
photo credit: si_si_ay
Big Brown, the horse that everyone seemed to be pullin for to win the Triple Crown today happened to get slaughtered. It seems as though his hoof wasn’t fully healed, and he wasn’t himself today. You better believe that there will be some wacky conspiracy theories made from this race that will hit ESPN soon.
For now, everyone will be talkin about how the race was a big disappointment. I thought the race was boring, though the pregame hype-talk was nice. The pregame hooked me to watch over 1 hour before the actual race on the ABC network. I was pumped when the race finally started and Big Brown’s jockey actually guaranteed everyone that he would win the race.
I don’t know if the heat got to Big Brown or what, but he was beat by Da’ Tara. Odds were strongly favored for Big Brown – so much that – for every dollar you bet on Big Brown winning, you’d have only gotten a quarter in return! The race produced an interesting result that was unexpected by most.
However, if you take a look at statistics, the last horse to win a Triple Crown was exactly 30 years from today. The odds are definitely hard to overcome in order to win the race. All of the conditions including: temperature (which could’ve been too hot for Brown), injuries, the day (he could’ve just had an off day…), etc.
Oh yeah, and give Big Brown some gottdamn credit: he won the Kentucky Derby and The Preakness… Any other day and he’d probably have had a great shot at winning The Triple Crown… And by the way, I wish Casino Drive would’ve ran in the race… He got a lot of hype and I wanted to see the Japanese stallion put into action! I’ll end it in the words of a wiseman: “It is what it is.”
For more info on Big Brown and today’s Belmont event, check out the article featured below:
NEW YORK (AP) — When Big Brown turned for home, something wasn’t right. Jockey Kent Desormeaux knew the big bay colt was finished. Trainer Rick Dutrow Jr., who guaranteed racing’s first Triple Crown in 30 years, knew it, too.
Big Brown straggled home last Saturday, losing the Belmont Stakes to 38-1 long shot Da’ Tara, who led wire-to-wire. Eased up in the homestretch, the 1-4 favorite was so far behind at the end that his margin of defeat wasn’t even charted.
“He was empty. He didn’t have anything left,” Desormeaux said. “There’s no popped tires. He’s just out of gas.”
Big Brown arrived at Belmont Park undefeated in five starts, winning all of them by a combined 39 lengths. His path to history seemed even more certain when unbeaten Casino Drive was scratched in the morning because of a bruised left hind hoof.
But he ran third most of the way until Desormeaux asked him for one of his explosive runs on the far turn of Belmont’s 1 1/2 miles, the longest and toughest of the three classics.
“I had no horse,” Desormeaux said, in stark contrast to Dutrow’s unabashed pronouncements that a Triple Crown was “a foregone conclusion.”
Instead of becoming the 12th Triple Crown winner and first in 30 years, Big Brown was the first horse going for a Triple to finish dead last, stunning 94,476 fans who braved the unseasonable 88-degree heat and oppressive humidity.
“He wasn’t himself,” winning trainer Nick Zito said. “Things happen for a reason.”
Big Brown was running on a quarter crack in his left front hoof that wasn’t patched until Friday, but Dutrow insisted even on the way to the starting gate that it was a “non-issue.”
Nevertheless, it cost the colt three days of training between the Preakness and the Belmont. Desormeaux said Big Brown “was in no way, shape or form lame or sore. But there’s something amiss, probably just tired.”
Big Brown’s defeat extended the Triple Crown drought that began after Affirmed completed the elusive sweep in 1978.
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