BALTIMORE - Not once but twice, jockey Kent Desormeaux sneaked a peek to see if anyone was gaining on Big Brown.
"I looked between my legs, under my arms, and they were 8 [lengths] behind me," Desormeaux said. "I stopped pushing. I said, 'That's enough.' "
Desormeaux's mount ran away with the Preakness on Saturday and is pointed squarely down the path toward the Triple Crown, which wraps up at the Belmont Stakes in New York in three weeks. Three others have reached this stage this decade, including Smarty Jones in 2004, but no 3-year-old has won the Triple Crown since Affirmedin 1978.
"Wow is all I can say," said Steve Cauthen, who rode Affirmed 30 years ago. "He looks pretty special. It was like a cakewalk for him. The important thing to me is he keeps passing all the tests."
Trainer Rick Dutrow Jr., who called his shot at the Kentucky Derby andthe Preakness, sounded nearly as confident after Big Brown came back full of run after putting away the field of 11 with ease.
"I know we have horse left. There is no question," Dutrow said. "He's just shown up every step, every way. I just can't imagine him not showing up for the Belmont."
Big Brown's margin of victory 1 was 5 /4 lengths. Long shot Macho Again ran second and Icabad Crane finished third.
"We just got beat by a monster," said Julien Leparoux, who was aboard Macho Again.
Big Brown slipped a bit while breaking from the middle of the 12-horse field and Desormeaux took him off the pace in front of 112,222 fans.
"He's so strong, he powered out with his back legs and they just slipped and he was standing out in the same spot," Desormeaux said of Big Brown, named for United Parcel Service. "It actually was his second push that let him out of the gate."
Big Brown was fourth the first time past the grandstand behind pacesetter Gayego. He moved up to third on the first turn, where he stayed all the way down the backstretch.
"My whole job in that first halfmile was to keep his face clean," Desormeaux said. "There's not a grain of sand on most of his body."
The decisive moment came just before the final turn, when Desormeaux angled Big Brown out three-wide for clear running room. As he hit the top of the stretch, Desormeaux simply crossed the reins to let Big Brown know it was time to take off.
He didn't even need the whip, which he initially left behind in the jockeys' room. He could have saved himself the trip back to get it. His horse covered 1 3/16 miles in 1:54.80.
Big Brown went off as a shorter-priced favorite than Secretariat in 1973, who went on to win the Triple Crown, capped by a 31-length victory in the Belmont.
Big Brown tied for the fourthlowest payoff in Preakness history with Native Dancer in 1953, paying $2.40, $2.60 and $2.40. Macho Again returned $17.20 and $10.40, while Icabad Crane paid $5.60.
In the Derby, Big Brown started on the far outside of 19 horses and used an explosive finishing kick 3 to win by 4 /4 lengths, the tightest margin in his 5-0 career. He's won those races by a combined 39 lengths.
Saturday's victory put the sport's focus back on racing after two weeks of frenzied debate about safety and breeding after Eight Belles' catastrophic breakdown in the Kentucky Derby. And it came on the same track in which 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro broke down early in the race.
Big Brown's victory means his connections - Dutrow, Desormeaux and principal owners Michael Iavarone and Richard Schiavo who once worked on Wall Street - are headed to New York with a horse that could make racing history.
Big Brown earned $600,000 for the victory, boosting his earnings to $2,714,500 for Iavarone, Schiavo and Paul Pompa Jr. Pompa named Big Brown in honor of UPS, a major client of his Brooklyn trucking business.
Sports, Pages 34, 44 on 05/18/2008