Big Upset at Belmont of Big Brown

It was a very hot day at the 140th running of the Belmont Stakes, but the favorite horse in the race, Big Brown, appeared to be in good form. The small crack in his left hoof did not seem to be bothering the three year old colt, according to his trainer. They had not trained him as hard, as they normally would, if the hoof had not been in the condition that it was. It was reported, that his owners did not think the hoof would be a problem, neither the fact that he had not been training and running as he normally would. His main competition, Casino Drive had been scratched, that morning. The horse that was the runner up, at the Preakness, Macho Again, would be running in the Belmont race.

There was great anticipation at the track, Big Brown, who had won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, was the favorite to win at the Belmont Stakes and become the first horse in thirty years, to win the biggest prize of all in horse racing, that of the Triple Crown. The excitement was certainly palatable, and the crowd was buzzing all around the track. The last horse to win the Triple Crown was Affirmed in 1978, so the anticipation of racing fans was understandable.

If Big Brown won the race, he would be retiring with five wins in five runs, undefeated in all his races. This was a big day for all those involved with the horse. It was reported that Big Brown was not caught up in what was going on, not that it could be established that he even knew, how huge the race was going to be.

The jockey for Big Brown, Kent Desormeaux, had his own thoughts about the day, he wanted his nine year old son, Jacob, who was suffering with Usher's syndrome, a disease which was robbing the child of his sight, to have this victory etched in his mind as a great memory of his father's triumph. The day was to be a gift to his son, if Mr. Desormeaux could win the Belmont Stakes.

The horses were lead to the starting gate, Big Brown was to take off from position one, appropriate for the winner of the past two races leading up to the Belmont Stakes. The race started off without any obvious hitches, besides the heat, Big Brown was behind two or three other horses, for a period of time, then there were only two in front of him. Da' Tara was in the lead out of the gate, and was one of the two horses in front of Big Brown, but this was the way Big Brown's jockey wanted to run the race. Big Brown would be paced, until the point where his jockey, would then call on the horse, by whipping him and pushing him to increase his speed and eventually win the race. At that point, when Kent Desormeaux pushed for an acceleration of speed, Big Brown did not comply.

The jockey said later, “I had no horse”, at that moment, Mr. Desormeaux pulled the horse up, deciding that Big Brown had a problem, and did not want to hurt the horse by running him hard to the end of the race, and basically took him out of the race, which was a good thing to do, under the circumstances, Big Brown finished last in the race. Hopes of a Triple Crown had to be tabled again. The crowd was left wonder- ing what had happened. Interesting enough the same jockey, who won on Da' Tara, who was the winner, and who lead from the starting gate to the wire, was the same jockey who beat Smarty Jones, in his quest for the Triple Crown, the jockey is and was Mr. Alan Garcia. Congratulations to the winner, the jockey and the owner, Mr. Nick Zito.

The report after the race was that Big Brown was not hurt, not in any distress, and did not shown any obvious sign of injury. There was to be a through examination of the horse to see if an answer could be found, as to why the horse could not perform as expected. One factor that was talked about, was that Big Brown had previously, been injected each month with steroids, and had them in his system during the Kentucky Derby, and the Preakness races. The horse had been taken off the drugs recently, giving a horse steroids is currently legal. There has been a ruling, which I believe, goes into effect next year, that no horse will be allowed to race, with steroids in their systems.

This could have been a factor, or it could have been the heat, or Big Brown could have decided, he just did not want to be a part of history at this time. The owners of Da' Tara were happy that their horse had the stuff, to go the distance, they felt bad for the loss of the Triple Crown for Big Brown, but not that bad, the purse for the winner was $600,000. So another year, another wait, maybe next year, it will happen, that elusive Triple Crown will be a reality.