i've never seen a horse perform that badly and just be tired...to not even try on the final stretch with the triple crown on the line...i would've guessed there was definately something wrong with him.It looked like KD had him in position for his usual burst but damn...he had nothing to give.
I guess it was a good call by KD then to not drive the horse into the ground if he felt it.
btw. did you see KD after the post race interview? He said that he can't even begin to imagine what freaks the previous TC winners had to be...he looked damn shocked.
Funny how some people as you mentioned before were bringing up Secretariat comparisons.They just aren't built like that no longer.
Well, Desormeaux did bring Big Brown across the line to at least finish, and with all the money invested in the horse's future, you just got to know that he wouldn't have done that if he even detected the least bit of an injury problem to the horse, whether it be the hoof or anything else. He's pulling Big Brown up to a complete stop and immediately if he's detecting something, but because he didn't, he does what is required by the rules and crosses the line. Due to him not limping or anything and with the way he was reacting, the vets, Dutrow, Desormeaux, etc., all said that he looked injury free after the race too, so heck, I just don't know.
The race announcers/reporters did make mention that it was possible that Big Brown may have been bleeding inside, but I thought I heard Dutrow say something about taking a scope to him afterwards, and finding nothing inside, with Big Brown not even coughing or anything like that.
It's puzzling to be sure, but I'm sure we'll here at leas heart some kind of explanation either later today or tomorrow. Until then, maybe it's entirely possible that the horse just didn't have it due to him being just too fatigued from the last month of running, and we've seen one of the biggest choke jobs in recent horse racing memory...I mean, going into it I know I had lots of questions regarding Big Brown's stamina over this length of race and after running those two previously, as my wife would tell you, and even when Big Brown was still looking reasonably good coming into and then starting around the last turn (before KD asked him to go those few times with no reaction), I was telling my wife to "Nah, watch for the horse in pink. Watch for the horse in pink." (had to simplify Denis of Cork for her, as she's only watched a couple of races) when she stated that Big Brown had it in the bag at that point.
Anyways, we'll see what else comes out of Dutrow's mouth with regards to this performance, but yeah, I did catch that statement by Desormeaux, and he's exactly right. Those horses back then were some monsters, and they also ran against other monsters on a regular basis. Heck, look at the last Triple Crown winner, Affirmed, and who he had to run against during his fairly long running career...The Bid, Slew, Alydar of course (like ten friggin times!), Exceller, etc. Shit, that's some friggin serious, serious competition right there, and Affirmed still won three quarters of his races, and only finished out of the money maybe once in over 25 career starts. Five starts coming into the Belmont against what is probably the weakest crop of three year-olds in recent memory, and these turds were already hailing Big Brown as the second coming of Secretariat. I mean, Jesus. Yeah, like yourself, not having to listen to that crap anymore is probably the best thing about Big Brown coming up short yesterday.
