The woes of Big Brown!

We are less than one week away from my favorite day of the year! Yes, Derby Day approaches; the day that makes all those Saturdays I worked in a row to avoid working on DERBY DAY more than worth it. This is the one day of the year that getting up before the sun is worth it, as I am then guaranteed my spot in the infield that offers a perfect view of the race, the barns and the large TV screens.


I've been reading the Daily Racing Form obsessively for days now (OK, I always read it obsessively...), searching for every little detail about the runners. This headline caught my attention more than anything else: 'Not a tough horse race'. This comment came from Richard Dutrow Jr., trainer of current Derby favorite Big Brown. Now, when I first saw Big Brown my heart just about stopped. He is an extremely beautiful, talented animal with an aura of power radiating from every orifice of his body. But to say that he will win the Kentucky Derby easily??? As though it was a foregone conclusion??? The crown jewel of horse racing, where anything can happen; the most unpredictable of all horse races? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????

I think Big Brown has the potential to be amazing; last year I felt the same way about Curlin. But I said it then, and I'll say it now: you don't show up on Derby day with such little experience and walk away with it! My only 'pro' with Big Brown is that those frontrunning speed horses loose on the lead do extremely well in the Derby. However, he's only run in three races. You'd have to go back to 1915 to find a Derby winner off of only three previous races. From the way he drifted out in the Florida Derby stretch, I'd have to say he is still a little green- what is a green horse going to think about 19 other horses crushing around him, not to mention such a loud crowd? It would take a heck of a lot of raw talent to overcome such a thing.

From a purely superstitious point of view, such confidence from the trainer seems like a jinx. Plus, handicapper Mike Battaglia has chosen him as his Derby pick and I have never EVER seen that man pick a winner! That's all I'm saying about that! :)


Added 4/30/08: Trainer ready to bet big on Big Brown
I can't help it, this article irritates me. I'm all for good thoughts, and a win by Big Brown would prove that he is EXTREMELY special. But this kind of conceit is what makes people look down on horse racing as a sport of jerks. All he's doing is asking for people to root against him as the trainer, which leads to rooting against the horse. And that's not fair to him.