by Joe Nevills

Less than two days after his 5 1/4-length romp in the Preakness Stakes (G1), Big Brown was loaded into a van headed to New York to face his next challenge: the Belmont Stakes (G1) and a chance to become only the 12th Triple Crown winner and first since Affirmed in 1978.

The undefeated Boundary colt left Pimlico Race Course at 10 a.m. EDT Monday following a walk around the stakes barn shedrow. He was shipped directly to Belmont Park and arrived safely at Racing Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel’s barn. Big Brown will occupy the stall formerly used by 2003 Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker.

Though the dual classic winner loaded without incident, trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. noted that his Triple Crown hopeful suffers from no lack of energy after his big effort.

“I can see he is sharp,” Dutrow said. “Yesterday, he was bouncing and today the same thing. He is doing good and that makes everything so much easier.”

Big Brown has won each of his races by considerable margins, winning his five career starts by a combined 39 lengths. However, Dutrow felt that his Preakness effort left the colt with plenty in the tank for his June 7 start in the Belmont.

“I haven’t seen anybody that has made him run yet,” Dutrow said. “I have to believe that this race the other day was just an absolute super free race for the Belmont. It looks like the jock [Kent Desormeaux] asked him for run for maybe a sixteenth of a mile just to separate him from the field to put the race away. After that point, he just glided to the wire.”

Big Brown joins the company of 31other horses who had a chance to win the Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes. Only 11 have completed the task, but Dutrow expressed confidence that the colt would not become another historic near miss.

“It looks like he has a chance at being the best ever,” Dutrow said. “If we get beat in the Belmont, we are just going to be amongst a whole lot of horses that almost got there, so we need to win this race.”

The return to New York will be something of a homecoming for Dutrow, who is based at Aqueduct.

“I haven’t been in New York for like three or four months,” he joked. “I have like eight dinner reservations tonight. Whoever makes me the best offer is where I’ll go.”

Joe Nevills is a Thoroughbred Times editorial intern