Play with his head slightly turned to one side while Brokers Tip appears to be looking straight ahead. Fisher himself insisted to his dying day that his mount had won, claiming that Brokers' Tip owed his placing as the winner to the stewards' regard for Brokers Tip's owner, the popular Colonel Edward Riley Bradley. On the official race chart, however, Brokers Tip is described as “much the best”--an accolade perhaps owing something to the fact that the chart caller, Lincoln Plaut, had publicly picked Brokers Tip to win.
The fourth and last of Colonel Bradley's four Derby winners, Brokers Tip broke down in his next start, the Preakness Stakes. A comeback at age 6 ended dismally with Brokers Tip running out of the money in five starts. In an odd parallel to his racing career, Brokers Tip sired only one stakes winner during his stud career, but that stakes winner was the first-rate stayer Market Wise.
Race record
14 starts, 1 win, 2 seconds, 1 third, US$49,600
1932:
- 3rd Cincinnati Trophy (USA)
1933:
- Won Kentucky Derby (USA, 10FD, Churchill Downs)
As an individual
A brown horse, Brokers Tip inherited the bad legs of his maternal grandsire, Sardanapale. He was courageous and willing and stayed well but was too unsound to be able to use his talent consistently.
As a stallion
According to Jockey Club records, Brokers Tip sired 42 winners (37.5%) and 1 stakes winner (0.9%) from 112 named foals.
Notable progeny
Market Wise (USA)
Connections
Brokers Tip was bred and owned by Colonel Bradley's Idle Hour Stock Farm. He was the last of four Kentucky Derby winners trained by H. J. “Derby Dick” Thompson. Following his racing career, Brokers Tip stood under lease to Admiral Cary Grayson at his Blue Ridge Stud in Virginia but got few opportunities. After Grayson's death in 1938, Brokers Tip was put up at auction at the fall Lexington sales and fetched US$1,200 (US$1,400 per tbheritage.com)—about the price of a mid-level claimer at the time. His purchaser, F. P. Orsetti, transferred him to California; later, the horse stood at the Half Circle Club Ranch in Wyoming. Brokers Tip was eventually donated to the University of California—Davis and died there in 1953. His remains now rest at the Kentucky Derby Museum near Churchill Downs.
Pedigree notes
Brokers Tip is outcrossed through five generations. He is a full brother to stakes winner Billionaire and a half brother to Bleebok (by Blue Larkspur), whose granddaughter Bramalea won the 1962 Coaching Club American Oaks and produced 1971 Derby Stakes (ENG-G1) winner Roberto, an important sire. Bleebok is also the second dam of multiple stakes winners Apatontheback and Advocator and third dam of the good sprinter and sire Delta Judge.
Forteresse, the dam of Brokers Tip, was imported to the United States in 1926. She was a half sister to 1931 Prix de Royallieu winner Brunhild (by Teddy; third dam of 1955 Argentine Triple Crown winner Tatán) and was produced from the Ossian mare Guerriere, who never raced. The next dam in the tail-female line, Amazone III, was sired by 1894 English dual Classic winner Ladas out of Cross Roads, by 1886 Grand Prix de Paris winner Minting.
Books and media
- The story of Brokers Tip's Derby is told in “The Fighting Finish,” the sixth chapter of The 10 Best Kentucky Derbies. Written by the staff and correspondents of The Blood-Horse, the book was released by Eclipse Press in 2005.
- Brokers Tip is profiled in Chapter 6 of Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002 (2003, Eclipse Press).
Fun facts
- A near-cripple at birth, Brokers Tip was so deficient in calcium as a foal that he walked on his hind pasterns. He was saved by a combination of splints and corrective shoeing.
- Over 100 media representatives attended Brokers Tip's Kentucky Derby, the largest number of reporters to attend any Kentucky Derby up to that time.
- The famous photo of the finish of the 1933 Kentucky Derby, showing the battle between Don Meade on Brokers Tip and Herb Fisher on Head Play as their mounts strained toward the finish line, was taken by Wallace Lowery of the Louisville Courier-Journal.
- Two weeks after the Derby, Colonel Bradley became the first owner to win the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky Oaks in the same year when his Barn Swallow won the latter race. She was also ridden by Don Meade.
- Both Don Meade and Herb Fisher continued to ride successfully for several years after their Derby battle, but it took 32 years before both men were finally ready to shake hands and let bygones be bygones. Prior to that, Meade had been ruled off the track for repeated riding violations, while Fisher had become a trainer.
- Brokers Tip's Derby duel with Head Play was ranked #44 in Horse Racing's Top 100 Moments, a review of racing in the 20th century compiled by The Blood-Horse and released in 2006.
- Brokers Tip made Colonel Bradley the first owner to win the Kentucky Derby four times and the first owner to win back-to-back editions of the great race. Bradley and trainer "Derby Dick" Thompson had previously won the race with Behave Yourself (1921), Bubbling Over (1926) and Burgoo King (1932).
Photo credit
Photographer unknown. From the private collection of Dale Wyatt; used by permission.
Last updated: November 12, 2022