Stud for Big Brown by Matt Stewart
BIG Brown's expected win in the Belmont Stakes in New York next month will be his swan song.
The unbeaten colt, a hero in a country that usually snubs horse racing, will be whisked off to a Kentucky stud after the 2400m Belmont. Big Brown has been sold for more than $50 million to stand at the famous Three Chimneys Farm after the the third leg of the elusive Triple Crown.
Retiring Big Brown at the peak of his powers makes sense in the volatile breeding market, but robs Americans of a much-needed racing hero, rather than a brief tease. If Big Brown wins the June 7 Belmont, he will become the first horse since Affirmed in 1978 to win the Triple Crown.
Big Brown, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, cruised to a 5 1/4-length win in the 1900m Preakness Stakes in Baltimore on Sunday. The Belmont has been a graveyard for recent Triple Crown contenders. Since 1979, 10 horses have won the first two legs but come unstuck in the Belmont.
Only 11 horses have claimed the Triple Crown of the 2000m Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont. "Everybody wants to see something great," Big Brown's trainer Richard Dutrow said.
"Maybe we're going to see that. That'd be a lot of fun. "When everybody's talking about him, he'd be in the same breath as Secretariat, Affirmed, all those good ones."
Retiring Big Brown at the peak of his powers makes sense in the volatile breeding market, but robs Americans of a much-needed racing hero, rather than a brief tease. If Big Brown wins the June 7 Belmont, he will become the first horse since Affirmed in 1978 to win the Triple Crown.
Big Brown, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, cruised to a 5 1/4-length win in the 1900m Preakness Stakes in Baltimore on Sunday. The Belmont has been a graveyard for recent Triple Crown contenders. Since 1979, 10 horses have won the first two legs but come unstuck in the Belmont.
Only 11 horses have claimed the Triple Crown of the 2000m Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont. "Everybody wants to see something great," Big Brown's trainer Richard Dutrow said.
"Maybe we're going to see that. That'd be a lot of fun. "When everybody's talking about him, he'd be in the same breath as Secretariat, Affirmed, all those good ones."
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