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 a huge upset in the 140th Belmont Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park.
Da'Tara, a 38-1 longshot, 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."
Big Brown's defeat was a bitter blow to his Long Island connections, which include both of his major co-owners from IEAH Stables, Michael Iavarone (Holbrook) and Richard Schiavo (Woodbury), plus trainer Rick Dutrow (Long Beach) and Desormeaux (Garden City).
On Friday, Dutrow said: "Big Brown will win - easily." He also called the horse's victory a "foregone conclusion."
Big Brown, a 1-4 favorite, became the 11th consecutive Triple Crown hopeful to fail to win the so-called "Test of the Champion." The last of the 11 Triple Crown winners was Affirmed in 1978.
The 3-year-old bay colt had previously won the Kentucky Derby by 4¾ lengths and the Preakness by 5¼. Big Brown was 5-0 in his career and had won by a combined 59 lengths. He was trying to become the second undefeated horse to win the Triple Crown; the first was Seattle Slew in 1977.
Big Brown ran the Belmont steroid-free. Dutrow had been giving Big Brown the steroid Winstrol every 15 days, but he said earlier this week that Big Brown would run the Belmont without the injection. Dutrow said Big Brown had not been given Winstrol since April 15 while he was stabled in Florida.
Big Brown raced with a slight quarter crack in his left front hoof. The injury, which was considered minor, was patched on Friday.
Desormeaux is winless in six tries at the Belmont. In 1998, riding Real Quiet with a Triple Crown in sight, he finished second by a nose to Victory Gallops.
Big Brown's chances seemed to get a boost early Saturday morning when Casino Drive was scratched after he re-aggravated a bruise on his left hind hoof. The injury was discovered Friday morning, and later that day his veterinarian said the colt might have stepped on a rock or kicked something.
Casino Drive was considered Big Brown's toughest competition. The Japanese colt had won its only two races in impressive fashion.
"This morning he was feeling well, so we took him to the track for a canter," said Nobutaka Tada, the spokesman for Japan-based owner Hidetoshi Yamamoto and trainer Kazuo Fujisawa. "He came back well to the stable, but later he started favoring his left hind again. It's not serious, just a small stone bruise, but the timing is terrible."
The Belmont, at a mile and a half, is the longest and toughest test of the three classics.
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4 comments:
I saw that race on ABC and I just cannot believe that horse had that kind of melt-down without some help from his "connections".
I certainly hope there's an impartial investigation into all aspects of this event, including an investigation by a veterinary team NOT connected with the track ( wasn't that "on-call" vet quoted on TV the same one who "NEVER SAW" an injury like the one that killed Eight Belles?) or with Big Brown's "connections".
I'm not saying there was any "funny business", but given the backrgrounds of Big Brown's "conenction", the public needs to know what really happened.
And thank God for Kent Desormeaux for taking care of that horse when he knew he was in difficulty. It may turn out that he's the only one who did.
TvNB
I am an experienced handicapper..short of Big Browns performance. The horses that finished first through fourth figured to finish that way, with one exception BB should have been the one infront. Everything unfolded the way it should except for BB and how he raced. What ever were the circumstances that impacted his performance they were real perhaps insidious. This is a horse that should have only lost the race because he was either sick or his performance capabilities were affected in a real and material way.
I am an experienced handicapper..short of Big Browns performance. The horses that finished first through fourth figured to finish that way, with one exception BB should have been the one infront. Everything unfolded the way it should except for BB and how he raced. What ever were the circumstances that impacted his performance they were real perhaps insidious. This is a horse that should have only lost the race because he was either sick or his performance capabilities were affected in a real and material way.
So who is investigation this race? There is not one person who saw this race that isn't thinking fix, fraud, funny business. Why was the steroid shot given for all other races and not this one? Was the horse well enough to run at all. Don't give us this, track was too deep crap. He worked out there for two weeks. Someone other then poor Big Brown was controlling the outcome. That was not the same horse that ran the other races. Maybe it wasn't really Big Brown??? Just kidding, sort of.
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