Can Big Brown Bounce, Still Win?
Could Kentucky Derby Champ Be Short After Huge Run for the Roses?
There have been many bouncers in the Preakness Stakes after Kentuck Derby wins. Can Big Brown be a bit short in the Preakness after his big Derby and still win?
Will Kentucky Derby Champion Big Brown bounce a little in the Preakness Stakes? If he does, can he still win?
Only One Derby Horse Follows Big Brown to Pimlico.
Big Brown faces all new shooters in the Preakness exept for California racer Gayego. Big Brown's trainer, Richard Dutrow, Jr., believes Big Brown can be less effective in the Preakness off his huge Derby win and still beat out all those trying to derail him. Dutrow sees no other horse out there who can match Big Brown's ability.
Former jockey Gary Stevens agrees. But as all horse racing fans know, things do happen. According to human thinking trainers, horses have off days when they're not supposed to, when they've trained up to a race without fault. Stevens said he also finds no horse on the Preakness card that can win over Big Brown without improving greatly.
Dutrow isn't popping the cork on any champagne bottles yet. But one can bet that a corkscrew will be handy on Saturday when his Kentucky Derby champion takes on 12 rivals in a much anticipated Preakness.
Triple Crown Drought Thirty Years Long
It has been a 30-year drought since the last Triple Crown champion, winner of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes, took the series. In the TC glory days, the 1930s and the 1940s, seven of the lone 11 Triple Crown champs achieved victory in all three races.
There also have been four winners who won another race within the five, or six weeks that the Triple Crown races were held. The number of weeks between the races varied some, but never more than a two-week stretch compared to the more straight forward five-week span that has been used since the 1950s.
Sir Barton, 1919; Omaha, 1935; and Count Fleet, 1943 all won the Withers Stakes while competing in the Triple Crown races, and Citation (1948) won the Jersey Derby amidst his triple.
Gayego and Behindatthebar Favored to Place
Betting favorites behind Big Brown for Saturday's Preakness include Gayego to place and Todd Pletcher's Behindatthebar to show. Gayego's last race was a victory in the Apr.12 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park, while Behindatthebar showed up at the wire in the Apr.19 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland.
Bets may be on Riley Tucker, Kentucky Bear, Macho Again, and Hey Byrn. Those in the know say Big Brown wins, and the others battle for second and third place honors. But knowledge is not king in horse racing. That's why it's called a horse race.
