Well, there goes the matchup of the century. Big Brown’s career is over, before he even made it to Santa Anita to face Curlin in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Bloodhorse broke the news a little while ago:
http://www.bloodhorse.com/article/47521.htm
My heart goes out to all Big Brown fans (and I know there were many, and I do count myself among that list even if I disliked Dutrow a bit) for the untimely ending to their colt’s career.
Likewise, I can’t help but feel Curlin got jipped in all of this business. Now he won’t get a chance to show Big Brown what real competition is really like.
The timing of all of this is rather funny to me. Just yesterday I swallowed some pride and wrote the “with apologies to Dutrow” piece giving him a bit of credit for his role in engineering the big showdown between Curlin and Big Brown that the horse racing world so badly needed.
Well guess what? Now we’re back to square one. This just goes to show that you shouldn’t talk smack about a defending champion unless you’re able to line up, stare him in the eye, and prove victorious. Even then I’d say you should probably still follow the “walk softly, carry a big stick” motto.
This is just awful though. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad for horse racing. We were so freakin’ close you could taste it.
So where will Big Brown rank among the pantheon of all-time greats? Not very high in my humble opinion. True, he won in splendid style in his runs in the Florida Derby, Kentucky Derby, and Preakness Stakes – but who was he running against? Is there a certifiable “star” among the entire lot? When Colonel John and Pyro are your biggest competition, it’s kind of hard to even inch him forward past recent horses, let alone the all-time runners. I’d still give Smarty Jones the edge over him. Likewise with Afleet Alex. I’ll stick with Barbaro out of an admittedly sympathy driven angle.
That being said, as I like to do when a champion retires, it’s time to look back and remember what once was and what could have been. Certainly he had the talent to compete for whatever race he was pointed to, and had he returned as a 4-year-old there is no telling how the colt might have developed.
Big Brown gallops to victory in a tragedy filled running of the 2008 Kentucky Derby
If there were not pictures I would think it was all too coincidental.
Still hard to watch Eight Belles.
It would have been great to see a modern day “match race.” Sorry to hear Big Brown got hurt.
Riffkind! good to see you! I totally agree. I thought about posting his Preakness win instead just to avoid EB, but in the end I thought it was BBs defining moment of his career.
Amy- really, you? I thought you were the world’s biggest Dutrow fan?
I thought the same thing when I saw the headline Amy, but that’s a pretty good picture. What a shame, but should the Curlin we all know and love turn up Breeders up day, the sports fans will get what they long for! Asmussen was very pleased with his workout today, and his time was much better!! Go Curlin all the way! (-:
He looked pretty darn good to me in that workout as well. I’ve been waiting for the youtube video of it to come out…should probably check again.
I really liked how he finished and galloped out. Seemed at first to be a little disinterested (for his temperment, it’d be rock solid focus for most other horses), and then was just out having fun. He wanted more.
I’ll likely write more about this as the week goes on, but if you factor in winning the DWC on dirt, finishing 2nd in what is arguably the best U.S. turf race of the year, and then were to win the BCC on synthetics – that’s quite a sensational season. Makes me wish they’d bring him back as a turf runner for his 5-year-old season. One can wish.
Kevin,
Let’s face it, BB was too fragile a colt to compare with the likes of Curlin and for that matter the synthetic specialists like, Go Between, Well Armed and Colonel John who will be very tough to beat not to mention Tiago. BB would not have even placed in this event. He would have only made many people more money based on the hype.
On a more important note, I went to Santa Anita today and watched Curlin’s 5F workout that was staged in front of the fans between the 4th and 5th race today. I positioned myself at the shoot, next to the barns, since I got inside information that he would not come from the paddock. I set up my camera for some nice shots.
Now with that said….after watching Curlin and meeting both Steve Asmussen and the ownership connections, I have a better feel for Curlin upsetting this bunch now, than I had prior to today. Yes I said upsetting. Interesting….
Curlin looked so smooth moving over the Pro-Ride track. Horseplayers take note from a pretty good horse player…
I have some really good shots of Curlin and Poncho together, along with a nice sequence of shots as he rounded the turn on his 5F work in 59.11, so let me know how I can send those to you so you can post.
BTW, the connections for Curlin are really nice people and I had a very enjoyable afternoon meeting them, (if only for a moment). I had my Curlin hat on and they came over and engaged.
It was a great Day to finally see Saint Curlin in the flesh. He is truely a special animal.
BMC
BMC – I’m so jealous!!!!!! You got to see him in the flesh and mix it up with his connections! Rock on!
The closest I’ve ever come is being near him at both the Preakness and even more so the Man O’ War.
I’ll email you about the pics.
The only Curlin person I’ve really spoken with is Jess’s spokesman Kevin McGee – who is a class act all the way. They were even nice enough to send me some momentos from his Preakness win – which I will always consider as his “coming out party” as far as being a legitimate superstar is concerned.
Special indeed. That’s actually the first word I used to describe him to folks I work with before the Derby last year.