When Lavender Disaster steps onto the inner turf at Saratoga for the $150,000 Wild Applause Stakes on July 3, she’ll carry not just the weight of expectation but also the legacy of one of America’s most eclectic and passionate horsemen, Peter Brant.
A mogul in art, publishing, and sport; Brant’s presence in Thoroughbred racing spans decades. He bred and owned champions like Gulch and Thunder Gulch, and more recently, the brilliant turf mare Sistercharlie. Yet his love for horses doesn’t stop at the track. Brant is also the founder of the legendary White Birch Polo Team, one of the most dominant forces in high-goal polo history.
White Birch has racked up over 30 major titles since 1979, including the 2005 U.S. Open Polo Championship. At its peak, the team fielded icons like Mariano Aguerre, Adolfo Cambiaso, and Julio Gracida. Brant himself played to a 7-goal handicap. An incredibly elite status for an amateur! Later he founded Greenwich Polo Club, now one of North America’s premier polo venues.
In the Wild Applause Stakes, Brant’s latest runner continues that legacy. Lavender Disaster, trained by Chad Brown and ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., is a homebred by Into Mischief out of Cafe Americano, both familiar names in Brant’s breeding program. She comes off an impressive allowance win at Belmont and looks primed to contend in this listed turf mile for three-year-old fillies.
There’s a thread of elegance in everything Brant touches; from curating Basquiats to breeding Breeders’ Cup winners, from mallets cracking on manicured fields to fillies gliding over Saratoga grass; throw in a Kentucky Derby and a US Open win and you have stuff of legend. In Lavender Disaster, we see not only a rising turf star but another chapter in a life shaped by horsepower, precision, and an enduring love of equine sport.
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