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Big Brown Has Become The Mane Attraction

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 2, 2008

If there is a sport desperate for a new hero, one eager to overcome its recent run of bad publicity, it is thoroughbred racing.

Enter Big Brown.

The unbeaten 3-year-old colt with seemingly limitless potential stands a mile and a half from immortality.

With a win in the Belmont Stakes, Big Brown would become the sport's 12th Triple Crown winner, the first since Affirmed in 1978.

More importantly, he would shine a positive light on a sport that has seen the Triple Crown elude Silver Charm, Real Quiet, Charismatic, War Emblem, Funny Cide and Smarty Jones during the past 11 years.

No wonder Big Brown is being greeted with lavish superlatives as the eyes of the sports world focus on Belmont Park.

"In 27 years of riding, I never saw a horse accelerate like this one," said Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey, now a commentator.

"Everybody's going to find out where he belongs," said trainer Rick Dutrow Jr., who insists the horse's cracked hoof that forced him to miss three days of training last week is nothing more than a "hiccup" on the road to history.

"This is the horse of a lifetime," said Kent Desormeaux, after riding Big Brown to victory at the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness

The horse racing industry can only hope they are all correct.

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Big Brown Has Become The Mane Attraction