Ben Knew Brown Win Would've Been Big

Fortunately I was at my son's Little League team party yesterday afternoon. Actually it had just finished up and were on our way to see Kung Fu Panda when we caught the Belmont on ESPN radio. Ben really wanted Big Brown to win. My 12-year old thought it would good for the popularity of horse racing. Apparently my blogs are so insightful that a 12-year can figure it out instinctively. Swell.

Anyhow, listening to the first mile of the race, all sounded good. BB seemed to be in good striking position until we heard the words "Da'Tara is opening up five! Big Brown is being asked, but he's still third!!!" I knew it was over then. In my mind's eye I could see him running in quicksand around that sweeping turn and Da'Tara waltzing away with it. Aside from the obvious stunner of BB pulling up in the stretch, another stunner was the crowd noise - or more accurately, the lack thereof. I think everyone planned on a coronation. You know I did.

Perhaps those who cited his pedigree as being unable to capture the 1 1/2 miles were correct. I fell on the Andy Beyer side of that fence - his pedigree may not be perfect for the distance, but it should be good enough against these. Maybe his foot was bothering him, though Dutrow says no. Maybe he was just tired and hot like Desormeaux said and ran out of gas.

Nick Zito, the winning trainer of Da'Tara said the morning of the Belmont to the Daily Racing Form,"I am a fan, and I understand how it could help our sport. It brings a lot of buzz, the Triple Crown. And whether Big Brown wins or not, he's still a great horse."

Whatever the reason, racing didn't get it's Triple Crown winner and now we will slink back into the shadows and hope a rivalry emerges to make the Breeder's Cup relevant to the rest of the sporting public. If not, we'll wait until next year and try to capture the public imagination again while those of us in the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance will keep trying to grow the sport one fan at a time.