When trainer Rick Dutrow arrived at his Pimlico Race Course barn yesterday morning to see Preakness winner Big Brown, he was wearing a smile and a Triple Crown hat.
"The hat?" he said. "It doesn't mean anything. It was just around."
It was the smile that never seemed to leave his face that told the story.
His 3-year-old colt had easily won the Preakness on Saturday, setting the stage for an assault on the Triple Crown at Belmont Park.
If Dutrow and jockey Kent Desormeaux, who began their careers in Maryland, and Big Brown can get the job done June 7, they will become the first Triple Crown winners since Affirmed in 1978.
And only the 12th in history.
It is not an easy task. But to this point, Big Brown has made it look easy. Five wins in five starts by a total of 39 lengths. With a horse like Big Brown, even what has gone unaccomplished for 30 years seems possible.
"Certainly he can win the Belmont," Dutrow said with a glance at his horse, standing with his ears pricked, listening to his trainer. "If he comes out of this race good and trains good, I don't see a problem. It looks like he's ready."
But the Belmont Stakes is called "the Test of Champions" for a reason. It is run over a 1 1/2 -mile course at the end of a grueling five-week period in which Triple Crown contenders have already run two daunting races, the 1 1/4 -mile Kentucky Derby and the 1 3/16-mile Preakness. In the past 12 years, six other horses have had this opportunity and failed in the Belmont.
It is a huge stage for Dutrow, who was born in Hagerstown, learned his trade from his late father, Dick Dutrow, at Pimlico, Laurel Park and what is now the Bowie Training Center, and now works and lives in New York.
"It's not the first horse he has ever shipped or run at Pimlico," said trainer Larry Jones, whose late filly Eight Belles came closer than any other horse so far to staying with Big Brown when she finished second by 4 3/4 lengths in the Kentucky Derby. "But there's not a lot of people who can come back to their family home and win a Triple Crown race. [He's] got to feel good."
Feel good? Dutrow said he feels so good about having won the Preakness, he doesn't need any other perks.
"Sure, it was nice coming here, seeing friends, family, seeing my uncle," he said. "But we just won the Preakness.
"There's only one living trainer who has won the Triple Crown [Billy Turner, who won with Seattle Slew in 1977]. This only comes around once in a lifetime."
