JeffreyDrown Minnesota

 Jeffrey Drown loves to talk about horses, specifically his newest Thoroughbred, Structor, he and his business partner, Don Rachel, purchased last year.  Jeffrey’s hobby has always been to breed and raise thoroughbreds.  “It’s a big passion of mine for as long as I can remember,” he adds.  Here, he talks about what makes Thoroughbreds the special breed they are.

Many people I talk to don’t realize Thoroughbred is actually a breed, he begins.  Thoroughbred can also mean “purebred,” but in the equine industry, it usually refers to the breed itself.  The Thoroughbred has certainly been a long-time favorite of racing enthusiasts.  They are considered “hot-blooded” horses that are known for their spirit and intelligence as well as speed and agility. “Structor is especially smart,” he adds, “which gives him a unique personality we just love.”

The history of the Thoroughbred horse is interesting,  Jeffrey Drown says.  In fact, every Thoroughbred today can be traced back to one of three stallions first imported to England in the 17th and 18th centuries.  “That’s when the native mares were crossbred with Oriental stallions of Arabian, Barb, and Turkoman descent,” he says, and then later, they were imported to America.

This crossbreeding created horses that were faster than other horses, Jeffrey adds.  Typically weighing about 1,000 pounds at maturity, Thoroughbreds are usually brown, chestnut, gray, or black and about 16 hands high,  Jeffrey Drown says. They have sleek, athletic bodies that make them the best breed for racing. Their back legs are usually long, he adds, which help them run faster.  Even though they are generally muscular and powerful horses, they always move with ease and grace, Jeffrey says.  They are considered the ultimate ride, he adds, with a smooth yet powerful gait. 

“We call them fast and furious,” he says with a smile, since they are some of the fastest animals in the world.  “They win more races than any other breed, but they’re not just racehorses,” Jeffrey adds. Many are used for shows and are excellent jumpers.  They are also the primary breed used in dressage, which is the sport in which a horse does delicate maneuvers almost like a dance, while the rider sits almost motionless,  Jeffrey Drown says.

One interesting fact,  Jeffrey Drown says, is that all Thoroughbreds celebrate the same birthday, regardless of their actual date of birth.  In the northern hemisphere, we say the horse is one year older on each January 1st.  That means a horse born in November would be one-year old as of the first of the year.  This helps to categorize them better for racing purposes, he adds, and explains why most breeders try to have their horses born as soon after the first of the year as they can – it just allows extra time for training prior to racing them.  

Jeffrey Drown and his partner, Don Rachel, are the owners of Structor, a 2-year-old thoroughbred horse purchased last year for $850,000.   Structor has won three major races so far, including the coveted 2019 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner with a purse of $1 million.  Jeffrey is the owner of Lyon Contracting, Inc. of St. Paul, Minnesota.