Big Brown in Line for Triple Crown
Three Classics for 3-year-olds Last Won by Affirmed in 1978
May 28, 2008 BarbaraAnne Helberg
The big name in Belmont town is Brown, Big Brown of Thoroughbred racing fame, that is. BB is in line to win the first Triple Crown championship since Affirmed achieved that feat in 1978. Big Brown burned the May 3 Kentucky Derby wannabees by 4-3/4 lengths, then returned to the classic encounters in Baltimore May 17 to torch ten newcomers and one Derby finisher by 4-3/4 lengths at Pimlico Race Course.
Big Brown is unbeaten in five career starts, and has amassed a total winning margin of 39 lengths in those victories. Only Majestic Prince (1969), Seattle Slew (1977), and Smarty Jones (2004) have approached the Belmont Stakes as career undefeateds. And Brown, with Kent Desormeaux as his pilot, has done the trick with ease. He is a fresh horse for the biggest race of his life.
Affirmed Beat Alydar Three Times to Triple in 1978
The only Triple Crown championship ever won with the victor and the second place horse in the same finishing positions in all three races was run in 1978.
Shadows and sunshine reflected off the burnished coats of Alydar, the darker, more muscled colt, and Affirmed, the calm, smaller champion as they raced away from the gate and past the grandstand at Belmont Park. Affirmed was guided by 18-year-old Steve Cauthen.
Affirmed charged out of the gate to the front, where he liked to race. Cauthen kept him there, going the first half mile of the 1-1/2 miles in :50 with his charge, who had already won 13 of 15 starts. The two losses were to the colt chasing him, Alydar.
After a slower break, Alydar, piloted by Jorge Velasquez, caught up to Affirmed by the half mile marker. Velasquez and Alydar stalked the leader from a length back.
Suddenly, the duel began in earnest. Alydar leaped the remaining length and the copper-colored coat blurred into the golden hairs of Affirmed. A screaming, rowdy crowd of more than 65,000 cheered the battle on. The two determined champions continued through the stretch, neck by neck, back to back, striding with increasing acceleration, straining sinew and muscle, their coats shining in the sun and steaming in the shadows.
At the finish, sliding like Siamese twins under the glistening wire, the duelers in the sun paired flaring, bellowing nostrils, and it was Affirmed, a Triple Crown title affirmed, as Alydar again finished a marginal second best.
Affirmed competed the third fastest Belmont in history in 2:26-4/5. Gallant Man ran in 2:26-3/5 in 1957, and Secretariat still holds the Belmont Stakes record, a world record time of 2:24 flat. The golden pair finished 13-3/4 lengths in front of their nearest rival, Darby Creek Road.
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