Mr Brooks (7 April 1987 – 31 October 1992) was a Thoroughbred racehorse who was bred in the United Kingdom and trained in both Ireland and England in a career that lasted from 1989 to 1992.
[2] He was first trained in Ireland by his original owner Kevin Connolly, and then by Jim Bolger, for whose stable he won several important Irish sprint races.
The race proved highly competitive, with seven horse finishing within one and a half lengths, but Mr Brooks ran on strongly under pressure to take second place behind the Breeders' Cup Sprint winner and reigning Champion Sprinter Sheikh Albadou.
[10] Starting at 16-1 he was held up in the early stages before being moved up to contest the lead close home and win by a head from Pursuit of Love, with Sheikh Albadou a neck away in third.
[13] Returning to England, he finished second to his stablemate, the European Champion Two-Year-Old Filly Lyric Fantasy in the Nunthorpe Stakes, again beating Sheikh Albadou and Shalford.
Sent to Gulfstream Park for the Breeders' Cup Sprint, he was expected to do well by his trainer, especially after receiving a good draw, and confidence was generally high for the British sprinters after the win of Sheikh Albadou in 1991 and the narrow defeat of Dayjur a year earlier.
[20] Piggott was knocked unconscious and trapped under the fallen horse, suffering several broken bones and a collapsed lung[21] which forced him to miss the next three months.
[22] Partly as a result of Mr Brooks's fatal accident, the Breeders' Cup organisers introduced a more stringent regime of checks to ensure the safety and welfare of horses in subsequent events.