ELMONT, N.Y. - Hi, I’m Big Brown. And I have some explaining to do.
A lot of people showed up at Belmont Park on Saturday expecting me to pull a Secretariat.
Instead I pulled a fast one. Well, actually it was a slow one.
I finished about 89 lengths behind Da’ Tara or Da’ Toro or whatever the winner’s name was. Now everybody’s wondering who was that horse who started from the post position?
“Obviously, he wasn’t Big Brown,” Nick Zito said.
I appreciate the sentiment from the winning trainer, but that really was me. I’m not exactly sure why I turned into Big Clown.
Was it my cracked hoof? Could I not take the heat? Did I lose my home-run swing after missing my monthly steroid shot?
Speculation is running amok, which is more than I can say for myself on Saturday. The veterinarians have been all over my body, looking for clues. Frankly, I think they might be looking in the wrong place.
I think it might have been in my head. I was going to lose it if I had to listen to Rick crow about winning the Triple Crown.
That’s my trainer, Rick Dutrow Jr., for those of you who haven’t heard. And if you haven’t heard Rick, you haven’t been within 100 miles of a horsetrack in the past month.
Yak, yak, yak. The guy’s mouth was running so fast you’d swear he was sired by Don King via Native Dancer.
He called my competition “a bunch of clowns.” He guaranteed I’d win Saturday’s race. Every morning I’d pick up the paper and have to read something like this:
“No one is going to catch him. I can’t wait. There’s no way in the world there’s any horse that’s doing any better than Big Brown. That’s impossible.”

azcentral.com

ELMONT, N.Y. | Maryland native Rick Dutrow Jr. has called Big Brown winning today’s Belmont Stakes “a forgone conclusion.”
Evidently Dutrow hasn’t been paying much attention to the Belmont in general and Triple Crown near-misses in general the last three decades.
Dutrow says he has the best horse. He says post position doesn’t matter.
Those statements are true.
He says his horse is a lock.
That statement is not.
In a sport that produced the infamous saying, “It makes millionaires out of billionaires,” anything can happen.
Question: You mentioned Dutrow’s comments about Big Brown’s win being a given. Your take?
Answer: Nope and the reason is that there hasn’t been a Triple Crown winner in 30 years. Just recently, Real Quiet was probably moved a little too soon by jockey Kent Desormeaux, War Emblem stumbled out of the gate and Smarty Jones ran out of steam.
Q: Dutrow has been a polarizing figure during the last six weeks. What’s your take on giving horses steroids and big-time boasting?

washingtontimes.com

On Saturday at 5:17 p.m., the eyes of most of the world will be on Belmont Park.
For 1½ miles, Kentucky Derby and Preakness romper Big Brown will chase the holy grail of thoroughbred racing, attempting to become the first horse in 30 years to capture the Triple Crown.
Affirmed was the last horse to do it. His 1978 battles with Alydar are legendary.
Big Brown has no archrivals. In five starts, no horse has gotten within 4¾ lengths.
In recent years, Silver Charm, Real Quiet, Charismatic, War Emblem, Funny Cide and Smarty Jones won the Derby and the Preakness but were denied their place in history in the Belmont Stakes.
With the exception of Chicago hero War Emblem, as well as Smarty Jones, I rooted against them all. I loved it when Victory Gallop nailed Real Quiet, and when Funny Cide got stuck in the mud.
Besides history, Big Brown has two factors that may work against him. Unfortunately, one of those isn’t the collective talent of his competition.
The most obvious problem is his damaged hoof. A horse with notoriously bad feet, he developed a quarter crack in his left front. It has healed amazingly well, and he calmed fears that it could affect his effort with a stellar 5-furlong workout Tuesday.
The second issue may be the weather. Saturday’s temperatures may climb into the low 90s, and some horses can’t handle heat, especially over 12 grueling furlongs.
Big Brown is special, but he has benefited by racing against an average group of 3-year-olds. He has a high cruising speed but is rateable. When asked, he simply explodes, regardless of the distance. He may relish Belmont’s 12 furlongs.
Many believe the rail post may hinder him, but with Da’Tara the only horse who hints of tactical speed, he should have no problem finding early position.

dailyherald.com

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.

nj.com