Ronney Brown betting on Barbados
Sire’s best runner earned over $700k in 2025
Ted Black
June 2, 2026
Barbadian Runner is back. That’s good news for his connections, of course, and also for Ronney Brown.
In each of the past two years, Charles Town trainer Brown and his wife, Nicole Brown, have topped the earnings standings at the track with a good blend of talented homebreds and horses acquired through the claim box. Now they are seeking to have even more widespread success as owners and breeders courtesy of a stallion named Barbados, who fell out of favor in Maryland and now resides on their Pellinor Lane Farm near the track.
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Brown purchased Barbados last year after Shamrock Farm’s selection, in December 2024, as the future Maryland thoroughbred training center. Brown had already purchased several horses sired by Barbados and noticed most of his yearlings went for below $5,000 at the sales.
“Even before we bought him, I always thought that the Barbados looked really good when they walked into the ring,” Brown recalled. “I couldn’t believe most of them were going for two- and three-thousand dollars. They looked to be really sound with good conformation. When [Shamrock Farm manager] Jim Steele called me and asked me if I wanted to get him, I told him I would. He had to have all the horses off the farm by a certain date so they could convert it into a training center, so I went and got him.”
A son of Speightstown, Barbados, 14, concluded his racing career with a 4-3-1 slate and just over $375,000 banked from 16 starts, highlighted by a victory in the Grade 3 Hutcheson Stakes for three-year-olds at Gulfstream Park in 2015 and two other stakes victories, the Spectacular Bid at Gulfstream and the Pelican at Tampa Bay Downs.
As a stallion while standing at Shamrock Farm, Barbados appeared headed for commercial obscurity. His progeny rarely fetched much at the yearling sales and few of them attained notable success on the track.
But last year Barbadian Runner enabled Barbados and his trainer, Henry Walters, to emerge from the shadows and perhaps shed some light on the potential of his sire.
Last year at age three, Barbadian Runner recorded six stakes victories and earned over $730,000 en route to being named champion Maryland-bred three-year-old male for Walters and owner A J Will Win Stables LLC. His biggest victory occurred last summer when he captured the $500,000 Robert Hilton Memorial Stakes at Charles Town, which basically provided Brown with a healthy, free advertisement for the talents of his stallion.
“I was at the sale when Barbadian Runner walked into the ring,” Brown recalled. “I know most of the other Barbados runners were going for under $5,000 and then he came along and went for $5,000. I wish I had bid $6,000 for him. He made a lot of money last year and his biggest win came right here at Charles Town. That showed me he’s got plenty of potential left as a stallion. He came right back and won the Maryland Million Classic at Laurel, too.”
Indeed, in that Maryland Million Classic win, Barbadian Runner faced off with the redoubtable multiple graded stakes winner Post Time, outfinishing that $1.5 million earner by three parts of a length.
Although Barbadian Runner has been a standout performer for Barbados, the sire’s resume is also strengthened by the simple fact that 17 of his 19 runners last year won at least one race. Barbadian Runner’s fabulous season, coupled with that level of consistency, helped make Barbados the third ranked stallion in West Virginia by progeny earnings last year even though 11 other stallions had more runners.
While Barbadian Runner’s success marks the pinnacle thus far for Barbados as a stallion, Brown believes that his sire, who stands for $1,000, is capable of producing horses that can graduate and perhaps climb the allowance condition ladder.
“His offspring get to the races and a high percentage of them win,” said Brown, who also stands Bullsbay and Mr. Monomoy on his farm. “To me, that’s really an important statistic. I think that’s what makes him appealing to anyone looking to breed up here in West Virginia. Chances are, you’re not going to get the next Barbadian Runner, but you’ll get a horse that is going to win one race, maybe two or three more. You never know. I’m going to breed 10 of my mares to him this year and hope for the best, and I’ve set his book at 25 mares this year.”
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