Big Brown Goes for the Preakness Gold

[Shame About Ray]

The online betting fans of horse racing know that Big Brown is aiming to become the seventh Kentucky Derby champion in the past dozen years to capture the Preakness Stakes.

All previous six winners -- Silver Charm, Real Quiet, Charismatic, War Emblem, Funny Cide and Smarty Jones -- flirted with immortality before failing to become the 12th Triple Crown champion and the first since Affirmed in 1978.

Big Brown is the first winner since Citation in ’48 not to face any Derby runners in the Preakness because a fever sidelined fifth-place finisher Recapturetheglory.

There could be as many as a dozen challengers that didn’t race in the Derby, but such horses haven’t done well in the Preakness since the early ’80s.

During a four-year span, three such thoroughbreds wore the back-eyed susans: Codex, ’80; Aloma’s Ruler, ’82; and Deputed Testimony, ’83. Since ’84, only a pair of 3-year-olds that tried that strategy won at Pimlico as heavy favorites off their Derby victories went down to defeat.

In ’00, Red Bullet upset Fusachi Pegasus by three lengths. In ’96, Bernardini scored by 5 ¼ lengths as Barbaro broke down shortly after the start of the 1 3/16 miles.

Big Brown’s trainer and jockey have ties to the Old Line State. Conditioner Rick Dutrow Jr. was born and raised in Maryland, but has been based in New York for years.

His father won four training titles during the ’70s at Pimlico. “Every time Preakness would roll around Dad would win a race on Preakness Day,” he told Brisnet.com “Naturally I would like to won a race like that. It’s where I grew up.”

Dutrow’s older brother Tony was a top Maryland conditioner before moving his stable to Philadelphia Park four years ago.

Jockey Kent Desormeaux, who guided Big Brown in all three ’08 outings, won five Pimlico riding titles during the ’80s, plus an Eclipse Award for outstanding apprentice rider. He had nine mounts in the Preakness, winning aboard Real Quiet in ’98.

Since the ’90s, I wagered on several winners of the Preakness who disappointed in the Derby: Hansel, ’91, who also won the Belmont; Timber Country, ’95; Louis Quatorze, ’96, who led at every call; and Point Given, who also captured the Belmont, ’01.

The Preakness, staged at seven different distances, has been run at 1 3/16 miles since ’25 when it was extended about 110 yards from 1 1/8 miles.


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