Veteran trainer Enos Brown, who conditioned Triple Crown winner Monday Morning, said that he and his stable were under a lot of pressure coming into the 1987 Jamaica St Leger.

Owned by PTA and ridden by Patrick Beckford, Monday Morning won the St Leger quite easily over Shining Hour in a time of 3:01:0 minutes. At that time, the St Leger was contested over 14 furlongs or 2,800 metres.

Brown said that he was criticised by everyone, but it was just pure joy when Monday Morning crossed the finishing line in front.

“There was a lot of pressure on me and the horse ( Monday Morning) coming into the St Leger, the final leg of the Triple Crown.

“As a young trainer all eyes were on me; I got the horse just a month before the Derby. Not only that, Monday Morning was also going for the Triple Crown. I was a small trainer; I was under a lot of pressure at that time.

“At the time, I was referred to as a small trainer as I was fairly new and didn’t have a powerful stable, and small trainers were not supposed to have big horses like Monday Morning, so everyone had what they had to say.

“When we won the St Leger it was a great relief, as everything came off me. Everything shelled off, as it was like a big burden had just come off my back.

“At that moment I was happy, it was a happy time in my career when I won the St Leger. I was the happiest man on the planet, no one thought that I could do it, but we proved them wrong and I was extremely happy,” Brown told the Complete Racing Guide.

With just three weeks separating the St Leger from the Derby, Brown said he had no problems preparing his horse for the race.

“What I did was to try and keep him as fresh as possible.

“For me, I trained him off his behaviour and how he ( Monday Morning) responded to things. He came out of the Derby and wasn’t stressed or anything, so I kept him to his regular training and got him back to his routine. I took it easy with him, but overall everything was good with him,” Brown explained.

Brown added that everyone also had a problem with his choice of rider.

“Nobody wanted to work Monday Morning for me because he was a very strong horse, so we had a little problem there.

“Patrick Beckford was the only one that worked him, so I talked to the owner and they said why not, if he worked him then make him ride the horse.

“However, that wasn’t normal either, as everybody had what they to stay about the choice of rider, but we stuck to our plan and it worked, so we were happy.

“There wasn’t any major plan coming into the race. I only told the jockey to stay in front of Shining Hour, and by all means, do not make Shining Hour beat you.

“Stay with Shining Hour and just move him at the three furlongs and you will be ok, I told Beckford, and that was what happened,” he recalled.