Another Triple Crown Loss

The Triple Crown Championship will have to wait at least one more year. Big Brown lost to Da' Tara in a huge disappointment to his fans, owners, trainer, jockey, etc. He doesn't seem to be hurt, but had to be pulled up in the last turn, because his jockey had no horse left.

I love this quote in the paper by jockey Kent Desormeaux, "I had no horse...there's no popped tires, he was just out of gas!" The jockey was concerned for him, so he did the safe thing in pulling him back to a canter across the finish line. Big Brown came in last out of 9 horses.

There are many unanswered questions, but I think mostly people are stunned and disappointed. Some are turning angry, thinking they were duped out of "a sure thing" and lost a lot of money on betting. I don't bet or even attend horse races, but one thing for sure is that there are NO sure things in racing! There are way too many variables that can affect the outcome.

My thoughts are that the heat, humidity and lack of some recent workouts, might have played a large part in Big Brown's loss. From what I've read, I doubt the lack of a steroid shot in mid-May had much to do with it. He also might have been too rank and bumped around too much at the start trying to get into a good spot. I don't think Big Brown likes that sort of thing, and he looked to be in a "mood" yesterday.

Unless there is something physically wrong with Big Brown, I feel he will come back to win more races before he's retired to stud. Personally, I'd like to see Big Brown go up against Da' Tara again (he beat Da' Tara by 23-1/2 lengths in March's Florida Derby) and also have the Japanese horse Casino Drive, in that race. Then we might get a better idea of who's the "best" 3-year-old, this year. But then again, there are just so many variables.