There is some big horse race today

by Ed Valentine on Jun 7, 2008 7:00 AM EDT in News Comment 8 comments

I have to interrupt our daily discussion of the Giants today to recognize that history could be made in a different sport today.

Big Brown goes to the post this afternoon at the Belmont Stakes, aiming to become horse racing's first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.

My good buddy Rick Snider, a long time turf writer, has agreed to give us his pick for today. Here it is.

Big Brown is a big lukewarm pick to become a Triple Crown champion on Saturday in the Belmont Stakes. I've covered racing for 25 years and personally watched the last eight crown-seekers lose and a lot of them were better than Big Brown.

Unlike many of the other failed champions, Big Brown has no major competition. Casino Drive and Macho Again are the top contenders, and value wise I would take Macho Again in the exacta and Casino Drive in the triple. If you're game, put Macho Again on top for $2 and you might cash for a lot of money. Bad things happen on the racetrack all the time. Dumb rides, injuries, poor luck -- anything can happen. There's even a chance of rain. But, Big Brown has talent and a great jockey in Kent Desormeaux so put a deuce on the UPS namesake and worry more about the exacta and triple. And for you long shot players, take Ichabad Crane after finishing third in the Preakness.

Rick Snider is the sports columnist at the Washington Examiner and a long-time turf writer. You can read him at dcexaminer.com.

Consider this an open thread for weekend. Talk about Big Brown. Talk some Celtics-Lakers. Talk Yankees or, if you must, Mets. You can even talk some Giants if you want.

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Go Big Brown

The Belmont Stakes with a Triple Crown on the line are probably the most exciting 3 minutes in sports, at least as far as I’m concerned. So many times in the past 10 years horses have come close, and so many times they’ve been denied, so it would be great to see Big Brown do it.

by cjmulrain on Jun 7, 2008 11:00 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Maybe so

Big Brown might do it. Unfortunately, I think quite a few better horses have tried and failed.

by Ed Valentine on Jun 7, 2008 11:49 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i saw a big brown today

it was after i finished my coffee this morning.

i love the mets but talking about them, or the yankees for that matter, is depressing. DIE PHILLIES, DIE EAGLES.

by kendynamo on Jun 7, 2008 3:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Big Brown turned out to be...

...as “inevitable” as the Patriots. Or Hillary Clinton pre-Iowa.

And yet infinitely less irritating than either one! :) Triple crown glory will have to wait, although we enjoyed rooting for Big Brown.

Really, it’s the commentators and so-called experts that are the irritating ones, not the folks (or horses) that are the center of the “foregone conclusion” attention. You’d think after eating so much crow over the years, the selfappointed pundits would be a little less enthusiastic about making predictions. But they never suffer any consequences, so they just keep yapping away and seeking the answer to the age-old question, “How many underqualified talking heads can we cram onto one brainwashed bandwagon on National TV?”

BTW, every time I post on Big Blue View, I gotta say thank you again for XLI.

May the wind be always at your back, and may your placekicker have icewater in his veins.

by juperee on Jun 7, 2008 7:33 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Of course I mean XLII. Silly me. As a Colts fan, XLI just sorta slips out. :)

May the wind be always at your back, and may your placekicker have icewater in his veins.

by juperee on Jun 7, 2008 7:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

More Triple Crown facts...

There have only been 11 Triple Crown winners in the 100 years+ history of the series.

Since 1978 (when Affirmed won), eleven horses have won both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, but not the Belmont. The closest to winning the Belmont as well (and thus the triple crown) was Real Quiet, who lost by a nose in 1998.

Spectacular Bid 1979
Pleasant Colony 1981
Alysheba 1987
Sunday Silence 1989
Silver Charm 1997
Real Quiet 1998
Charismatic 1999
War Emblem 2002
Funny Cide 2003
Smarty Jones 2004
Big Brown 2008

Secretariat ("Big Red") still holds the records for the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes (1973).

May the wind be always at your back, and may your placekicker have icewater in his veins.

by juperee on Jun 7, 2008 8:16 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

smarty jones

was 100X the horse that big brown is.

if he had run against the same competition Big Brown did, he would’ve won each leg of the Triple Crown by ten lengths. that’s probably the same for some of the others on that list as well.

by SBakerTheTouchdownMaker on Jun 7, 2008 9:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree. I really thought we had it with Smarty.

But right from Smarty’s exit in the Belmont, you could tell he wasn’t there. I know Big Brown didn’t have totally quality competition, but I wanted him to win just to restore the fervor for the Triple Crown and encourage a real 3-race competition in the future. Sigh.

Part of the problem is the expiration (in 2006) of the Visa Triple Crown 5 million dollar bonus for the winner of the 3 races. Now a lot of owners have to go with total career winnings rather than the prestige of the 3 year old winning a triple crown. Sad but true.

One thing cool about horses is that unlike football, we can all unite behind the sentiment that it’s a great thing to see a great animal like a horse that can win the most grueling 5 weeks in racing. A Triple Crown winner is a gift to its generation of human fans.

May the wind be always at your back, and may your placekicker have icewater in his veins.

by juperee on Jun 7, 2008 10:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs