Big Brown Snubs Racing After Being Offended by Hooters Tie-In

Nothing bad happened in the Belmont today, as far as we can tell. Big Brown didn't want to run, and he didn't. When his jockey couldn't get anything out of the horse, he pulled him up. According to the AP story,

Big Brown was rank at the start and failed to respond when Desormeaux asked him to run in the last turn. At that point, Desormeaux eased him up.

The loss hit Desormeaux especially hard.

"This horse is the best I've ever ridden," he said. "Something's wrong, and I took care of him."

Thank you, Desormeaux. Bless you. Something was wrong, and you did take care of him.

Will we ever know what was wrong? Already the announcer-pundits are speculating. Big Brown's owners hadn't dosed him with steroids since April. Were the steroids why he won before? Was it the quarter crack? Is he bleeding internally? Was he struck by another horse? Does he have a mucous problem? Was it just too hot?

They'll be checking him in and out. Who knows what they'll find. I hope nothing serious.

The announcers kept saying before the race that Big Brown is an intellectual horse. (And just what is that?) Maybe an intellectual horse decides he's had enough -- especially when he heard that his owners were signing him up with Hooters -- and he calls it quits.

Big Brown just said, "No." He way outclasses his owners.

 

Comments

[BrownEyedCowgirls]

I was so sad to hear that he lost today. I wanted to watch the race but got caught up in my own horse wreck. I think he is a phenominal horse and sure thought he would be the one to win a Triple Crown.

[Callie]

I was suprised to hear about this loss and I wonder too what is going on! It seems weird.

[Grey Horse Matters]

No one will ever know why the horse decided he'd had enough. Maybe like most everyone else he has no respect for his owners. I was very impressed to see the jockey Desormeaux, pull him up, obviously being more worried about the horse than his paycheck. He has a lot more scruples than the owners, that's for sure. I'm wondering when they find out the cause for Brown's stopping if they will even publish it, due to certain conditions the horse was running under they could get lots of flack.

[risingrainbow]

I watched the race. I noticed in the parade to post that the horse was not sweating at all. With the temperatures that warm, I think that is really odd.

The other odd thing I noticed was that in the extreme heat his testicles were not visible. Not something most people would notice but as a stallion owner, I know in that kind of heat those testicles should have been visible. The fact they weren't shows the horse's body wasn't regulating itself for that kind of heat. That would sure case a horse to not want to run.

OK, I know you're laughing at me. It's ok, it's probably wierd to be looking for things like testicles..............

[Donna]

I also watched the race and he did seem way too calm at the gate, even though they kept insisting that was his normal demeanor. And yes, thank god for the jockey that took care of him. I believe his quote was, "I wasn't going to let him lose by two fewer lengths." A classy guy.

[photogchic]

I watched the race again tonight in slow-mo of all the ESPN footage. Definately was asking BB to hold back, in fact BB was fighting for his head on the corner and tossed it so high, he went sideways. I still think this race was fixed and that Kent never asked BB for anything except on the far turn he flaps his arm a bit, but he never gives BB his head. Lack of steroids definately would impact his behavior---I guess we will never know:-)

[dp]

Classy horse, classy jockey. Wish the same could be said about Dutrow -- what a piece of work.