The question isn’t whether Big Brown will win Saturday’s 133rd Preakness Stakes. The Kentucky Derby winner will overwhelm this cheap field like your grandmother’s perfume.
No, the real money is whether “Big Bad Leroy Brown” becomes the first Triple Crown winner in 30 years by also claiming the Belmont Stakes on June 7.
“Even money,” quipped trainer Rick Dutrow over gaining immortality.
Actually, one leading Internet linesmaker has Big Brown a stronger 1-2 to become the 12th Triple Crown winner (he also made David Cook 1-2 to win American Idol.) No other Derby runner is even expected in the Preakness.
Big Brown is a legitimate Triple Crown challenger. Perhaps the best prospect for the sweep since Spectacular Bid narrowly missed in 1979. While Alysheba (1987), Sunday Silence (1989) and Silver Charm (1997) might have been better than Big Brown, they lost the Belmont to a serious challenger. This year’s crop of 3-year-olds looks more barren than Ishtar.
Not to discount Big Brown, who’s 4-0 after cruising past 19 rivals in the Derby from the outside No. 20 post. The colt has early tactical speed to whistle the Preakness field and stamina to outlast the Belmont’s 1 1/2 miles. Throw in jockey Kent Desormeaux, a former Maryland phenom now in the Hall of Fame with three Derbies and the 1998 Preakness aboard Real Quiet, plus an old-school trainer whose father was a Maryland legend, and Big Brown seems destined for retirement next month to become a $60 million stallion.
“[Racing] really needs [a Triple Crown winner] and everybody wants to see greatness in the game,” Dutrow said. “Big Brown has a chance to be great.
“I’m feeling that we have the best horse in the [Preakness], the fastest horse. The only horse I can respect coming in is [Harlem Rocker]. He has a little buzz about him. That’s as far as I see.”
Dutrow is showing the same bravado as Bud Delp (Spectacular Bid) and Charlie Whittingham (Sunday Silence), who said go to the betting windows before the Derby. The racing gods of fortune and misfortune, which horse people take very seriously, usually punish braggards and Delp and Whittingham were later denied the crown by bad luck in the Belmont.
Maybe Dutrow knows not to tweak racing karma. He’s not betting Big Brown in the Triple Crown after six-figure wagers on some of his past horses in major races. There’s no value in it anyway given Big Brown might return $3 for every $2 wagered. Too bad there’s not a Preakness-Belmont parlay.
Still, go to the window on Big Brown.
“I’m pretty confident,” Dutrow said. “Most likely, if nothing bad happens, he’ll get by this one. At Belmont … the third race in five weeks could get him. He’s not a machine. I’m guessing the Belmont is the one we’ll have to deal with. The Preakness is in our favor.”
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Contact him at [email protected].
