Photo submitted by Jeff Drown Marshall native Jeff Drown shows off Zandon with his trainer, Chad Brown, and Flavien Prat, the jockey.

MARSHALL — “Big, fast and powerful.”

That’s how John Drown describes the horse owned by his son, Jeff. That horse, named Zandon, is currently a 3-1 favorite in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.

Jeff Drown grew up in Marshall, and his father and mother, Patricia, still reside in Marshall.

“Extremely excited about the race,” Jeff Drown said in a recent phone interview with Independent. “It’s a real honor just to get a horse to the Derby, it is very difficult. To have a horse as a favorite is very exciting and hopefully we can go down there to put the blanket over Zandon.”

Jeff Drown fell in love with horse racing at an early age by going to Canterbury Park. He eventually partnered with some of his friends to buy a racehorse.

Zandon, who is 3 years old, was bought for $170,000 at an auction from the Keeneland sale, which happens yearly in the state of Kentucky.

Zandon raced in four races this year, winning the Toyota Bluegrass in early April. Prior to the Toyota Bluegrass race, Zandon was ridden by three different jockeys. One race ended in a second place and the other was a third place.

But Jockey Flavien Prat proved to be the winning combination with Zandon. He rode Zandon to first place at the Toyota Bluegrass.

Prat has history in winning the Kentucky Derby. He won in 2019 with Country Horse.

Zandon is ranked second in the world accumulating 114 points. So far, the horse has garnered $713,000 in winnings.

Zandon will be joined in the group of 20 at the Kentucky Derby by another Minnesota owned horse named Zozos. That horse is from Eden Prairie.

To find success in the sport, Jeff Drown stressed the importance of keeping the horse healthy.

“The health of all my horses absolutely comes first and we only run them when we feel they’re at peak performance,” Jeff Drown said.

“The first question I asked the trainer is how did the horse comes out of the race? Are they healthy? The trainers that I choose are trainers that research has shown that they take the best care in the industry.”

In a separate interview, John Drown expressed how proud he is of his son being in the Kentucky Derby.

“We have two sons and we’re equally proud of both of them as they have earned a lot of success in their young lives,” John Drown said.

John Drown is hoping to celebrate a Kentucky Derby win with his wife, and Jeff’s brother, Chad.

“It’s exceptional you’re there. The Kentucky Derby is called the most exciting two minutes in all of sports and we (My wife and I) get to be there for the race. To watch Jeff continued progress in horse racing has been a lot of fun.”

Jeff Drown, CEO of Lyon Contracting in St. Cloud, said he’s proud of his Marshall roots.

“Marshall is a great town to grow up in, great community base,” he said. “Went to Marshall High School, played football, golf and did speech. Still have a lot of friends in the Marshall area.”