Oh no, not again!
It’s back to the drawing board as Big Brown, the heavy favorite to sweep the Triple Crown in today’s Belmont Stakes, suddenly spit the bit around the far turn and was eased across the finish line dead last by jockey Kent Desormeaux.
Da’ Tara, at 38-1 the rank outsider in the field of nine, led gate to wire under Alan Garcia to win by 5½ lengths before a stunned-silent crowd of 94,476 on a hot and hazy Long Island afternoon.
Big Brown suffered a quarter crack on his left front foot two weeks ago and was racing with a patched hoof, though his connections repeatedly assured everyone the foot was healed and would not be an issue. He did not appear gimpy after the race, but will undergo a thorough physical examination.
“He was in no way lame or sore, probably just tired,” Desormeaux said. “He’s the best horse I’ve ever ridden, so I figured let’s just get him back to the barn and recharge his batteries.”
On the stunning outcome of the race, Desormeaux said, “I had no horse. There were no popped tires. He was just out of gas.”
The previously unbeaten “Brown Bomber,” who won the Kentucky Derby by 4 3/4 lengths and the Preakness by 5 1/4 with effortless ease, is the 11th horse since Affirmed last swept to the Triple Crown in 1978 to win the first two jewels, but fail the mile-and-a-half “Test of the Champion.”
One of those, Real Quiet, was ridden by Desormeaux when he lost by a nose in 1998.
There was yet another deja vu in the Belmont. Da’ Tara is trained by Nick Zito, who sent out longshot Birdstone to upend 1-5 choice Smarty Jones’ Triple Crown bid four years ago. Like Big Brown, Smarty Jones was undefeated at the time.
Da’ Tara, a $175,000 yearling purchase owned by Robert LaPenta, is a son of two-time Horse of the Year Tiznow, who won the 2001 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Belmont Park. Three weeks ago, on the Preakness undercard, he finished second in the Barbaro Stakes after setting the pace.
But in his previous seven starts, Da’ Tara had only a maiden win to his credit; he was beaten 23½ lengths by Big Brown in the Florida Derby.
Da’ Tara was a late addition to the field. Asked last week why he would run such a seemingly outclassed horse against a monster like Big Brown, Zito simply said, “Commendable,” referring to the longshot that led all the way to win the Belmont in 2000.
“The champ obviously wasn’t himself today, but that has nothing to do with our victory,” said Zito, whose other Belmont runner, Anak Nakal, finished third in a dead heat with Ready’s Echo.
“Da’ Tara was himself. Pedigree is important to me, and I knew he’d get the distance. The horse did it and Alan [Garcia] did it. What else can I say?”
Big Brown, breaking from post 1, appeared to be rank soon after the break, when Da’ Tara angled over in front of him. Around the clubhouse turn, he squeezed through to split horses, swung to the outside and tracked the early pace. But when Da’ Tara scooted clear around the far turn, Big Brown came up empty, and Desormeaux safely took him in hand.
“I was keeping an eye on the horse in front,” said Desormeaux. “I said, ‘Let’s engage, let’s keep him honest.’ But I was done.
“I can’t fathom what kind of freak those 11 Triple Crown winners were,” he concluded.
Da’ Tara ran the mile and a half in a slow 2:29.65 to pay $79. Denis of Cork rallied for second, completing a $659 exacta. There was a dead heat for third between Anak Nakal, also trained by Zito, and Ready’s Echo; the trifectas returned $3,703 and $3,954, respectively, with the superfectas paying $48,637 and $47,309.