Captured via telephone as he was wrapping up his feeding chores at Fair Hill on a soft summer afternoon, Peter Brette paused to answer a selection of the questions submitted by Nicanor readers. The colt breezed an eighth of a mile last Saturday, and did it quite nicely. Of course, going such a short distance, that little effort was not timed. But bigger things are on the way! Expect an official breeze by the end of the month.
Q. Is Nicanor going to be getting a nice brass name plate outside of his stall?
A. No, we just have little name plates that we write the names on with a marker.
Q. Do you have a stable name for him?
A. I call him "Nicky Knocks," which is also what I call my son, Nicholas.
Q. What's he like in the barn?
A. In the barn he's superb. He's incredible to be around; a very kind horse.
Q. How does he compare to Barbaro as far as size and movement is concerned?
A. He moves beautifully. He's a bit smaller than barbaro, probably about 15.3 or maybe a little taller than that.
Q. I was wondering what you think of the Tapeta surface? Is it slippery or heavy?
A. He went great on both surfaces. Tapeta is not slippery at all, it's a super surface to train on.
Q. How is Nicanor progressing compared with the other two-year-olds?
A. He's right where he's supposed to be very happy with him
Q. What does he do after supper? How does he spend his evenings?
A. He actually just chills out, he's a chilled out horse.
Q. I was wondering how you teach him to respect the rein and hand. Does Michael want the babies like Nicanor off the bridle? What kind of bit does he go in?
A. He goes in a regular noseband and a regular eggbutt snaffle. He's very nice to rest off the bridle and that's the way we like to keep him at the moment; we don't want our younger horses to be too hard on themsleves yet.
Q. Is Nicanor learning his lead changes yet? How are they going?
A. He does know his changes - he knew them when he came from Stephens Thoroughbreds; they do a superb job of teaching the young horses there.
Q. Is anyone thinking about trying or training Nicanor on the turf?
A. I don't think so; not at this stage anyway. We didn't train Barbaro over the turf at all.
Q. How similar is Nicanor's gallop or stride to Barbaro's stride or gallop?
A. He's gonna be a very powerful horse. He moves beautifully. Whether moves exactly like Barbaro, not at the moment, but he has a lot of developing to do.
Q. Have the Jacksons been out to visit Nicanor at Fair Hill? What are their thoughts on the little guy?
A. Yes, they've been out several times and they're excited to see him in training.
Q. When Nicanor drinks does he plunge his nose deep into the water or does he just drink it from the surface?
A. Just from surface, from what I've gathered.
Q. Is there any chance he won't race at two? I'd like to see him have a strong campaign as a 3+ year old, and using Curlin as an example, perhaps letting him develop more before racing would be best for Nicanor in the long run.
A. We'll run him when he tells us to run him. We're certainly not going to be in a rush to see him off.
Q. I live near Fair Hill. Can I come and visit Nicanor? Should I call first?
A. We're not taking visitors at this time - Mrs. Jackson basically just wants him to be left alone to focus on his training and being a horse for now. I'm pretty sure as time goes by and he gets ready to race that people will have better access to him, but this is his time to get settled in and learn to do his job.
