>If I owned Big Brown, I\'d bop him over to the local veterinary hospital, do a MRI of limbs, and if nothing lit up to show any indication of any physical problem, I\'d run him in the Preakness and not think twice.>
That makes two of us.
The chances of something going wrong with this horse are probably higher than for the typical horse. But that tells us nothing about whether something has gone wrong since or because of his effort in the Derby.
IMO this is entirely a matter of the trainer making sure that the stress of the Derby didn\'t cause any old problems to resurface or create any new ones. As long as the horse is acting well and everything checks out OK, if the horse is still fresh and sound, IMO you\'d be foolish to skip the Preakness.
You could have made a case that he was going to react badly in the Derby because of his big performance in the Florida Derby and his history. In fact many did. Well he just won the Derby with one of the best performances we\'ve ever seen by a spring 3YO and probably increased his value by 20 million.
Dutrow is a very unpopular guy, but I think people need to conceed that regardless of what he does on a day to day basis to move up horses, he did a spectacular job getting this horse ready for a brilliant performance at 10F in only his 4th start despite repeated setbacks and physical issues. So why not give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to deciding whether the horse is sound and fit enough to handle the Preakness?
This is about trainer competence.
