Big Brown Dead Last at Belmont!

I'm glad he didn't win. It would have been a shame ot have a Triple Crown winner because there wasn't any real competition.

Better 3 in a decade with all of them being outstanding horses than one mediocre that wins due to lack of competition.

Didn't look like a hoof problem to me, btw.

what i read said that was why the jockey eased up on him.

this is from the AP story:

Big Brown was rank at the start and failed to respond when Desormeaux asked him to run in the last turn. At that point, Desormeaux eased him up.

The loss hit Desormeaux especially hard.

"This horse is the best I've ever ridden," he said. "Something's wrong, and I took care of him."

this is also from the AP: (Dutrow is Big Brown's trainer)

"Dutrow was second-guessed all week about his handling of a quarter crack in Big Brown's left front hoof, which surfaced after the Preakness and wasn't patched until Friday. He also came under scrutiny after admitting using legal steroids on Big Brown, even though the colt's last dose was in April."

i am so glad the jockey took care of the horse.

and, while i'm talking to myself here, i would also like to post this, from a piece on the op-ed page of the NY Times, today, called "If Big Brown Wins, Racing Loses" by peter thomas fornatale:

"Big Brown’s main owner is not a venerable stable like the Phipps family’s or even a group of casual investors who bought a racehorse on a lark (like the old high school friends who went in on Funny Cide, the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner). Instead, his main owner is International Equine Acquisitions Holdings, whose stated purpose is to be an equine hedge fund that delivers profits to its investors by consistently racing winners. When you run your stable like a hedge fund, the horse becomes just another commodity to be bought and sold like a share of stock, with little concern for its fate."

Peter Thomas Fornatale is the co-author of “Six Secrets of Successful Bettors” and, with Harvey Pack, “May the Horse Be With You.”

The reason I don't think it was the hoof is because BB never broke stride, never gave an indication of it bothering him. At least not that I could see from the replays. A horse pulling up is usually pretty obvious.

I'm glad the rider took care of him too but my guess at this point is the loss had more to do with heat than hoof.

it is freakin hot here in ny today.

Fromz

Thanks, You said that much better than I.