BALTIMORE — Thoroughbred racing has its share of issues, as the past two weeks have shown, but Big Brown doesn’t appear to have any. And for one day, the sport was able to focus on exactly the type of performance that makes it so compelling.
Now it’s on to Belmont Park in just under three weeks for a date with history.
Big Brown didn’t just dazzle in his latest performance, he thoroughly dominated 11 rivals in winning the 133rd Preakness Stakes by 5 1/4 lengths — wrapped up — at Pimlico Race Course.
The unbeaten son of Boundary, now 5-for-5 lifetime, will head to the June 7 Belmont Stakes with a chance to become racing’s 12th Triple Crown winner — and first since Affirmed in 1978.
Since 1997, six horses have been in the position Big Brown finds himself in, but all came up short in the grueling mile-and-a-half final leg of the Triple Crown. None of those, however, not even Smarty Jones, overwhelmed the opposition the way Big Brown has as a 3-year-old.
“He just keeps on getting better, keeps on showing he is something special,” trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. said.
Jockey Kent Desormeaux, who originally left the jockey’s room without his whip, had to quickly turn back to retrieve it before getting a leg up on Big Brown. Turns out it was little more than a prop.
As he and Big Brown approached the final turn, they were outside of Gayego and Riley Tucker. Then, in a breathtaking turn of foot, they were gone.
Big Brown, the prohibitive 1-5 favorite, exploded off that final turn and left the field in his wake as he did, with Desormeaux taking a peek back to see if anyone was coming. No one was.
He kept stealing peeks — five more times in the stretch after that, just to be sure. Macho Again, a 39-1 shot, managed to grab the place spot a half-length ahead of Icabad Crane.

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