He remained calm even after he was saddled and walking in circles in the makeshift paddock on the turf course. It was as if he didn't realize a race was moments away. Or he didn't care.
Big Brown stopped making his circles just twice, both times poking his head up and showing teeth. He seemed to be posing for the camera-phone paparazzi who were all around.
On the track, even as the dozen horses burst from the gates, Big Brown never looked as if he was in a hurry. He could've stopped off, picked up a pizza and a couple of movies and still beat the field home.
It wasn't until the final turn that Big Brown beautifully and skillfully moved from the outside to take over the lead. If you blinked, you didn't see him move from third to first. "I tapped him on the shoulder," Desormeaux said. "He just took off."
The jockey peeked under his legs and spotted eight horses behind him. "I stopped pushing," he said. "I said, `That's enough.'"
Big Brown went into cruise control for the final stretch, and no one could get even a whiff of his tail. He knew this party was for him, and he wasn't going to wait until the finish line to bask in it.
The Belmont is a longer race, but if Big Brown runs the way he did in the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago and yesterday in the Preakness, there's not a 3-year-old alive that can top him. In fact, the only thing that could possibly keep Big Brown from eventually winning the Triple Crown is Big Brown himself.
"I guess we know that Big Brown is the real deal now," said Reade Baker, Kentucky Bear's trainer.
He's the right horse at the right time. Confident, cool and awesome. A freak. And a dream.
And just maybe a Triple Crown winner.
rick.maese@baltsun.com
