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Horse Racing

Belmont Stakes


Triple Crown triumph may not automatically place Big Brown among greats...

Veteran Belmont Park conditioners feel IEAH Stables’s and Paul Pompa Jr.’s dual classic winner Big Brown is likely to clinch Thoroughbred racing’s first Triple Crown in 30 years on Saturday, but some noted the Boundary colt may need to continue his career in order to measure up to the sport’s all-time greats.

Trainer Billy Turner, who conditioned Seattle Slew to the 1977 Triple Crown, said Big Brown will not have done enough for comparison to the 11 three-year-olds to sweep all three classics should he prevail in Saturday’s 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes (G1).

“In the realm of things, he’ll have to step it up,” Turner said. “He has to run in the Travers Stakes (G1) and the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) and run as a four-year-old.

“If not, he’ll never have a place in history unless he runs Secretariat’s [1973 world record Belmont Stakes] time [of 2:24,]” Turner said.

Seattle Slew won five of seven starts at age four, including victories in the Marlboro Cup Handicap (G1) and the Woodward (G1) at Belmont and capped his career with a victory in the Stuyvesant Handicap (G3) at Aqueduct.

Racing Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey said Big Brown is “obviously a nice horse and has a huge chance,” to capture the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown.

“If he wins the Triple Crown, it’s something they can’t take away from him,” McGaughey said. “Right now, I think [2007 Horse of the Year] Curlin would beat him in the Breeders’ Cup Classic [Powered by Dodge (G1)]. But, that’s in the fall of the year and [Big Brown] still has time to improve. Usually, four-year-olds will beat three-year-olds.”

Bob Baffert, who endured four near-Triple Crown misses in the Belmont Stakes throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, said Big Brown is superior to the current crop of three-year-olds.

“It’s three Grade 1 races in five weeks,” Baffert said. “Some horses can do it and some can’t. He’s superior to the colts out there now and I don’t think the distance will be a problem,” he said.

Baffert, who watched Big Brown’s gallop on Friday alongside trainer Richard Dutrow Jr., said the colt should race in the Travers if possible.

“These horses aren’t machines, they’re athletes” Baffert said. “All great athletes have something wrong at some point. You don’t want to send them out there if they’ve lost a step.”

Racing Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens lamented the business side of the industry, which makes racing a Triple Crown winner financially unviable.

“It’s unfortunate, because it makes it hard for racing to be a sport,” Jerkens said. “He reminds me a little of Secretariat and a little bit of Citation. If he wins Saturday, he won’t have to prove anything.”

Jerkens pointed out that 1941 Triple Crown winner Whirlaway is the only three-year-old to sweep the classics and win the Travers. Affirmed, the 1978 Triple Crown winner, crossed the wire first in that year’s Travers but was disqualified.

Tom De Martini is a New Jersey-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent



Aftee overpowering large fields in the first two spring classics, Big Brown will try to end the longest Triple Crown drought in history when he starts in the $1-million Belmont Stakes (G1) on Saturday in Elmont, New York.

Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) and the Preakness Stakes (G1) by a combined ten lengths and will enter Saturday’s 1 1/2-mile test as a 2-to-5 morning-line favorite. The Boundary colt has won his five starts by a combined 39 lengths and, with a victory on Saturday, would join Seattle Slew as the only two horses to complete the United States Triple Crown with an undefeated career record.

Trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. expects to make history but he is not expecting much drama during the stretch.

“I envision him winning by daylight,” said Dutrow, who several times this week said he hopes jockey Kent Desormeaux does not ask for more from Big Brown once he secures victory. “I just don’t see a dogfight in this race.”

Big Brown defeated a record 29 individual horses in his victories in the Derby and the Preakness. No horse in the Belmont field has ever finished within five lengths of Big Brown, but he will have to overcome some physical setbacks in the Belmont.

Big Brown will race with steel lacing and a patch that was applied to his left front foot to treat a five-eighths inch quarter crack. Foot specialist Ian McKinlay does not expect it to be a problem. Also, Big Brown ran down in the Preakness but his ankles have looked better during his gallops at Belmont.

Michael Iavarone, co-president of Big Brown’s majority owner IEAH Stables, said the added week between the Preakness and the Belmont, along with some extra rest because of the quarter crack has resulted in Big Brown showing some feistiness.

“He’s gotten a lot more aggressive,” Iavarone said. “His demeanor has changed just a little bit. I think he knows something is coming.”

Jockey Kent Desormeaux said he plans to allow Big Brown to gradually build momentum throughout the race before asking for the colt’s big move. Big Brown will break from post one, where more Belmont winners—23—have started than any other post.

Temperatures are expected to be in the low 90s on Saturday but Dutrow does not believe it will be a problem. Post time is scheduled for 6:25 p.m. EDT.

Not only has it been 30 years since Affirmed last completed the Triple Crown—the longest such drought since the Triple Crown was recognized—but during that time ten horses have entered the Belmont with an opportunity to win the elusive trifecta only to come up short. The most recent was Smarty Jones in 2004, when a record 120,139 fans turned out to witness Birdstone edge past the dual classic winner in deep stretch.

Several horses will look to knock off Big Brown in the classic. The Belmont field does include an intriguing new shooter in undefeated Peter Pan Stakes (G2) winner Casino Drive, who will try to join siblings Jazil and Rags to Riches as Belmont winners. A Casino Drive victory would make Better Than Honour the first broodmare to produce three U.S. classic winners.

On Friday morning, however, Casino Drive’s status was in doubt. The Mineshaft colt has developed a problem in his left hind leg and could be scratched.

Casino Drive Is Scratched

The field does include the most accomplished three-year-olds in training as Derby third-place finisher Denis of Cork and fourth-place finisher Tale of Ekati will make their first starts since the Louisville classic. Eight Belles, a filly, suffered a fatal breakdown after finishing second in the Derby.

Trainer David Carroll believes Denis of Cork, who passed 16 horses to finish third in the Derby, is capable of improvement.

“He ran a big race in the Kentucky Derby. I know you can look at it two ways. First, you can say that he was never in the race and just ran around and got third. But I thought he ran a big race that day,” Carroll said. “He broke from post 16 and was angled over to the rail, which cost him some ground and he still finished up well. He has trained well since then and he is bred to go long, so why not run him here?”

Also looking to fill the spoiler role will be Preakness second-place finisher Macho Again and third-place finisher Icabad Crane.

“Macho Again has always trained like a good two-turn horse so we expected him to do well in the Preakness,” said trainer Dallas Stewart.

Rounding out the field are Grade 2 winner Anak Nakal, Peter Pan third-place finisher Ready’s Echo, Da’ Tara, who is expected to set the early pace, and maiden Guadalcanal.

Of course when the gates open, all of the focus will be on Big Brown and his run at history.


Frank Angst Thoroughbred Times