Posted by Perry
Dominating. Complete. Handily. You can use any verbiage you want to describe Big Brown’s crushing victory saturday in the Preakness Stakes. So complete was his win that even the great trainers D. Wayne Lukas and Bob Baffert have pretty much said, “He should win the Belmont.”
At this time every year, the country seems to slow down a bit and we become captivated by three races in a five week span. We become emotionally connected with four-legged heroes that do what they do simply because they are born to do it – and that is run.
Having seen the replay of the Preakness, I was amazed at the fact that jockey Kent Desormeaux was pulling Big Brown up at the 16th pole. The horse didn’t even look like he was running hard at all – a scary thought for all his coming opponents in the Belmont on June 7th.
My initial experience in the Triple Crown was in 1997, the year Silver Charm ran. I was hooked from then. I remember seeing Real Quiet the next year lose by a nose to Victory Gallop. Seeing Charismatic injuring himself and coming in third to Lemon Drop Kid. I can vividly picture War Emblem stumbling out of the gate and effectively ending his chance at immortality. Who can forget Smarty Jones moving way too early and being nipped by Birdstone at the wire.
The thing that separates Big Brown from those horses I just named is this – while they were all very good horses, Big Brown is a GREAT horse. He wins almost effortlessly, his moves in a race are devastating in their finality. In other words, when he moves, the race is over. Another thing that makes this horse special is he KNOWS he’s good. When you see him on the track, he exudes the air of a champion.
America right now isn’t feeling too good about itself with an ongoing war, gas prices, and diminished standing around the globe. A Big Brown win on June 7th would give us all a well needed shot-in-the-arm. Something we could all be proud of. A hero who has no ego, no motive to win other than the fact that he simply loves to run.
One more to go… and the stable of immortality will have to make room for one more occupant. Oh what stablemates would that be?
