Is Big Brown Being Set Up For Failure?

(Casino Drive)

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We all know Big Brown is a good horse. Even if those he's beaten are as bad as people say, he has to be good to do what he's done. But There are two things that stand in his way on Belmont day: The first in the impressive Casino Drive, who has Belmont victory written all over his bloodlines, and the second is those promlematic feet.

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Casino Drive has been so impressive in his only two starts that I have to wonder if he can take down Big Brown. He is a son of Mineshaft by AP Indy, who was a Belmont winner himself, and was the son of Seattle Slew by a Secretariat mare. That's three Belmont winners without any research further. He is also a half brother to 2006 Belmont winner Jazil and a 3/4 brother to 2007 Belmont winner Rags to Riches.

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Big Brown's feet have been a problem for much of his so far brief career, and now as he awaits the Belmont Stakes, he is recovering from a quarter crack. It's healed rather quickly, and it should not bother him at all on race day, but I can't help but wonder if this is some kind of sign screaming out to not run him in the Belmont, for fear of serious injury. Maybe I'm just hung up on the Eight Belles tragedy, but I think I speak for everyone when I say that I'd rather see Brown have to forfeit the Triple Crown by not running than to do so by ending up like her.

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But maybe this is all premonition. After all, I had some of these same feelings before the Preakness. Maybe Big Brown will win it easily and become the Triple Crown winner this sport so badly needs. I think that Casino Drive is the only major obstacle in the way of him doing so.

Big Brown Wins Preakness Stakes

(Big Brown)
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Big Brown was so overpowering in the Preakness Stakes that Kent Desormaux eased him across the wire as his rivals scrambled for second and third place honors. Improving his status to five wins in five starts, Big Brown now has what looks to be a very good shot at becoming horse racing's first Triple Crown winner in 30 years.

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In other news, horseracing was able to breathe somewhat of a sigh of relief as no horses were injured at Pimlico on Saturday. In the wake of Eight Belles's death, protestors stood at the front gates of Pimlico with signs that read things like "horse racing is animal cruelty," a statement that I will never believe to be true. Horses like Eight Belles and Big Brown get treated like royalty. I can't deny that I often wonder if horse racing is too dangerous, but I don't think these horses are treated badly. When I see Big Brown bound home on the lead with his ears pricked straight forward, I see a happy horse. When Eight Belles came home second in the Derby, she was a happy horse.

Preakness Stakes

(Curlin, 2007 Preakness Stakes Winner)

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Like so many others, I can't help but feel a little uneasy about today's Preakness Stakes. We have Eight Belles to thank for that. The valiant filly did not deserve to go the way she did, but she was handled humanely. There was nothing they could do for her. I am right there with all those hoping to see Big Brown win this afternoon, and ultimately hoping to see him sweep the Triple Crown. But I have this gut feeling--call it worry, call it a premonition, call it paranoya, call it whatever you like--that something is going to go wrong here. Not that Big Brown, or anyone, is going to get hurt. Just that maybe, just maybe he can't win this one. It does seem silly to expect this to be the rough one after the 20 post blowout he did two weeks ago. Big Brown looks good. He's healthy, he's happy. Now he just needs to not be unlucky. The Preakness Field is:

1. Macho Again
2. Tres Borrachos
3. Icabad Crane
4. Yankee Bravo
5. Behindatthebar (SCR)
6. Racecar Rhapsody
7. Big Brown
8. Kentucky Bear
10. Stevil
11. Riley Tucker
12. Gaint Moon
13. Gayego
14. Hey Byrn

Brown Wins it Big!

(Big Brown winning Florida Derby)

There is no denying--Big Brown was awesome today. So to all of those Big Brown haters--sorry, but ya'll are going to have to eat your words for a while. I hated that his trainer was so "confident" (which I like to use to replace arrogant). But I decided at post time not to take it out on the horse, and after going back and forth between him and Colonel John, and even Eight Belles once, I settled on this top five:
1. Big Brown (won of course)
2. Colonel John (was sixth)
3. Eight Belles (was second, more on that later)
4. Pyro (was eighth)
5. Visionaire (was twelfth)

not a bad day's work, and when combined with the other two winners I chose today, it gets even better. Also, I got the Oaks Derby Double because I chose Proud Spell yesterday.

Big Brown could go all the way guys--his hardest race is over. We'll see if he stays sound long enough to win the other two (because that will probably be his biggest problem).

Now about Eight Belles--I honestly thought, when I saw a gray laying on the track, that it was either Monba or Z Fortune, because Eight Belles had just finished second and looked perfectly fine. But of course we all know it was her. She broke both front ankles, which is very odd, while she was galloping out. Actually she was done galloping out--she looked totally fine, then all the sudden she just collapsed. I'll write more on her when I have a better sense of how I feel about that.

This post is to Big Brown and his awesome race today!