Brett A. Brinkman is the TOBA June Member of the Month.

Brett Brinkman has devoted his life to the horse business, and his hard work has paid off in spades. Born in Louisiana, he moved to Florida’s Waldemar Farm, managed by his uncle, Joe King, at age 12. He’s worked as a trainer in the decades since, recently achieving glory as co-owner and co-breeder (with P. Dale Ladner), as well as conditioner, of April 8 Resolute Racing Madison Stakes (G1) victress Alva Starr.

The pair first linked up with Alva’s dam, Sittin At the Bar. “When I started racing horses in Louisiana, Dale was an owner out here and had been just dealing with running horses at the time. And we had ran horses against one another—I had a couple of decent little stakes horses that had run against some of his stake horses—and we crossed paths one evening.” Seated together at a bar, Brinkman and Ladner began talking; a few weeks later, Ladner asked if the trainer would be interested in taking a few of his horses. At the Breeders’ Sales Company of Louisiana Yearling sale in September 2011, the two spent $30,000 on an Into Mischief yearling filly, aptly named Sittin At the Bar.

Named top Louisiana-bred juvenile filly in 2012, Sittin At the Bar earned the sophomore equivalent of that honor the following year and received accolades as the state’s 2014 top older female. Upon her retirement, Brinkman suggested entering the breeding business with Sittin At the Bar, recalling of Ladner, “He listened to what I had to say. He was receptive, he listened. Still, the CPA side of him—that’s what he is, a certified public accountant—he was real cautious in warming up to the idea.”

In 2016, she foaled a Malibu Moon filly who sold to Mike Ball for $120,000. Winner of the 2021 West Virginia Secretary of State Stakes, graded stakes-placed Club Car earned $677,265 in a 30-start career. In 2017, Sittin At the Bar foaled stakes winner Jack the Umpire (by Bodemeister), then a California Chrome filly named Cilla in 2018.

Cilla RNA’ed for $120,000 at the 2019 Keeneland January sale, so Brinkman and Ladner raced her in the latter’s name. Grade 1-placed at two, Cilla reeled off a trio of stakes triumphs at three. The streak was capped by a victory in the 2021 Prioress Stakes (G2), earning her honors as Louisiana-bred Horse of the Year. After earning $509,000, the bay filly sold for $550,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Keeneland November sale.

But the best was yet to come, thanks to the Lord Nelson filly Alva Starr. At three, she annexed two stakes, including the 2023 Prioress. Brinkman recalled, “We come out of the Prioress obviously excited, but still new; we had a lot of work to do to get her to where we wanted to get her to.” Next time out, she finished second by a half-length in the Lexus Raven Run Stakes (G2). Brinkman said, “We felt like the way our mare went into it and the way she came out of it, that we still had a little bit more in the tank to go to.” Alva Starr kicked off her four-year-old campaign with a win in the February 3 American Beauty Stakes at Oaklawn Park, then took the Madison at Keeneland, defeating her nemesis Vahva. In her next start, Vahva got the perfect trip to best Alva Star in the $1 million Derby City Distaff (G1) May 4 at Churchill Downs, bringing Alva Starr’s career record to 5 wins and 4 seconds – from 9 lifetime starts – and earnings of $968,450.

Boarded at Orchard Park Farm in Versailles, Ky., Sittin At the Bar has a Gun Runner yearling filly and produced a Cyberknife colt this year; she’s checked back in foal to Nyquist. The mare stamps her foals with talent, but their mannerisms are different. Brinkman noted, “Cilla was a very accommodating—she was a pleaser. She wanted to please you and she wanted to go out and do it right. She would outrun horses; she wouldn’t destroy horses. Alva’s totally different. Alva, she’s tough in every sense. She’ll really work, work to be aggressive. She’s not hard to train as far as that’s concerned, but just as far to do things with, she’s more the girly-boy type racemare, where Cilla was a girly-girl. She was really feminine and accommodating and wanted to please and wanted to do things right, where Alva, you work her with somebody, and she’ll destroy them if you want her to.”

Brinkman is justifiably proud of the quality runners he and Ladner have bred. “The fact that we, Dale and I, we can’t go buy one—the chances of us being able to afford a grade 1-type horse is pretty narrow—so the fact that we bred one, which is probably even harder to do, is quite an accomplishment in my eyes.”