Memories of Big Brown Belmont

[smithkent]

the hottest day of racing I\'ve ever experienced

120,000 screaming sweaty New Yorkers silenced in moments when the horse was pulled up, an event still never fully explained.

Of all the conspiracy theories and inside jobs in our sport, that event stands out.  The money that was made by somebody by having BB finish last would be astounding, yet nobody ever really investigated that.  I wonder if Desormeaux has some stash of gold bars buried in the bayou somewhere...

also, trying to leave Belmont afterwards on the LIRR was a crush like an English soccer match of the old days, seriously frightening

so no, I will stay home for this Belmont Day, as much as I have enjoyed watching CC win out here in California.  BTW, the Santa Anita Derby Day is the best deal in horseracing.  Beautiful views with a big crowd, and reasonable prices...

[TGJB]

At least 90% of the people who come to this site did not have BB on top on a single ticket. At least half didn\'t use him at all.

And none of us used the winner.

[Dick Powell]

I lucked out and didn\'t go that day. Stayed home to avoid the heat and humidity and at 12:30PM, ESPN showed a live shot of Big Brown entering the detention barn. You could see him in the stall,he was absolutely flipping out and continued to do so. When Rick walked him over to the paddock, Big Brown was not even sweating since he completely sweated out in the detention barn. The body language of Rick and the stable team was dreadful - shoulders sagging, heads down. They knew he left his energy in the detention barn and had nothing left even though the race had not been run. The horse was beaten already.

In August that year, Wayne Lukas gave a presentation at the National Museum of Racing one night. He said half the 2YOs he led over had no chance. They lost their race in the detention barn and how is the public being protected?

[jerry]

BB was a beaten horse by the head of the stretch. Desormeaux did the right thing. Something was wrong with the horse and he was protecting him. Personally, I think it was the steroids off but I\'m guessing. It could have been any number of things. As far as Kent or anyone cashing in on the DNF, I know of no wager, or no wager anyone of any means would make on which horse would finish last. At a mile and half for 3yos in this country, it could have easily been a tie.

[richiebee]

BB\'s Belmont failure could be attributed to any of the following: bad feet,
exhausted horse, reaction to steroid withdrawal, but do not forget the interview
Kenny Mayne did with Michael Iavarone at the Breeders Cup later that year. According
to Iavarone:

\"The morning of the Belmont Stakes, I had been woken up around 10AM. There was a
knock on my door and there were several NYPD detectives. They asked me to come
outside because they didn\'t want to talk to me in front of my family. They told
me there had been a serious death threat lodged against me, basically from
Tallahasee, Florida from an extremist saying that if anything should happen to
Big Brown in the race, myself and my family were not safe. Basically I was
followed by eight or nine New York detectives all day, everywhere I went...\"

[smithkent]

Oh, beg to differ with you here

the 2008 Belmont had a 9 horse field, with BB an overwhelming favorite, went off at 1:4

If you knew BB would not finish in the top 4 you could easily make a major score with the exotics.  Look at the payouts for the pick 4, pick 6 or probably the best vehicle, vertical wagers.  The superfecta paid over 48k that day, which is huge with such a small field.   The folks on this board are great strategic handicappers, and would have constructed wagers that would have been quite lucrative.  

Much of the discussion on this board is by guys who want to \"beat\" Chrome and make a huge score.  That is exactly what happened in 2008 at Belmont, and I think it\'s smells pretty fishy.  My brother and I were dazed by the whole thing, most of the crowd was confused about what happened to the horse, thinking he was injured.  If people had known he was just fine, there would have been a riot.  

I also disagree about BB being \"finished\".  He was in 3rd place with 1/2 mile to go, and was eased up by Desormeaux, taken out of any chance of a first four placing.  He had NO physical reason for this!  If a jock does this in a normal race on a weekend at your local track, he had better have a real explanation, or he gets suspended.  This occurrence in a triple crown race is unprecedented as far as I can tell, particularly with amount of money on the line.

[aceriley]

I have never cashed a ticket on the Kentucky Derby in 15 years of trying, and have had only very minor success in the Preakness. But the Belmont is a different story since I hit with Lemon Drop Kid back in 1999 at $60+ to win. I even hit Birdstone.

I really like Intense Holiday this year if he goes, he has more early speed than he\'s given credit for and I think he would have won the Derby if he\'d have drawn a more inside post than the 16.  He got out great but ran super wide on both turns and finished 8th or so and still got a good number as I\'m sure the sheets show.

To me, he fits the profile of a Belmont winner. Not too far out of it early and not a one dimensional deep closer but able to run all day.

That\'s my opinion 2 1/2 weeks out.

Ace

PS- PDub I might be at Santa Anita that day if you\'re there we should try to meet again(I couldn\'t find you last time a couple years ago). I\'m an Angels season ticket holder so I\'ll excuse your A\'s hat.

[Ollie]

Big Brown was part of the IEAH ponzi scheme. As the article relates, \"The ride ended with Big Brown.\"


http://deadspin.com/how-big-browns-people-nearly-pulled-off-horse-racings-504679834

[P-Dub]

aceriley Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have never cashed a ticket on the Kentucky Derby
> in 15 years of trying, and have had only very
> minor success in the Preakness. But the Belmont is
> a different story since I hit with Lemon Drop Kid
> back in 1999 at $60+ to win. I even hit
> Birdstone.
>
> I really like Intense Holiday this year if he
> goes, he has more early speed than he\'s given
> credit for and I think he would have won the Derby
> if he\'d have drawn a more inside post than the 16.
>  He got out great but ran super wide on both turns
> and finished 8th or so and still got a good number
> as I\'m sure the sheets show.
>
> To me, he fits the profile of a Belmont winner.
> Not too far out of it early and not a one
> dimensional deep closer but able to run all day.
>
> That\'s my opinion 2 1/2 weeks out.
>
> Ace
>
> PS- PDub I might be at Santa Anita that day if
> you\'re there we should try to meet again(I
> couldn\'t find you last time a couple years ago).
> I\'m an Angels season ticket holder so I\'ll excuse
> your A\'s hat.

Ace,
The next time I\'m heading down south will be for the Breeders\' Cup. If you\'re going we\'ll try again.

Or, you can invite me to watch the A\'s beat......I mean play the Angels. Baseball and DelMar?

[mjellish]

Big Brown had quarter crack problems, and they surfaced again leading up to the Belmont.  Watch the replay of the race.  He was obviously uncomfortable the first time by and heading into the first turn.  When Kent asked him on the second turn the colt had nothing.  He asked him again, nothing.  Beating the hell out of him at that point would have accomplished nothing.  I had no problem with him pulling up.

It wasn\'t hard coming up with a reason to bet against BB that day.  The hard part  was coming up with DA Tara.  I know i didn\'t.

[jerry]

Watch the replay. Big Brown was, in the words of Tom Durkin, plummeting. Despite Desormeaux\'s encouragement, most of the field had run by him before they even straightened the stretch. He was stopping. Desormeaux knew he had no chance of hitting the board. Why beat a dead horse? I hadn\'t heard about the Iavarone death threats. Maybe that had something to do with his being eased but, to my eye, the horse offered absolutely no challenge to the rest of the field when he was asked.

[johnnym]

I think the fix was in.
Brown broke well the jock had his feet in the dash from the break. Horse tossed his head and was fighting the jock until entering the first turn.

[TMW]

If my memory is correct, the police believed PETA or someone like that likely sent the threatening anonymous letter that included death threats to Ivarone, his family and Dutrow should something bad happen to Big Brown. While they had to take the threats very seriously -- hard to imagine even Desormeaux would throw this particular race. I say BS. Death threats -- true. Connections threw the race -- don\'t buy it.

[jerry]

He was rank and Desormeaux was trying to rate him. At a mile and half you can\'t let your horse run off like Big Brown wanted to. Rank horses never do well in the Belmont, not to mention most any other race around 2 turns.

[mjellish]

The connections of Big Brown fixed the Belmont to lose?  Please...

Do you really think they would throw away winning the triple crown for a bet?

How much do you think BB\'s stud value would have been if he wins the Belmont, becomes the first triple crown winner in 35 years and is immediately retired?  I bet at least twice as much as what it turned out to be.  And he can cover what,  100-150 Mares a season and they can keep collecting that stud fee for 3 years until we see any offspring race.  

And how much do you think they could have made by betting (or in this case not betting) the colt?

Sheer rubbish.  No way they would fix the race to lose.  Someone else could try, but no way the connections would.  And the colt was under 24 hour surveillance.

He couldn\'t handle the stress of two big efforts leading up to the Belmont.  For that matter no one has, or at least no one has won all 3, for 30 plus years.  Simple as that.