Big Brown . . . Hoping for Your Win, Praying for Your Safety

Big Brown has a stress fracture of the hoof wall. His trainer calls this "a minor setback " and says that the three-year-old colt, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, will be ready on June 7th for the Belmont Stakes to possibly become the 12th Triple Crown winner since Affirmed beat Alydar in 1978.





Affirmed & Alydar





I don't know much about thoroughbred racing. I simply know that I love horses and love to see them run. I've attended two races in my life, both with a good friend and afficionado who introduced me to the sport (his knowledge of the sport and its statistics is encyclopedic). Unfortunately, on each occasion, I witnessed a track tragedy. At the end of the first race, a three-year-old Canadian filly, Cryptic Solution, broke down and had to be euthanized on the track (and fictionialized in a novel that I'm working on; perhaps I'll include that portion in this posting or a subsequent one). It's a sight -- struggling horse, the van, the tarp -- that will always be with me, and for months afterwards, the recollection of it made me ill. I vowed never to return to the track, but I did. And on my second visit, there was another breakdown of a horse whose name I don't remember (and perhaps never knew); however, a life was saved, I believed. I vowed never to return to the track, and I haven't. The anxiety that ensues from possibly having to witness another horse (or jockey) accident is too great for me, negating any pleasure of watching the horses run. I won't even watch races live on TV; I simply wait for replays during the sports segments of the news, as long as I know, in advance, that all crossed the finish line standing on all fours.

Back to Big Brown: In spite of the horse's problem with sore feet, Dick Dutrow, BB's trainer, says BB's right hoof injury is "nothing like the ones Big Brown sustained last fall and over the winter. Those injuries sidelined him for nearly three months." Let's hope that Big Brown heals well, and, if there is the tiniest question of his readiness, that his trainer and owners exercise wisdom and caution and do the right thing.