BELMONT STAKES ENTRIES: Big Brown's Chance At Triple Crown Title

The Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown is this weekend, and Big Brown is primed to win the coveted Triple Crown title.

Big Brown is a 2-5 favorite to win the 140th Belmont Stakes on June 7 and become thoroughbred racing's first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed 30 years ago.

The undefeated colt will leave from the No. 1 post position in the 10-horse field at the longest of the Triple Crown races after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes by a combined 10 lengths.

Big Brown will have to beat ten other horses to win the title. His strongest competitor:

Japanese-bred Casino Drive, will start from the No. 5 post. He is the 7-2 second choice on the morning line. He and Big Brown are the only horses with single-digit odds.

Recently, a crack was discovered on one of Big Brown's hoofs, causing some concern. When asked about it Rick Dutrow Jr, Big Brown's trainer said this:

"I don't understand it," Dutrow said Tuesday. "The horse is fine, the quarter crack has not been an issue for some time now. He breezed great, he's cooling out good, there's no blood. What else is there?"

For more information on the Belmont Stakes click here
For information on the horses competing click here

Comments

[RebelPatriot]

I want to commend the jockey of Big Brown for saving the horse and slowing him down instead of pressuring him to do more, when he clearly wasn't the same horse from the Derby and Preakness.

Big Brown wasn't going to win, place, or show, so it was kindness to back him down and save any possible aggravation of his prior injury.

Big Brown will enjoy many more millions in breeding, than he would have if he had won the Triple Crown.

[kellygrrrl]

I think they knew ahead of the race this horse was not healthy

they had him Juiced for the last two races and then took him off the 'roids for this race?

come on! they knew something was wrong.

[onedivasinger]

My grandfather was a jockey who was a first generation Irishman who loved horses and loved this country. Truthfully, even with history being made, I don't know if he would have wanted to ride Big Brown with his injury to hoof, and now we know why! He finished last! He was not ready for this race! We have to stop and think about the animals we say we love! So sad, once again! I hope Big Brown will be ok!

[NightRider]

So sad...BIG BROWN is hurt. Finished out of the picture. No triple crown.

[OhComeOnNow]

Whoops! Not this year - Big Brown was Big Bust. Da'Tara kicked his ass...

[southafrica4obama]

PETA is bias. Horse racing is and will always be 100% ANIMAL CRUELTY. Can any human being stand the lashes from those hurting whips they use to trigger horses' speed?!? Just because the sport is mostly white and rich, it's not being regarded as animal cruelty. Serious hypocrisy. Shame on you PETA.

[southafrica4obama]

PETA is bias. Horse racing is 100% ANIMAL CRUELTY. Can any human being stand the lashes from those hurting whips they use to trigger horses' speed?!? Just because the sport is mostly white and rich, it's not being regarded as animal cruelty. Serious hypocrisy. Shame on you PETA.

[mlaiuppa]

I don't want to watch. I don't want to see another "Eight Belles" or "Barbaro".

I'll read about it later. Maybe.

[kulenski]

Belmont Breeze for everyone!!!

[riverhouse]

Brown is the Barry Bonds of race horses.

[Richard729]

O.K., I'll admit I'm not much of a horse race fan. Glorious as Big Brown's triple crown victory most likely will be, he's running against mostly nags that are one hoof away from the glue factory. Big Brown's only competition, Casino Drive, was scratched. Even he was a 7-2 odds to win against a horse that the only way he can lose is if he stops for a photo op on the way to the finish line.

This upcoming race was a set-up to revive horse racing by making sure Big Brown wins the first triple crown in over 30 years. I know, I know, you all reading this probably think I'm just another one of those neigh-sayers. Yeah, you're right. Big Brown, whinny wins, surely would agree.

[helonias]

Death of a Derby Winner: Slaughterhouse Likely Fate for Ferdinand
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Sold to Japan's JS Company in the fall of 1994 at a time when Japanese breeding farms were aggressively pursuing American and European breeding stock, Ferdinand spent six breeding seasons at Arrow Stud on the northern island of Hokkaido, from 1995-2000. Initially popular with local breeders (he was mated to 77 mares his first year), Ferdinand was bred to just 10 mares in his final year at Arrow, and his owners opted to get rid of him.

[helonias]

CANOVANAS, Puerto Rico (AP) - For thoroughbreds in this U.S. Caribbean territory, being fast enough to win, place or show is a matter of life and death _ losers often don't even make it off the racetrack grounds alive. More than 400 horses, many in perfect health, are killed each year by injection at a clinic behind the Hipodromo Camarero racetrack, said chief veterinarian Jose Garcia.

The Associated Press on Friday examined clinic log books that confirmed Garcia's account.
AP IMPACT: Losing racehorses killed in Puerto Rico

The handwritten logs list the names of the horses, the trainers, the date of execution and the dosages of lethal drugs. Garcia allowed an AP reporter to view the logs but prohibited him from taking notes or photographing the pages.

Unlike on the U.S. mainland, where many former racehorses are retrained for riding or sent to refuges, the animals have few options in Puerto Rico. Owners say caring for and feeding a losing racehorse is too expensive.

"If it doesn't produce, after a while I give it away or I kill it," said Arnoldo Maldonado, 60, a businessman who races about five horses a year. "It bothers me, but it has to be done because there is no money to pay for them. ... I'm not going to keep losing."

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=104&sid=1405348

[southafrica4obama]

I love Animals. PETA is BIAS. Horse racing is 100% ANIMAL CRUELTY. Can any human being stand the lashes from those hurting whips they use to trigger horses' speed?!? Just because the sport is mostly white and rich, it's not being regarded as animal cruelty. Serious hypocrisy! Shame on you PETA.

[helonias]

PENNSYLVANIA NEWS - Inside, dozens of horses line the stalls with just a shade of wiggle room. Fanciful names o­nly get a thoroughbred so far in horse racing. By the time a horse gets here - the weekly New Holland Sales Stable horse auction in New Holland, Pennsylvania - each is reduced to a number for the kitchen table.

This is horse racing's dirty little secret - the o­ne those in the industry traditionally have ignored
and outsiders barely hear about.

The slaughter-­for-human-­consumptio­n controversy has divided the horse-racing industry. For years, it simply ignored the issue, but lately, as Congress and courts have dug their hands into the exposed secret, horse owners, trainers and breeders have come down o­n o­ne side or the other.

Nearly 50,000 horses were slaughtered and sold overseas for human consumption in 2003, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures. An additional 30,000 were shipped to Canada, where they were slaughtered, and 1,000 were sent to Mexico.

It generally is accepted in the horse industry that about 10 percent of the slaughtered horses are thoroughbreds, the sleek and powerful breed usually foaled specifically to race. For comparison, the Jockey Club, the breed registry for thoroughbreds in North America, annually registers about 33,000 new foals.

http://www.tristateobserver.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2085

[reliant1]

geez - now I'm feeling bad about all my cattle...slow or fast...slaughtered for people who get burgers at a drive thru or want a prime rib for their holiday table.

horses have always been a food source...pumas and wolves eat them and people eat them.

as long as horses, wolves, cattle and people have been around - something is always getting eaten.

[naschkatze]

I think you don't understand the PETA organization. PETA is 100% against animal cruelty.

[southafrica4obama]

If PETA is 100% against animal cruelty, why is it not serious with describing horse racing as animal cruelty? Have you seen how those lovely horses get hurt on the track?!? It's not right.

[mlaiuppa]

Which is why they KILL puppies and kittens rather than allow them to live lives of slavery.

PETA KILLS.

[helonias]

Whats even sicker than TB racing?

Google premarin mares

[DeliBoy]

PETA = People Eating Tasty Animals Yumm

I like meat!

[simontherm]

someone explain to me why this is a sport when the athlete is an animal....don't get it.

[helonias]

Well they don't put down injured athletes and make dog food out of them.

They do treat Jockeys pretty bad though

[Pema]

I hope another horse doesnt die because it is so highly bred to make silly pleasures for people using animals for entertainment. People need to find out about the real world of horse racing and what happens to too many horses that dont perform well enough.