Big Brown's big mystery
NEW YORK — Big Brown's Triple Crown bid is finished. So is his undefeated career record.
In one mystifying run at the Belmont Stakes, Big Brown's legacy disintegrated with racing's 12th Triple Crown on the line in New York. The convincing Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes victories, the talk from his audacious trainer and brazen boasts out of the colt's ownership group meant nothing once Big Brown finished dead last.
The bay colt that had a racing community wondering if he could be the straggling sport's savior instead left a more unexpected question Sunday: What went wrong with Big Brown?
"Big Brown wasn't Big Brown," said Nick Zito, who trained long-shot winner Da' Tara.
Right now, no one really has the answers to Big Brown's woes.
Co-owner Michael Iavarone said Big Brown had a thorough examination after the race and again Sunday morning.
"There's nothing physically that's shown up," he said, speaking by cell phone. "I'm as confused as anybody. The only thing we're resorting to right now is the track might have been too deep for him and he didn't like it out there."
Iavarone said Big Brown's problem feet, other than a loose left hind shoe, were not an issue.
"We're perplexed," he said. "Nobody can figure this one out."
There are no obvious answers and Big Brown might undergo blood work or need X-rays to figure out exactly why he was flat at the Belmont.
Jockey Kent Desormeaux knew Big Brown was finished as he turned for home and eased up in the homestretch. Desormeaux said the horse had nothing left by the end of Saturday's race.
No energy, no run.
And to think, trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. proclaimed victory was a "foregone conclusion."
Dutrow also said the colt's patched left hoof was a "non-issue," and the colt showed no signs of favoring the hoof after the race. Exercise rider Michelle Nevin led him in circles outside Barn 2 on Sunday and he appeared fine. Big Brown got a bath, playfully nipped at a leather lead and looked no different from Friday.
Big Brown walked perfectly on his patched left front hoof.
Anyone looking for answers at the barn came up as empty as Big Brown in the Belmont. Dutrow — whose bluster couldn't be stopped the entire Triple Crown season — no-showed Sunday. Nevin also declined to talk about how Big Brown could be beaten by eight other horses.
Dutrow was criticized after acknowledging he used an anabolic steroid on Big Brown, then said last week that the horse hadn't had a dose of Winstrol since April. The drug is legal in the three states where the Triple Crown races are run.
