Big Brown can put more than horses behind him in Preakness

BALTIMORE -- It rained on horse racing's parade here today. That's been happening a lot.

This time, it was OK.

This was Black-Eyed Susan Day, the day before the Preakness Stakes and the day of the prestigious 3-year-old filly race of the same name. Dreary skies and a drenched track weren't as crucial as they would be Saturday, when network TV cameras turn on and the viewing public gets yet another look at a sport in turmoil.

Or, in the case of this year's Preakness, a sport showcasing a setup.

It has a star, Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown. And, if all that has been discussed in the week leading up to this middle leg of racing's Triple Crown is to believed, the horse that is a running advertisement for brown trucks and drivers in brown shorts will easily deliver just what racing needs.

A distraction.

Currently resonating with that portion of the public that watches only the Kentucky Derby and maybe the other two Triple Crown races -- and still has little idea what the Breeders' Cup is or means -- is the image of the filly Eight Belles breaking down after finishing second in the Derby and being euthanized on the track.

If they missed that, they saw Barbaro go down in the 2006 Preakness, or George Washington do the same in last year's Breeders' Cup Classic.

So Saturday is racing's time to do like pro athletes after their usual court acquittals for various felonies. They need to put it all behind them.

Big Brown is the perfect answer. It is assumed he will win. The Derby winner almost always comes to the Preakness with a swagger, but seldom has a horse been considered this big a lock. This afternoon, Big Brown's odds to win were 1-9, meaning you had to bet $9 to get back $10.

His trainer, Dick Dutrow Jr., who has a pretty nice swagger of his own, was asked if the Preakness would be a rollover similar to the Derby.

"Yes," he said, leaving a long pause for effect.

"Stop talking. Just go to the window."

The forecast is for the rain to clear this afternoon, meaning that the starting field for Saturday's Preakness will not become the dirty dozen. But if you listen to connections for the other 11 going against Big Brown, there is little chance that any of these meek will inherit the earth.

Said Paddy Gallagher, trainer of Yankee Bravo: "Looks like it's gonna be Big Brown's party."

Said the veteran Nick Zito, trainer of Stevil, who is entering the Preakness for the 19th time and has won four Triple Crown races, including the 1996 Preakness with Louis Quatorze: "You've got to salute Big Brown."

Dutrow was asked, considering the overwhelming odds that favor his horse, why anybody else would even bother to enter. "It's not a bad thing to finish second or third in the Preakness," he said.

Kent Desormeaux, who rode Big Brown to victory in the Derby and will be up for the Preakness, said, "I know the gun is loaded. I just gotta pull the trigger."

The only voice of dissent, trainer Reade Baker of long shot Kentucky Bear, found himself in plenty of headlines at midweek when he had the audacity to question Big Brown's deity. "He beat all those horses at Churchill Downs," Baker said, "but he didn't beat us."

Still, in the view of most, they can just load Big Brown into the van now and head for New York and the June 7 Belmont, where he can complete the first Triple Crown in racing since Affirmed in 1978.