Big Brown, The First Triple Crown Champion In 30 Years?

There’s a reason that it has been 30 long years since a horse has won the Triple Crown of thoroughbred racing: it’s nearly impossible.

In the 130 plus years that the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes have been run, only 11 horses have managed to capture all three. Secretariat may be the most remembered Triple Crown champion, winning three races impressively in 1973. Affirmed was the most recent, way back in 1978. Since then, only eight horses have won the first two legs of the journey, only to be defeated by the arduous Belmont Stakes.

Big Brown now brings that number to nine. Three weeks from today, the evening of his triumph in the Preakness Stakes, we will know if this is the year we’ll see the next Triple Crown winner.

On May 3, the big bay horse named after none other than UPS (his owner’s client) practically cantered to a 4 and 3/4 length victory in the mile and a quarter Kentucky Derby.

Kentucky Derby 2008

Chasing him in second place was Eight Belles, who will also go down in history but for decidedly more tragic reasons.

Since the Derby two weeks ago, all the chatter has been about Eight Belles’ death after breaking both front ankles at the end of the race. Media, bloggers, race fans, and non-horse people alike have spent the last days discussing racing reforms that would make the sport safer for the horses. As well we should. But the horse who actually won the race didn’t really get to enjoy his spot in the limelight. Too busy crying foul for Eight Belles, we were too busy to wonder if Big Brown just might be the next Triple Crown horse.

For the next three weeks, however, Big Brown has earned the center of our attention. At 6:15 pm today, he made winning the Preakness Stakes at a mile and 3/16 look like a walk in the park. Many were concerned that his post position in the middle of the pack would be his undoing. If he had to deal with getting jostled and mud in the face for the first time in his young life, he might not make it. Well, Big Brown squelched those fears by breaking quickly and cleanly from the gate, heading straight to the front, and then settling in just behind the leaders. As the 13 horse pack rounded the final turn, he began to make the long journey forward, three horses wide in the outside position. Until then, his head was up and he looked like he was out for a leisurely canter. And then Big Brown kicked it into high gear, passing the front runners at the top of the homestretch and pulling away. And pulling away. And pulling away. He took the race by 5 and 1/4 lengths, but it looked like a whole lot more.

Preakness Stakes 2008

Next up for Big Brown is the Belmont Stakes, a grueling mile and a half for a horse who ran his heart out in two major races in the last five weeks. In just the last 10 years, we’ve watched Real Quiet (98), Charismatic (99), War Emblem (02), and Funny Cide (03) dash our hopes in the third leg of the Triple Crown. But Big Brown looks he may be the most legitimate hope we’ve had in the last thirty years.

He ran incredibly strongly in the first two races. He broke from the gate well and maneuvered himself (with help from jockey Kent Desormeaux, of course) into good positions. He sat behind the leaders, and made a big drive from the outside in the final turn. He looked like he was taking it easy until that final stretch drive. He battled to the lead and won both races decisively, pulling further and further away. In both races, he looked like he’d have plenty of steam to make it that extra distance required in the Belmont.

But Big Brown will also go up against better horses in the Belmont than he did in the Preakness, namely Denis of Cork and Tale of Ekati who ran third and fourth in the Kentucky Derby. While Big Brown ran his feet off today, those two will have been resting for five weeks to prepare for this challenge. The rest of the field will come to the Belmont fresh, and Big Brown may still be recovering. But it looked like, and trainer Richard Dutrow confirms, that Big Brown was being held back in the Preakness, leaving plenty of horse for the next race.

Over the next three weeks, we’ll be building up our hopes while trying to stay realistic about Big Brown’s chances to break the 30-year Triple Crown drought. They’re looking better than they have in a long time. But it’s a long three weeks, and a longer mile and half. Only time will tell.

So be sure to tune in to ABC on June 7; post time is 6:25 pm. Together we’ll be watching just another horse race … or becoming a part of history in the making.

In the weeks to come, watch for more information on the Belmont contenders and a potential Triple Crown winner in the making.