Welcome to Big Brown Triple Crown . com, where you will find information, videos, commentaries, articles and other tidbits relating to Big Brown and Horse Racing's Triple Crown. Use the links down the right side to navigate through the content. If you have a comment, feedback, or something to add, contact us at BigBrownTripleCrown@gmail.com. Have a look around, Get Daily Updates in your Email, fall in love with this great horse and sport, spread the word about Big Brown and enjoy his Triple Crown run.
Just a few hours after the devastating loss in the Belmont Stakes, Richard Dutrow is searching for what may have gone wrong. Big Brown was checked out and appears to be physically "fine". Dutrow was clearly disappointed, but still proud of Big Brown and his accomplishments. It appears that we may know in 24 hours whther or not he will be retired or if he will race again.
"The horse kind of looks like he's fine to me, so the only thing I know is to wait and see how things go," Dutrow said, adding that Big Brown will be scoped to see if there were any health issues. "Right now, I don't see him being off; he may be off tomorrow.".....more
Big Brown seemed rank at the start and was eased at the quarter pole. Da'Tara, ridden by Alan Garcia and trained by Nick Zito won at 38-1. It appears there are no health issues with Big Brown. Desormeaux says he eased the horse simply to protect the "best horse he has ever ridden". He said that entering the final turn, he "just had no horse."
The world awaited a delivery from Big Brown, but in a shocker, it was Da’ Tara who won the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) Saturday as the horse seeking to win the Triple Crown was eased past the wire. Trainer Nick Zito spoiled a Triple Crown for the second time. He also trained Birdstone, who beat Smarty Jones in the 2004 Belmont. And, like in ’04 when Zito also ran third with Royal Assault, he was third this year with Anak Nakal, who dead-heated with Ready’s Echo. In second was Denis of Cork. Big Brown was in obvious trouble in the turn for home and Desormeaux eased him back and let him gallop down the stretch. Following the race, Desormeaux said there was nothing physically wrong with Big Brown,.....more
Big Brown didn't deliver - at all. Long Island's favorite horse failed miserably in his quest to become the first Triple Crown winner in 30 years when he pulled up and finished last in the 140th Belmont Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park. Da'Tara, a 38-1 pick, was the wire-to-wire winner. "Long before we went into the last turn, I had no horse," jockey Kent Desormeaux said. Asked what went wrong, Desormeaux said, "I have no idea.".....more
Kent Desormeaux's post-race comments:
The 2008 Belmont Stakes:
post-race press conferences:
"Home video" of the stretch run as fans begin to realize he has been eased:
Feel what it was like to be there - "home video" - CAUTION: FOUL LANGUAGE:
and some "rough home video" of the start from track side:
The path to the Triple Crown got a little easier for Big Brown this morning when Casino Drive, his top challenger in the Belmont Stakes, was scratched from the race. A stone bruise in the colt's left hind foot discovered yesterday is the reason for the scratch. Spokesman Nobutaka Tada says that the scratch is simply precautionary as the injury is "minor." Casino Drive was fine during a 3/8 mile jog in the early morning, but was apparently favoring a hoof when receiving a bath afterwards. Trainer Kazuo Fujisawa had given the all-clear, saying "he is sound" after the run, but an hour later, he made the decision to scratch the horse. He is scheduled to fly back to Japan on Tuesday, but may return to the United States for the Breeders Cup later in the year. It was a horse named "Birdstone" that spoiled the last Triple Crown attempt - will an injury called a "Stone Bruise" help Big Brown's attempt?
About an hour after giving the all-clear for Casino Drive to run in the Belmont Stakes (gr. I), trainer Kazuo Fujisawa said the colt was favoring his left rear hoof and was scratched from the classic. Earlier, Fujisawa was all smiles after watching Casino Drive canter three furlongs and gave a thumbs up for colt to run in the Belmont. But when the colt was being bathed following the exercise regimen, he was favoring his foot and the trainer decided to scratch. "He is sound," Fujisawa declared earlier, after watching Casino Drive leave the track following a three furlong canter. Winner of the Peter Pan (gr. II) at Belmont, Casino Drive is considered one of the leading contenders to upset Big Brown's Triple Crown quest. ......more
Casino Drive was scratched from the Belmont Stakes hours before the final leg of the Triple Crown on Saturday morning due to a bruised left hind hoof. Racing manager Nobutaka Tada said Casino Drive was fine during a three-furlong jog early Saturday, but he appeared to be favoring the hoof while receiving a bath following the workout......more
Today is the day we have been waiting for. 278 days ago he blew away a maiden field at Saratoga and today Big Brown will try and win for the sixth straight time and become Horse Racing's twelfth Triple Crown Winner. He would be the first to do it since Affirmed accomplished the feat 30 years ago. Casino Drive, Big Brown's biggest rival, now has a bruised hoof and not many are giving the other eight contenders a chance. Post time is at 6:25pm in New York and it will be broadcast live on ABC (coverage staring at 5pm ET).
OK, Big Brown. It's time for the big date with history. All the obstacles in the colt's spectacular bid for the first Triple Crown in 30 years are fading faster than the pack in his Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes victories. Big Brown's quarter crack is patched and the sturdy hoof that helped him stampede to an undefeated record is as strong as ever. Big Brown's biggest challenger is injured with a suspect hind hoof, leaving mostly longshots in a lackluster field. Up ahead, the chance to knock off Affirmed from his spot as the sport's last Triple Crown winner......more
Holding out on this one for a few weeks, but today is the day to post it:
These are just a few commentaries that have been made around the world about Big Brown and how his pursuit will and should impact American Thoroughbred Racing.
Big Brown heads to the starting gate on Saturday for the Belmont Stakes with a chance at becoming the 12th horse ever to win U.S. racing's Triple Crown, and the first since Affirmed in 1978. It's a feat that used to be among the most celebrated in sports, and past winners have become worldwide sensations. The industry hopes it's Big Brown's turn, if only to return some luster to a sport that could desperately use a public-relations boost. The pieces, it seems, are in place......more
.....The Belmont should therefore be a festive and even transformative time in US racing: the unbeaten superstar with the name that delights children, racing for a place in history and giving a struggling industry a much-needed boost along the way. Sadly however, the rise of Big Brown has done more to lay bare the sleazy side of US racing than anything in recent memory. The horse's connections have been identified with drugs, dishonesty and a racing culture that seems to disrespect and endanger the animals the public love......more
Michael Iavarone, the part-owner of Big Brown, the colt who will attempt to complete the American Triple Crown in New York tonight, said last week that he had "already gotten a lot of requests" to film the story of his horse's life. It is not difficult to see why. If he wins the Belmont Stakes Big Brown will be the first Triple Crown winner for 30 years, and in his background there are enough colourful personalities and plotlines to employ every character actor in Hollywood. But what sort of movie will it be, assuming that the enormous bay colt, who is expected to start the 2-5 favourite, wins as his odds suggest he should? A feel-good family film, perhaps, in which Richard Dutrow Jr, Big Brown's trainer, rises from the gutter to achieve one of the great feats in American sport? Or will it be the R-rated version of the story, which involves murder, drugs, death at the Kentucky Derby and a feud between a father and his son that Richard Dutrow Sr carried to his grave?.....more
People in the racing business hope every year to see a Triple Crown winner who can stimulate the public's and the media's interest in the sport. Big Brown's bid to make history has indeed attracted widespread attention, but it has often been attention that the industry doesn't want, because the 2008 Triple Crown has sometimes shown racing at its worst......more
Though the odds were stacked against him when he was born in April 2005, Big Brown will be a short-priced favorite Saturday when he tries to win the Triple Crown by taking the Belmont Stakes. In the year of their birth, none of the 11 Triple Crown winners faced as daunting a numerical barrier as Big Brown, who is one of 38,191 registered thoroughbreds born in North America in 2005......more
Can glory expunge tragedy? Such is the question for American racing as it approaches the climax of its season, poised uncertainly between these twin extremes of sport and life......more
The Americans love a wonder horse. Man O'War, Secretariat, Seabiscuit, Kelso and Seattle Slew are all legendary figures in stateside sporting culture and it appears that another flyer may be about to join them in the pantheon......more
....Does Billy Turner think that Rick Dutrow will follow in his footsteps, and that Big Brown will follow in Seattle Slew’s? Like Dutrow, Turner looks you dead in the eye. “It’s time,” he said. “It really is.".....more
....Casino Drive, Denis of Cork, Tale of Ekati, and others, are expected to show up to face Big Brown in the Belmont Stakes. If they do, a case can be made Big Brown will be at least as worthy as Sir Barton and Gallant Fox if he beats them decisively.....more
...."He moves me." Dutrow points out Big Brown's birthmark, a rare speck of white fuzz above his front left leg, and lovingly strokes his right ear. "He acts like he's one of us," Dutrow says. "Like he wants to be one of us."Horsemen love hyperbole and ascribing human traits to their beloved breed. But Dutrow's not the only one falling for Big Brown.....more
weeping the Triple Crown isn’t the culmination of a democratic process; it isn’t up to the voters to decide if Big Brown is worthy of being a Triple Crown winner. Nor will a panel of judges determine the outcome of the Belmont Stakes. It’s not ice skating. That’s the beauty of horse racing – or one of its many beauties: Races are won on the track. If Big Brown succeeds in the Belmont, he’s worthy of being a Triple Crown winner; if he doesn’t, he isn’t. It’s simple.....more
While the eyes of racing are squarely focused on Big Brown for the 133rd Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course, the eyes of the sports world are squarely focused on horse racing......more
....All sports find themselves, to varying degrees, always in search of the "Next Great Thing." But this is perhaps more true in horse racing than in any other sport because the game is so memorably defined by the epic performances of a small number of superstars. This rapidly aging generation remembers (most of all) Secretariat (and his Belmont), Seattle Slew and Affirmed (alongside Alydar), the three Triple Crown champions of the 70s, growing collectively smaller in the rear-view mirror but larger in the mind......more
Jim Militello interviews NYRA's John Lee about the possibility of a Triple Crown - June 6
One of many YouTube.com tributes - Jesse Goldberg's musical tribute:
Outside of a few more confident comments from Trainer Richard Dutrow, we have been left with very little Big Brown News over the last 36 hours, giving us an opportunity to look at the rest of the horses that will take to the track at Belmont Park on June 7th. Casino Drive (trained by Kazuo Fujisawa and to be ridden by Edgar Prado) is getting most of the press as Big Brown's biggest challenger, but it is worth taking a moment to delve even deeper into the race. Denis of Cork (David Carroll / Robby Albarado) leads a list of "other horses" that also include Anak Nakal (Nick Zito / undecided), Behindatthebar (Todd Pletcher / David Flores), Da' Tara (Nick Zito / undecided), Icabad Crane (Graham Motion / Jeremy Rose), Macho Again (Dallas Stewart / Garret Gomez), Ready's Echo (Todd Pletcher / undecided), Spark Candle (Kazuo Fujisawa / undecided), Tale of Ekati (Barclay Tagg / Eibar Coa), and Tomcito (Dante Zanelli / Alan Garcia).
Probable Belmont Stakes Field (alphabetical order):
Although all reports from the Big Brown camp on Friday were encouraging regarding his progress from a quarter crack in his left front foot, the list of horses that will challenge the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner in the 140th Belmont Stakes next Saturday continued to grow......more
....He's fresh, not having run since his third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, and although his deep-closing style rarely wins the 1½-mile Belmont, it often gets you in the money. Denis of Cork usually does his best work in the stretch and should be passing some wobbly legged critters next Saturday. If you concede the Belmont to Big Brown, as most handicappers will, then all Denis of Cork has to do is beat Casino Drive......more
....here is one longshot to consider in the Belmont: Anak Nakal. Anak Nakal? I know, he hasn't been better than fifth in four races this year and on paper, doesn't look like he even belongs on the same track as Big Brown. But upon further review, there are a couple angles here. Just ask trainer Nick Zito......more
....I firmly believe that Big Brown will win the Belmont, but Birdstone was like a kick in the teeth, and I don't want to go through that again. The only way to avoid that pain if the worst happens is to be prepared for it. Let's look, then, at horses that could fill the ugly role of being this year's Birdstone. I'm not going to include Casino Drive for a couple of big reasons - he's going to be the second choice in betting so he won't be a longshot, and I just don't buy into him......more
The Connections of Casino Drive have finally picked a jockey, Edgar Prado, and the head trainer, Kazuo Fujisawa, is due to arrive from Japan in the coming days. As we enter the stretch run before the Belmont, it is time once again to review Big Brown's biggest challenger. Many now believe that if Big Brown beats Casino Drive, those who have questioned the quality of his competition will finally be silenced. It is fair to say that Casino Drive was born to win this race. Two of his siblings have won this race in the last two years. His half brother Jazil won the Belmont Stakes in 2006, and a year later his three-quarter sister Rags to Riches knocked off Curlin, becoming the first Filly in 102 years to win the mile and a half race. He is bred to run this distance as opposed to Big Brown, who's father Boundary never won a race longer than 3/4 of a mile. The start of Casino Drive's career was delayed due to knee injuries and some influenza quarantine issues, but has been impressive in his two starts. He won his maiden race in Japan on February 23 by 11 1/2 lengths and then conquered American soil winning at Belmont in the Peter Pan Stakes by 5 3/4 lengths. The final piece of the puzzle may have come today when the connections announced that Hall of Fame jockey Edgar Prado will ride the colt in the Belmont Stakes. Prado has won two Belmont Stakes. Both have come on long shot spoilers, ending War Emblem and Smarty Jones' Triple Crown bids.
Casino Drive seems to have everything it takes to derail Big Brown's Triple Crown attempt in the Belmont Stakes a week from Saturday. His breeding shouts Belmont, his two career races have been breathtaking and he will be ridden by Edgar Prado, who has spoiled two of the past three Triple tries. The winning ingredients may be in place for the mystery horse from Japan, but Big Brown will be far from a pushover......more
....Prado, who turns 41 five days after the Belmont, will be in position to deny yet another Triple Crown in the June 7 Belmont Stakes when he rides the Kentucky-bred, Japanese-based Casino Drive against undefeated Big Brown, who is trying to snap Thoroughbred racing's 30-year Triple Crown drought. Adding more intrigue is the fact that Big Brown is trained by Richard Dutrow Jr., who employs Prado on a regular basis. According to Equibase statistics, Prado has ridden 268 of Dutrow's 1,221 career winners, or 22 percent......more
....“It is the way we do things at home in Japan,” said Nobutaka Tada, racing manager for Casino Drive’s owner, Hidetoshi Yamamoto. “We warm up. We cool down. We are never in a hurry. We try to make sure he is a happy horse.” By 6:38 p.m. Saturday, the world will know whether this leisurely stamina building has paid off, and if Casino Drive was, indeed, the formidable obstacle that many expect him to be on Big Brown’s path to fame. By then the 140th running of the Belmont Stakes will be in the books, and thoroughbred racing will have its 12th Triple Crown champion. Or not......more
On Monday, many of Big Browns possible opponents worked at tracks across the country. Tale of Ekati ran a disappointing time of 1:18.97 breezing over six furlongs at Belmont Park. Dennis of Cork looked better working five furlongs in :59.80 at Churchill Downs. Anak Nakal and Ready's Echo also worked four furlongs early Monday.
....“For two weeks after the Derby it just took him (Dennis of Cork) a little bit of time to get back on his feet and get his energy back, but the last week he’s training beautifully," trainer David Carroll said. "He had a good work last week, but this week we wanted a bit more from him. I just told Robby to let him go off ‘twelves’ and let him finish up and gallop out, and he did everything beautifully.”.....more
....The strangest of the works was turned in by Wood Memorial winner Tale of Ekati, who breezed six furlongs at Belmont in a dreadfully slow 1:18.97 under jockey Eibar Coa. Trainer Barclay Tagg watched the work while sitting aboard the world's most famous stable pony, Funny Cide, who won the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness. "Two works before a Classic race and this is not what I wanted," muttered an unhappy Tagg. "It's no wonder I'm always in a bad mood." .....more
This is yet another example of media attention found on the web showing that the eyes of the world are following Big Brown. This article is well worth a minute of your time to read:
Big Brown, the monster horse (Kent Desmoreaux, 1-5), moved up 600 metres from the $1m (about Sh61 million) Preakness pole, swiping the lead from Racecar Rhapsody, having already stalked Gayego and Riley Tucker. He cruised 5 lengths clear in a time of 1:53.40, but no records were broken. Big Brown added to his Kentucky Derby strike. Now the son of Boundary can relax until the Belmont Stakes, New York, June 7. In search of the Triple Crown, not yet realised since Affirmed in 1978, Big Brown’s trainer, Dutrow, is not afraid of anything. But, superstition attributed to round three, must be cracked. No leaway for tempting providence......more
The list of possible spoilers is short, but still many are trying to pick the possible upset. The undefeated Casino Drive is the obvious choice to challenge and many Big Brown supporters are hoping he can put up a solid challenge in order to legitimize the Crown. Desormeaux, who rode Casino Drive last month calls the Belmont "a cold exacta." Others are supporting Barclay Tagg's Tale of Ekati as a possible spoiler. Tagg's Triple Crown bid was spoiled two years ago when Empire Maker upset Funny Cide on a wet Belmont track. Tale of Ekati outran his 47-1 odds to finish 4th in the Derby and will come in fresh off the 5-week rest.
As trainer David Carroll told owner William Warren about running Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Denis of Cork in the June 7 Belmont Stakes, "If we don't get to make history, we'll witness history. What's wrong with that?".....more
Big Brown had the good fortune to be born in what is considered a lackluster foal crop. Then again, the same thing was said about Seattle Slew. Seattle Slew merely went on to become racing's only unbeaten Triple Crown winner, something Big Brown will try to emulate in the June 7 Belmont Stakes......more
....“It (the Belmont) looks like kind of the same deal as the Preakness,” said Finley May 19. “It’s a decent group of horses, but nobody really stands out except Big Brown. I know Casino Drive ran well in the Peter Pan (gr. II), but I think we ran pretty well in the Derby Trial and we ran OK in the Preakness. It (the Belmont purse) is a million dollars, so we’re going to roll the dice again.”.....more
...“We are leaving our options open,” Tada said May 20, without mentioning the names of the riders under consideration. “We should have a clear answer in four or five days. Fortunately, many good riders are interested, and we are pleased about that.”.....more
The roles have reversed this year for trainer Barclay Tagg and his assistant, Robin Smullen, going from the hunted to the hunters. In 2003, they tried to sweep the Triple Crown with Funny Cide, but were denied in the Belmont Stakes by Empire Maker, who had finished third to Funny Cide in the Kentucky Derby, skipped the Preakness, and came into the Belmont fresh, fit, and dangerous......more
....Quite likely, it'll be from lightly raced colt Casino Drive, whose pedigree reeks of stamina and who has been pointed to the Belmont Stakes for months......more
Two Churchill Downs-based 3-year-olds that are being pointed toward a battle against Big Brown in the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) were reported to be doing well with just over two weeks remaining before the June 7 “Test of the Champion.”.....more
....Casino Drive has been cast as Ali's Frazier, Borg's McEnroe, Russell's Celtics versus Wilt's 76ers. The new colt has run only two career races, both wins, but he turned in the same sort of scintillating performances that announced Big Brown's greatness at Saratoga last September and the Florida Derby this spring......more
...."I don't know if he's good enough or not," Tagg said Friday of Tale of Ekati. "He ran good in the Derby. He went off at 47-1 and finished fourth out of 20."The time off seemed to agree with Tale of Ekati, who sizzled in his first workout since the Derby earlier this week. The 3-year-old colt zipped a half-mile in 46.84 seconds at Belmont Park on Tuesday......more
....So, why then do I believe that Tale of Ekati has a chance in the Belmont Stakes when I was so down on him in the Kentucky Derby? Simple logistics, really. The Derby is run at 1 ¼ miles. Most horses entering the Kentucky Derby are fresh. Tale of Ekati’s chief rival, Big Brown, will not be fresh at all. .....more
This year, however, the best horses from the West have hightailed it back to California, leaving the 140th Belmont Stakes on June 7 - in which Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown will attempt to become the 12th Triple Crown winner - a match between the East (Big Brown) and the Far East (Casino Drive)......more
Here is what the world is saying about Big Brown's possibility of winning the Triple Crown. I have compiled commentaries and will keep updating this post as I find more:
Shortly after the call to the post for the 140th Belmont Stakes on Saturday, the rich and the railside in attendance will be invited to sway along with ''New York, New York.'' Some instead might want to ask the off-Broadway musical question: ''Are you sleeping, are you sleeping, racing gods? Racing gods?''.....more
Not since Whirlaway in 1941 has Thoroughbred racing witnessed such a domination of the opening two legs of its Triple Crown. The Big Brown express, which has rolled through Louisville and Baltimore in commanding style, now chugs along just one destination away from immortality: New York......more
....Quite likely, it'll be from lightly raced colt Casino Drive, whose pedigree reeks of stamina and who has been pointed to the Belmont Stakes for months......more
....Casino Drive has been cast as Ali's Frazier, Borg's McEnroe, Russell's Celtics versus Wilt's 76ers. The new colt has run only two career races, both wins, but he turned in the same sort of scintillating performances that announced Big Brown's greatness at Saratoga last September and the Florida Derby this spring......more
Big Brown seems to be an overwhelming choice to win the June 7 Belmont Stakes and sweep the Triple Crown. Here are five races in the last last two decades that should serve as a cautionary tale for those already awarding history to the undefeated colt......more
There was something very different about this colt. He was pulled from his mother's womb in the broodmare barn at Monticule Farm in central Kentucky on the afternoon of April 10, 2005, deep bay in color but with a strange white dot at the top of his left front leg, near his rib cage. It was perhaps the size of a quarter, and none of the three people in the stall at the time of his birth had ever seen such a marking on a horse of his coloring......more
Stuff does happen in thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown series. Big Brown is flying toward the June 7 Belmont Stakes as if on Pegasus wings, as uncatchable in Saturday's Preakness as he was in the May 3 Kentucky Derby. But the tragedy of facts is that, more often than not — and not at all since 1978 — a Derby-Preakness double has not led to the sport's most celebrated sweep......more
The working premise for this column was that the smooth sailing is over for Big Brown. That winning the Belmont and the Triple Crown will be brutally difficult, no matter how easy he's made it look getting to this point. Then I talked to Bob Baffert. "I've never seen anything like him since I've been training," Baffert gushed Sunday. "Everyone's been waiting for the next Secretariat-type horse, and we got him. He's going to do it.".....more
....the Belmont is the race in which he is really going to be up against it. His first problem will be his workload. Here is a horse that has had some injury issues already and will be asked to run three huge efforts in the span of five weeks. He's going to have to be made of steel to hold up through all that. Chances are, he won't......more
....How many times do you think the word “freak” has been uttered since Saturday? Well, there is no doubt that the colt has accomplished freakish things in his brief career, but so did Curlin, and he couldn’t win the Derby off three career starts......more
....When Ragozin's company calculated the performance by Big Brown on May 3 in the Kentucky Derby, it made a startling discovery: the 3-year-old colt had recorded a - 3/4 , the lowest number in the modern history of the race......more
...."Is he a good horse? Yes. Is he a talented horse? Yes. Do I think he has a chance to win the Triple Crown? Yes, he has a chance," Shug McGaughey said. "He's a special kind of horse, but it's only been done 10 times in 130 years. The chance of it happening, no I don't think it will happen.".....more
Love this video - puts his quest in historical perspective:
Can Big Brown win The Triple Crown, a feat so difficult it has not been accomplished in thirty years? Only time will tell if this fantastic athlete can climb into that elite group of superstars who have most recently preceded him, Affirmed, Seattle Slew and Secretariat.
The pursuit of the Triple Crown, however, is much larger than a single horse and while horse racing has taken its hits recently, every true fan of sport should sit at the edge of their seat for each and every second of the under three minutes it will take the horses to compete in the Belmont Stakes on June 7th. At the core, the competitors who compete for the Triple Crown are the last “Pure” athletes on the planet and, for this reason, should garner both the attention and admiration of any person who calls themselves a fan of athletic competition.
At the heart of every athletic endeavor is our desire to achieve greatness whether as a participant or viewer. When we watch sports we all hope someone can hit the last minute three-pointer, push themselves to and beyond their limits or sink that pressure filled 50-foot putt on the 18th at Augusta. Yes, Michael three-peated, Lance amazed the world and Tiger seems to win at will, but did any of them do it SOLELY for the desire of being the best? Every great athlete talks of winning for the sake of winning, but none of them do it in a vacuum. As the ball left M.J’s hand he was wearing his Nike sneakers, as Lance glided along the Champs-Élysées, throngs of corporate sponsors awaited him at the finish and as that last rotation of the ball drops it into the cup, Tiger knows that his name is known in every corner of the world. As humans, we seek to achieve greatness, but we all know that it is a means to an end, whether it be money or glory.
Horses, on the other hand, know nothing of glory, do not benefit from endorsements and will never walk down the red carpet on the arm of a super model. However, each and every time they compete they will lay their life on the line for the sake of victory. Just as a horse would fight for his life in the wild to be the leader, he or she will use every ounce of muscle and the truly great ones, every ounce of their heart to defeat their opposition for the simple purpose of being the best. Each and every great horse that we as sport fans have had the privilege to watch has possessed that trait, the willingness to exert every ounce of effort to achieve greatness.
The single greatest moment in sport is the split second that Jockey Ron Turcotte realized Secretariat could not be caught in the stretch of the Belmont and stopped asking the horse to give 100%, for it was at that moment, as Secretariat instead chose to accelerate, not slow down, that he chose to show every horse on the track behind him, his jockey, his owner and the world exactly HOW great he really was. There was no money or glory at that finish line, just something deep inside Secreteriat’s heart that told him he needed to run, something that every person watching the race will never forget.
So, as Big Brown breaks from the gate at the Belmont, may I suggest that you put aside any preconceived notions you may have about horse racing or the human components involved and watch Big Brown. Watch every powerful stride, every ounce of exertion. And….if we are lucky enough to see another exquisite performance we will in deed be witnessing greatness. It’s been thirty years and we may be a little over two minutes from seeing it again and once again be able to have the single greatest “true” athlete on the planet walk amongst us.
Many writers, commentators, publications and horsemen are getting on board the Big Brown Band Wagon and considering the possibilities of the first Triple Crown in thirty years
....Standing along the rail were trainer Rick Dutrow and IEAH’s Mike Iavarone, who were happy with what they saw. Yes, it’s a cliché to say Big Brown is a machine, but you just wind him up every morning and he goes out there and does exactly what you want to see. Dutrow says he hasn’t missed an oat since the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I). What also is important is that Big Brown has held his flesh extremely well since the Derby. .....more
Oh brother - and sister - did the Belmont Stakes just get a whole lot more interesting. Casino Drive, a half-brother to recent Belmont Stakes winners Jazil and the filly Rags to Riches, announced his presence as a major contender for the June 7 Belmont Stakes - and a potential Triple Crown roadblock to Big Brown - with an impressive 5 3/4-length victory in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park......more
....How many times do you think the word “freak” has been uttered since Saturday? Well, there is no doubt that the colt has accomplished freakish things in his brief career, but so did Curlin, and he couldn’t win the Derby off three career starts......more
Jay Privman of ESPN tells us what Big Brown must overcome to win:
Jan-Feb 2007: Big Brown develops a quartercrack in his other foot and is forced to miss more time, jeopardizing a try at the Triple Crown
Dec 22, 2007: With the quartercrack fixed, Big Brown breezes six furlongs on the dirt at Palm Meadows in 1:13 3/5, outworking Diamond Stripes and giving Dutrow great hope for the 3-year old season
Oct-Dec 2007: Big Brown joins stable of Trainer Rick Dutrow, who breezes the colt on the turf in preparation for Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf, but he is sidelined with a quartercrack in his foot
Sept, 2007: 75% stake of Big Brown purchased in a private sale for around $3.5 million by IEAH Stables
Sept 3, 2007: Big Brown wins debut by 11 1/4 lengths as a 15/1 longshot on the turf at Saratoga
Apr-Sept 2007: Owner Paul Pompa Jr names Big Brown as a celebration of the contract Renewal between UPS Freight and his Brooklyn-based trucking company, Truck-Rite Corp.
April 17, 2007: Big Brown Purchased at Keenland Auction for $190,000 by Paul Pompa Jr., who had owned half-brother Snake River for one race.
Oct 24, 2006: Big Brown Purchased at Faisig Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale for $60,000.
April 10, 2005: Bay Colt Big Brown foaled
2004: for a sire fee of $10,000 Boundary is bred in Kentucky by Dr. Gary B Knapp's Monticule Farms to a broodmare named Mien
