Down the Stretch, Big Brown Fails to Deliver

ELMONT, N.Y. – It may have been the quarter crack on his left front foot, or the sweltering 90-degree heat, or just the strain of running three races in only five weeks, but when jockey Kent Desormeaux called upon Big Brown with the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown on the line, the colt did not respond.

A sweaty—yet festive—crowd of 94,476 jammed Belmont Park here today to see Big Brown become the 12th horse to capture the elusive Triple Crown, but, yet again, they left the track disappointed when he was pulled up by Desormeaux and finished last. He instead became the 18th horse to fail in the Belmont after winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, including the last 11 contenders.

Big Brown was crowned the overwhelming, 2-5 morning-line favorite, and those fans rooting for history had reason to be optimistic this morning when the second choice, Casino Drive, was scratched due to a cracked hoof. The odds on Big Brown closed at 1-4. Conversely, the longest shot in the race, Da’ Tara, went off at 38-1.

Da’ Tara is a pace-setter, so it was unsurprising when he broke to the front from the starting gate. His fractions, however, were pedestrian, including running the first third of the one-and-a-half-mile race in 48.3 seconds.

Big Brown stalked the leader for much of the race, but the slow fractions made that less concerning to Desormeaux and trainer Rick Dutrow. Big Brown was not expending too much energy in the first six or seven furlongs.

Then, at the top of the stretch, Desormeaux chose to make his move, and he summoned the power and speed that propelled Big Brown to convincing victories in the first two legs of the Triple Crown. But Big Brown failed to accelerate.

“I had no horse,” Desormeaux said after the race.

Once he sensed that Big Brown was not responding and the race was lost, the jockey, in a safe and honorable move, eased up on his mount, ensuring the heretofore undefeated colt would become the first Triple Crown contender to finish last in the Belmont Stakes.

Both jockey and trainer said they could find no physical problem with the horse.

“It was a very disappointing race, but the horse looks like he’s fine,” Dutrow said.

“He was in no way, shape, or form lame or sore,” said Desormeaux, though he did suggest that Big Brown may have been fatigued.

Da’ Tara and mount Alan García held the lead and crossed the finish line in an unhurried 2:29.65 against a hazy, platinum sky. His trainer, native New Yorker Nick Zito, spoiled the last Triple Crown bid, Smarty Jones’ in 2004, with 36-1 Birdstone.

When asked to compare the two wins, Zito said, “They both were surprising, and both gratifying. They were both long-shots.”

Da’ Tara is undoubtedly one of the most unlikely Belmont champions. He had only one career win—a wire-to-wire win in a January maiden race at South Florida’s Gulfstrem Park. He had run in only one graded stakes race previously—a ninth-place finish in the Florida Derby, also at Gulfstream.

But so it has been here at the Belmont Stakes over the past three decades: unmemorable winners like Da’ Tara, Sarava, and Birdstone, and the spoiled dreams of Triple Crown hopefuls like Big Brown. Many in racing bemoan their failures, perceiving each defeat to be a missed opportunity to grow their sport.

The effect a Triple Crown winner would have on horse racing is unclear, though perhaps it could be argued that, judging by the crowd’s disappointment, each failure could discourage those casual fans from coming back. Ultimately, though, it is the difficulty of the Belmont Stakes—the “Test of a Champion”—that makes this event so unique and the Triple Crown so impressive.

Having to run three races in five short weeks is far from the norm these days in horse racing, particularly among elite horses. It would be akin to playing triple-headers in the World Series, or football playoff games on back-to-back days.

Big Brown, a good horse in a particularly weak class, seemingly ran out of gas when faced with that test. It was disappointing, to be sure, but hardly remarkable. A mile-and-a-half over this track has proved to be too daunting a task for many fine horses over the years, including more than a few horses more deserving than Big Brown.

But it was more than just Big Sandy that claimed Big Brown’s chances; it was the cumulative effect of a grueling five-week trial that no other horse has been able to conquer for 30 years.