NEWS
Big Brown wins champion three-year-old male award
Posted: Monday, January 26, 2009 10:16 PM
BIG BROWN
Photo by Z
by Jeff Lowe
Big Brown began his three-year-old season on the shelf, restricted to walking the shedrow in trainer Richard Dutrow Jr.’s barn at Palm Meadows Training Center for the entire month of January because of a quarter crack.
When he finally resumed training, Dutrow speculated that he could possibly have the Boundary colt ready to compete in the Belmont Stakes (G1) on June 7.
Dutrow was considering an ordinary timeline, but there was nothing ordinary about Big Brown’s three-year-old campaign in 2008.
By the first week in June, Big Brown was already not just a strong candidate for the Eclipse Award as champion three-year-old but also a 3-to-10 shot to become United States racing’s first Triple Crown winner in 30 years.
More than six months later, no clear explanation has ever surfaced for Big Brown’s aborted performance in the Belmont Stakes (G1) that was drastically inconsistent with his success both before and after.
Big Brown’s legacy, confirmed in the Eclipse Award voting, remains centered on his domination of the Florida Derby (G1), Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1), and Preakness Stakes (G1). His subsequent success in the Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) and Monmouth Stakes only widened the distance between him and the rest of his U.S.-based contemporaries.
A recurrence of the foot issues that delayed the start of Big Brown’s season ultimately brought about the end of his career. He was retired in early October after tearing off a portion of his right front foot in a turf workout at Aqueduct, while he was preparing for the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Santa Anita Park.
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times senior writer
| 2008 record |
|
|
|
|
| Starts |
Wins |
Second |
Third |
Earnings |
| 7 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
$3,576,700 |
