If Big Brown completes the Triple Crown later today with a win at The Belmont Stakes, he will have broken the longest Triple Crown drought in horse racing history, 30 years. Somehow, I still won’t be as impressed with Big Brown as I was with even Funny Cide back in 2003. Funny Cide went on to lose the Belmont Stakes after winning the first two races, The Kentucky Derby and The Preakness, respectively.
Now admittedly, I’m no horse connoisseur, but speaking with many who are, this year’s field for all three races has been watered down to say the least. After Eight Belles’ tragic ending to the Kentucky Derby, many experts essentially gave the Triple Crown to Big Brown. With virtually no doubt that Big Brown would capture the Preakness, he ran away in dominating fashion, winning by five-and-a-half lengths.
It doesn’t help the general public’s perception of the field either, when Big Brown’s arrogant trainer, Rick Dutrow, suggests there is no way Big Brown can be beaten.
At least in 2003, when Funny Cide finished third behind Empire Maker and Ten Most Wanted, Funny Cide had competition the whole way. Empire Maker was right on his heels when he eked out a Kentucky Derby victory. Although Funny Cide won the Preakness by a wide margin, it was exposed that he had other horses that could contend with him when he reached the Belmont Stakes. Empire Maker beat Funny Cide by more than five lengths in that race, putting a Triple Crown winner on hold.
- B/R Ticket Guide
This year, however, no one is talking about any other horse to go stride-for-stride with Big Brown. There was brief mention of Casino Drive as a possible contender, but once Dutrow came out to the media saying that Big Brown would easily beat Casino Drive, no such discussion has arised. This includes an interesting development yesterday, where Casino Drive bruised a hoof and was scratched from the competition.
So now begs the question, is there really any horse that will come close to Big Brown this afternoon? Probably not. As a 2-5 morning line favorite, Big Brown is certainly the biggest lock for winning a Triple Crown that we have seen in ages.
It’s too bad to see this type of scenario. I would love to see a horse upset the best in the business, Big Brown, but as we creep up on race time, there doesn’t seem to be any horse capable of making such a move.
The mile-and-a-quarter race may be the only part that Big Brown struggles with, as it is much longer than the previous two races in the Triple Crown.
Big Brown will most likely be the 24th horse to win out of the number one gate at the Belmont, the most in the history of the race. Racing fans will go wild, but then they will realize that this is no surprise, that everyone has been expecting this for weeks now.
So I say to all the other jockeys in this race, please make a final run at breaking history, because Big Brown, although deserving of the Triple Crown, hasn’t seen a lick of competition yet besides Eight Belles.
For this sport to become more popular, a horse needs to not only challenge Big Brown, but take him down to the tape, hopefully ripping some pride from Dutrow’s chest.
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