when i read the thread title i thought this was about Berkman... was like how did he get the nickname big brown.
Yeah, I was tempted to not mention him because it might reflect bias....so take him out of my post and my point still stands!
just joshing you. It all sounds very valid, but I don't really know horse racing. I just have some memory of Smarty Jones being an obsession of yours. I pictured you toting a Smarty Jones lunchbox, and making your kids dress up as Smarty for H'ween, etc.
I have a Smarty briefcase I take to court and I never go anywhere without my lucky "How's it Hangin', Smarty!?!" boxer shorts. Easily my favorite racehorse of all time. Afleet Alex was a favorite, too, though....wore green with shamrocks...and stumbled around the final turn at the Preakness, dug in and still won. Pretty cool. Past that you'd have to back to Charismatic....tons of heart. It's really not winners that I'm trying to compare Big Brown too,though...it's the fields they competed against. You can look at times and Beyer Speed Figures to compare horses' runs on the same track from year to year...so there's something measurable to put Big Brown up against. But it's really inexact. The tracks run different all the time depending on a ton of factors. Watch Colonel John in the Belmont. If any horse is going to beat Big Brown, it's Colonel John. They held him out of the Preakness. But I'm watching this thinking that if any one of the recent TC favorites (Curlin, Street Sense, Afleet Alex, etc etc) had this field to go against, would Big Brown have won either of these races?? Possibly..but not like he's won these races. I doubt seriously he'd beat Curlin for example on a long track like the Belmont. Spoke to my father last night and he said he thought it was the weakest field he'd seen in around 30 years. I'm hoping Colonel John or someone gives him a run. Without War Pass or Eight Belles around, there's not much else to challenge.
Ok, one more thing and I'll shut up: I'm reading on racing forums that the Beyer score BB earned yesterday was around 100. That's extremely average to below average for a TC race winner. (ALSO YOU SHOULD ALL REMEMBER THAT SMARTY JONES HOLDS THE RECORD FOR MARGIN IN THE PREAKNESS WINNING BY 11 1/2 LENGTHS!!! - just sayin'.) This article, by Andrew Beyer, says it all, I think..and why I'll kinda be rooting against BB, I think. I've been waiting virtually my whole life to see a TC winner...but I don't think I want to see it happen this way: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702736.html?sub=new Big Brown's performance surely gave the impression that his potential is limitless. Indeed, so did his runaway Kentucky Derby victory. But experienced race-watchers and handicappers know that these win-under-a-hammerlock victories are frequently deceptive. In 2006, Bernardini captured the Preakness and a series of major stakes races so easily that it appeared he could sprout wings and fly if his jockey ever turned him loose. But when he finally encountered a formidable opponent, Invasor, in the Breeders' Cup Classic, he didn't show a new dimension to his talent. Invasor beat him decisively. It is an enduring truth of the game: Horses don't prove much by winning easy. They prove themselves by beating good competition. Big Brown has not yet faced rivals who can challenge him. The supporting cast in the 133rd Preakness was a pitiful group, with only two graded stakes winners among them. The competition was so weak that bettors made Gayego the second choice in the wagering, even though he had lost the Derby by 36 3/4 lengths. The Derby field had been an unusually weak one as well. And in the race that marked Big Brown's emergence as a leading 3-year-old, the Florida Derby, his competition was negligible. In his five-race career, Big Brown still has not beaten a horse of real quality, nor has he been fast enough to prove he is a horse for the ages. His Kentucky Derby time was on par with recent winners such as Street Sense; his Preakness time of 1 minute 54.8 seconds on a lightning-fast Pimlico track was undistinguished, thanks to Desormeaux's restraint. Of course, it's not Big Brown's fault that he was born into a sub-par thoroughbred generation. But if the colt is going to have his name linked with the likes of Affirmed, Seattle Slew, Secretariat and Citation -- the last four Triple Crown winners -- racing fans want to see him do something more than beat bad horses handily. Perhaps Big Brown finally will get a challenge when he faces the intriguing Casino Drive three weeks hence. A superbly bred half-brother to two Belmont Stakes winners, the colt won his racing debut in Japan and then captured a prep for the Belmont by five lengths. However, the definitive test for Big Brown -- as for most 3-year-olds -- ought to come when he faces older horses in the fall. If he runs against Curlin, the 2007 Preakness winner and horse of the year, nobody will ever again question the quality of his opposition.
Live report from Belmont: its hot, packed, and EVERYONE bet on big brown. If this horse doesnt win, there goes $60. ****. I'll send pictures if I remember.
