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.
It has certainly been a disappointing day at BigBrownTripleCrown.com. It would appear that the purpose of the site may have ceased to exist shortly after 6:30 pm ET today, but we will continue to post information about Big Brown and the Triple Crown on the site going forward. I want to thank all of you who have visited the site during this magnificent run at history. I hope that this Triple Crown Season has helped promote this great sport and has produced many new fans. I encourage all who have already been subscribed to our updates to stay on board and I encourage any others to consider subscribing now. Since information will likely come at a slower pace going forward, the site will only be updated as necessary and emails will only be sent out on days that there has been a new posting. I especially want to thank those of you who sent along email messages. It was very nice to read all of your kind words and your feedback was always helpful. I would love to hear from more of you if you have a moment to send along any feedback to BigBrownTripleCrown@gmail.com. Most importantly, thank you, of course, must go to Big Brown. I hope to see him run again.
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:
With 15 minutes until post time, Kent Desormeaux has mounted Big Brown and is making his lap of the paddock. More than 100,000 fans are at Belmont and ESPN reports that "all eyes are on Big Brown." A train platform by the track is jammed with people looking at Big Brown. Big Brown does not look to be sweating at all in the 93 degree weather. Big Brown and Kent Desormeaux both seem focussed and unphased by the huge crowds.
"Home Video" of him walking in the ring:
Here is "home video" (from Grandstand section 3S) as Big Brown takes to the Belmont track - warning: it's 4:32 long and there is a lot of standing around with a distant view, but I've posted it for you die hards who want to feel like you were there:
Big Brown was moved to the Security Stable and placed in stable #49 around 11:45 am today. He is being treated like all of the other 8 horses in the race who all arrived at the Security stable before noon. He has two fans blowing on him as the temperature inches toward 90 degrees. At noon it was 88 degrees at the track. ESPN showed video of Big Brown in the stable. He was uncharacteristically jumpy in the stable, showing that he was not happy being moved to a new stable before the race. The experts on ESPN all seemed to feel comfortable saying that as long as he settles down in the next thirty minutes, he will be fine. By 12:30, ESPN reported that he had, in fact, settled down.
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:
Exercise Rider Michelle Nevin galloped almost the entire mile and a half around the Belmont track this morning as Big Brown got his final workout before tomorrows Belmont Stakes.
Big Brown hit the track June 6 for his final gallop before looking to make history in tomorrow's $1-million Belmont Stakes (gr.I). After the harrowing break at 8:45 a.m., Big Brown, with exercise rider Michelle Nevin aboard, galloped nearly the circumference of the 1 1/2-mile Belmont oval......more
Lenny Shulman reporting on the workout for Bloodhorse.com:
"Home video" of Big Brown and Michelle Nevin around the track:
Thursday morning, Casino Drive got his final workout before the Belmont Stakes on Saturday. The unorthodox japanese style work again resulted in an unusual half mile time of a little over 55 seconds. Edgar prado, who was not supposed to ride Casino Drive until the Belmont Stakes was given the chance to ride him in this workout during which Casino Drive sat behind Stablemate Spark Candle until a move past him at the 1/16th pole.
Casino Drive had another “work” Thursday morning. As part of his unorthodox, by American standards, training program he worked a half mile in a little over 55 seconds. Edgar Prado was given the mount for this move. It had earlier been reported that Prado would not ride Casino Drive until the Belmont......more
Lenny Shulman reporting on the workout for Bloodhorse.com:
The field is set for the Belmont Stakes on Saturday and Big Brown will leave from the number one post position of a ten horse field. He has been made a 2-5 favorite and Casino Drive will go off from the five position as a morning-line 7-2 second favorite. Belmont Park odds maker Eric Donovan has sent the message clearly that this should be a two horse race, tagging the third favorite, Denis of Cork, at 12-1. The number one post has produced the most Belmont winners since 1905 with 23 Champions coming from that post. Jockey Kent Desormeaux is generally happy with the spot commenting that Big Brown is so fast away from the gate that the race could be over "in 40 yards." One surprise entry in the field is Guadacanal who is still a maiden having never won a race before. The entire field shapes up like this:
Jockey Kent Desormeaux, whose flawless handling of the horse has Big Brown in position for the first Triple Crown in 30 years, said the inside was a better spot. "Absolutely, because it's an easier trip," he said. "I would be able to just guide and glide. Now, I'm going to have to jockey for position. He's so fast away from the gate, though, the race might be over in 40 yards." Surprise, surprise. Trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. said Big Brown would win no matter the post position......more
...."The shortest distance from the gate to the wire is on the rail," said Hall of Famer Jockey Jerry Bailey, a two-time Belmont winner. "Even though he might be good enough to go four- or five-wide on these turns, I wouldn't want to. What people forget is how long these turns are. If he were out there four- or five-wide, he would be giving away a lot of ground......more
Big Brown is a 2-5 favorite to win the 140th Belmont Stakes on June 7 and become thoroughbred racing's first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed 30 years ago. The undefeated colt will leave from the No. 1 post position in the 10-horse field at the longest of the Triple Crown races after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes by a combined 10 lengths. .....more
Randy Moss reports on ESPN about the post position draw and Belmont in general:
Big Brown completed his final workout before the Belmont Stakes this morning running five furlongs in one minute flat in front of 200 media members and spectators. Exercise rider Michelle Nevin was aboard as usual taking him on the main track at about 8:50 am on a warm, humid morning at Belmont Park. All involved were very happy with the workout and felt that it went according to the plan; Michelle Nevin, who was admittedly nervous in anticipation of the big race commented that Trainer Richard Dutrow had asked her to "breeze him just like you do every other time." Hoof specialist, Ian McKinlay will wait until Friday to apply the patch to his healing hoof. Dutrow says that he is right on track and that the hoof held up well in the workout. He commented "he jumped over a big hurdle today." McKinlay had positive comments about the recovery and explained the simple process he will go through on Friday to patch the injury. He also took time today to defend Richard Dutrow and the sport of Horse Racing, squashing comments that the horses life was being put in jeopardy by running him in the Belmont Stakes.
When it's showtime, Big Brown always comes through. The Kentucky Derby/Preakness winner pleased his connections and about 200 media members and spectators Tuesday in his only official workout for the Belmont Stakes. The superstar colt breezed 5 furlongs in a minute flat for exercise rider Michelle Nevin on a warm, humid morning at Belmont Park......more
Big Brown's cracked left front hoof is improving daily and held up well Tuesday in his final workout before the Belmont Stakes and his bid for the Triple Crown......more
ESPN's Jeannie Edwards reports on final workout and more:
Dutrow and McKinlay's comments can be heard in this AP report:
Casino Drive and his Japanese connections have brought drama, intrigue and some unorthodox practices to Belmont Park. His workout routine is something that is not seen in America and is turning heads at the track.
Each morning, Casino Drive is saddled up and ridden along the backside of Belmont Park. For an hour, he darts between barns, sends puffs of dirt in the air as he clip-clops down shady paths and garners admiring stares from the most hard-bitten of horsemen. When Casino Drive, a chestnut colt, finally hits the racetrack for a gallop, he swallows the ground with his giant strides......more
....The way Casino Drive is training for the Belmont has raised eyebrows. It is a unique approach, by U.S. standards. Most American-based horses prepare for races with jogs, gallops and workouts on the track. Casino Drive, in contrast, is a power walker, taking vigorous one-hour strolls through the barn area. He then goes to the track for an easy jog before resuming another hour of walking. "We really try to pick his feet up," said Nobutaka Tada, spokesman for owner Hidetoshi Yamamoto and trainer Kazuo Fujisawa. "We want him to be ready, so he will be strong.".....more
This is not Big Brown's repair, but is a great video explanation of what is done. Ian McKinlay, Big Brown's hoof specialist, narrates the explanation of his own procedure from start to finish. It also gives some insight into McKinlay himself and explaining how the process was developed in the 60's (by his father and a dentist by the name of Dr. Harold Fagan). This video is quite worthwhile to watch. McKinlay actually posted it to YouTube.com shortly after the Kentucky Derby and three weeks before he would be called in to repair the most famous hoof in racing today.
It has been discovered and reported that Big Brown has developed a 'slight' Quarter Crack on the inside of his left front foot. Big Brown suffered two other quarter cracks in his feet over the last 8 months, but this is not as bad as those injuries that kept him sidelined for 45+ days. Trainer Rick Dutrow said that he discovered it on friday afternoon and called in specialist Ian McKinlay to treat it. Big Brown is in no discomfort and McKinlay, who has had success in similar scenarios before feels confident that Big Brown's Triple Crown Pursuit is not in jeopardy. He has been kept off the track since Friday, but Dutrow hopes and expects him to return to the track by Thursday. In an interesting comment on TVG, Simon Bray, who used to be an assistant trainer under Bill Mott, reported that Cigar dealt with similar quarter crack issues throughout his storied career. Here are the reports from around the web:
Big Brown has yet to encounter anything that can trip up his historic Triple Crown run. But that may have changed Sunday. Trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. revealed that the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner is battling a quarter crack on the inside of his left front hoof that will force the colt to miss several days of training. .....more
Big Brown has a "slight" quarter crack on the inside of his left front foot, trainer Rick Dutrow said Sunday, May 25. The colt did not go to the track Saturday or Sunday......more
"If it was two weeks we would be nervous, but since we have an extra week I'm as cool as we can be. It's bad that this happened, but it's good that it happened at this time," Dutrow said. McKinlay downplayed the severity of the problem, noting that a best-case scenario would allow Big Brown to return to the track on Thursday......more
....“If the race was today, yesterday or tomorrow, this would not be an issue,” said Dutrow Sunday morning at Belmont Park. “The amont of training he is missing is nothing. He is going to be ready to roll.”.....more
...."We didn't know until Saturday that it was a quarter-crack," explained Dutrow, who said he first noticed an issue with the colt's hoof Friday afternoon. "It scares us this happened, but this has nothing to do with his ability to finish what he started. "It's bad it happened, but it's good it happened now. He's going to be OK." ....more
Big Brown, an exceptional thoroughbred, has a very common problem: a quarter crack, which is a split in the wall of a hoof. Trainer Rick Dutrow announced yesterday morning at Belmont Park that the undefeated colt had not trained since Friday because of a condition foot specialist Ian McKinlay termed "very minor." Both expressed optimism that the ailment could be cleared up within a few days, and in the "best-case scenario" the Kentucky Derby-Preakness winner could return to the track "Wednesday or Thursday." The American Association of Equine Practitioners defines a quarter crack as "a vertical crack in the hoof wall between the toe and the heel of the hoof." Big Brown's crack, approximately five-eighths of an inch long, is in the back of his left front hoof......more
....A quarter crack occurs to the hard substance of the hoof, similar to a fingernail, and can be painful and can lead to an infection of the soft tissue underneath. Big Brown did not train Saturday and today. Noted quarter crack specialist Ian McKinlay, who has worked on Big Brown’s hooves in the past, called it a “very, very minor crack” about five-eighths of an inch long in the hoof wall. The hoof is being treated with a solution of iodine and alcohol and be patched Monday with a set of wires and mesh......more
....The quarter crack is a split in the hoof wall, traveling down from the hairline, and it is not related to the previous foot injuries that troubled Big Brown late in his 2-year-old year and again at the beginning if this year, said noted equine hoof specialist Ian McKinlay, who has cared for Big Brown’s feet since last fall......Said McKinlay: ``Unless I make some boneheaded move this will be a walk in the park.’’more
AP News Report - includes comments from McKinlay, Dutrow and Casino Drive spokesman:
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:
Richard Dutrow has had a lot to say since the spotlight has been cast on him and Big Brown. As opposed to trainers of past Triple Crown quests, he seems to be thriving in the spotlight.
Not every trainer likes the Triple Crown spotlight. In 2000, the non-racing media's silly questions annoyed Neil Drysdale, who seemed relieved when Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus was upset in the Preakness. Three years later, the five-week media blitz over Funny Cide made Barclay Tagg cranky.....more
Here is AP video from today as Dutrow talks about Big Brown, how he feels and that he intends to run through the Travers (even if Michael Iavarone may be telling him not to say that):
Meanwhile Big Brown is laid-back and cool according to Dutrow:
"When you put the bridle on him and start taking him over, he looks like he's sleepy, not interested at all," Dutrow said. Meet the Muhammad Ali of racing. Rope-a-dope on four legs. "I don't know if I've ever been around a horse like him, he is just so amazing how much he is laid-back and doesn't get excited about anything,".....more
Big Brown arrived at Belmont Park about 30 minutes late after hitting some traffic en route from Pimlico. He will be staying at Bobby Frankel's Barn in Belmont park until June 7th when he will try and make History in the Belmont Stakes.
....He was shipped directly to Belmont Park and arrived safely at Racing Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel’s barn. Big Brown will occupy the stall formerly used by 2003 Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker. Though the dual classic winner loaded without incident, trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. noted that his Triple Crown hopeful suffers from no lack of energy after his big effort. “I can see he is sharp,” Dutrow said. “Yesterday, he was bouncing and today the same thing. He is doing good and that makes everything so much easier.”.....more
The circus is in town, and his name is Big Brown. At 2:27 p.m. Monday, as dozens of still and video cameras recorded the moment, groom Herasmo Gonzales led America's new cult hero off a van on Belmont Park's backstretch.....more
Video report from teh New York Post regarding his arrival at Belmont:
As most expected, Big Brown made easy work of the Preakness field and is one step closer to a Triple Crown. He won by 5 1/4 lengths as a 1-5 favorite in front of 112,000 fans at Pimlico. Connections were very happy with how he raced and how little he needed to use up as the Belmont looms three weeks away. Casino Drive and other fresher horses will certainly bring challenge and Drama to the effort.
Big Brown powered to the lead turning for home and then sailed through the stretch to win the Preakness, still perfect and squarely pointed down the path toward thoroughbred racing's first Triple Crown in 30 years.....more
....Big Brown, the overwhelming favorite ridden by Kent Desormeaux, grabbed the lead at the top of the stretch and easily drew away from the field for his fifth career triumph."Unlike in the Kentucky Derby where I had to start knuckling on him to get him to go get the leaders, today I was slowing him down not to pass the leaders," said Desormeaux."It was really a dramatic change from two weeks ago in the Kentucky Derby.".....more
...With the victory, the powerful bay colt becomes the 30th horse in thoroughbred history to head to the Belmont Stakes with the elusive Triple Crown in his sights. Only eleven have captured all three of horse racing’s jewels -- the last was Affirmed in 1978.....more
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
