When I heard that Big Brown was named Big Brown, I didn't think UPS. I thought "big brown horse." Which, while not exactly poetic or inventive, will do. Then I found out that one of his minority owners has Big Brown (UPS) for a client. Whoop de do.
I like UPS. They bring me stuff in spite of the fact that the dog tries to run them off. They do a good job. Then I hear that there's a whole marketing campaign waiting on Big Brown's Triple Crown win (if he wins Belmont today). Hmmm. I'm in marketing. I wish they wouldn't, but I could see how they would. And truthfully, I would enjoy seeing pictures of Big Brown on their brown trucks. They can put his picture everywhere. He's a beautiful horse and so long as they don't run him into the dirt and break him down because he's no longer a horse but a commodity, I won't flinch with disgust when I see him in their corporate imaging.
Here's a horse with his hoof stapled together running (and winning?) a race. Could be a good motto for a delivery company. "Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor not having any hooves (tires?) to run on, or even good sense for that matter, will keep us from delivery on our appointed route."
They're even going to have some UPS logos here and there at the Belmont. Well, it can't be any worse than Rolexes all over everywhere at Rolex Kentucky. Which doesn't set the standard for taste. Just because the watch is expensive doesn't make it tasteful to stick it all over jumps and everywhere else.
But now Big Brown's owners have crossed a line -- and been chased back over it. One corporate sponsorship wasn't enough for Big Brown's ever greedy owners. A horse worth $500 million (and more than that if he wins today) needed to run not only for them and UPS, but HOOTERS. How low can you go? That would gag a maggot, as my brother used to say.
I'm so far on the outside that I can't even guess what is going on, but the New York Racing Association has told Hooters that they can't be a sponsor because of a conflict of interest with an unnamed sponsor. Hooters' response? "That's just plain mean." (See story here.) Maybe it's just plain good taste, though that would be a surprise. Since when does propriety and taste count when there's money involved?
My response? Thank God they can't paint logos on horses. They're trying to turn Big Brown into NASCAR.
I hope Big Brown and the other horses stay safe today. I'm not sure I want him to win. Well, I'd love it if he won. But only if he had different owners.
The Toronto Star has an informative story about the history of the Belmont (Winston Churchill's mother, Jennie, attended the first race) and about the sorry doings of Big Brown's owners:
BB's connections have histories racing is properly ashamed of, starting with his loud and obnoxious trainer, Rick Dutrow Jr., who guaranteed a Triple Crown win for weeks and badmouthed the other horses in the race as unworthy of a challenge – which they might well be. Michael Iavarone, one of Big Brown's principal owners who presented himself as a Wall Street banker seeking to raise $100 million for investing in racehorses, was recently revealed as a penny-stocks hustler who ran afoul of securities regulators for making illegal trades.
Meanwhile, the horse, which obviously has talent and ability, has been turned into a corporate shill for a delivery company (UPS), with the Hooters girls signed on as official T&A.
From Winston Churchill's mother to the Hooters girls. Things have changed at the Belmont.
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