Big Brown

Racehorse

Big Brown is the racehorse who won the first two legs of racing's Triple Crown in 2008. He won the Kentucky Derby by 4 3/4 lengths on 3 May 2008. His performance there was so powerful that he was a 1-5 favorite at the Preakness on 17 May 2008, which he won by 5 1/4 lengths. At that point Big Brown was still unbeaten, though he had raced only three times before the Derby: he won his maiden race at Saratoga on 3 September 2007, then won twice in two races at Gulfstream Park in Florida in March of 2008. His co-owners, IEAH Stables, announced before the Preakness that Big Brown would not race as a four-year-old and instead would be put to stud at Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky. He went on to the Belmont Stakes on 7 June 2008, hoping to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. But he finished dead last as Da' Tara, a 38-1 long shot, won the race.

Extra credit: The name Big Brown comes from the nickname of the United Parcel Service; the shipping company was a client of one of the horse's owners, Paul Pompa, Jr... The last horse to win the Triple Crown was Affirmed in 1978. Seattle Slew (1977) and Secretariat (1973) also won the prize in the 1970s, but there were no Triple Crown winners in the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s or 1990s... Funny Cide (in 2003) and Smarty Jones (in 2004) both won the first two legs of the Triple Crown but got beat in the Belmont Stakes... Big Brown is the son of the sire Boundary and the dam Mien.

Blog posts mentioning Big Brown:
Did Big Brown Have a Shoe Loose? Big Brown 'Just Didn't Have It' Big Brown is as Sound as the Dollar Big Brown Wins Triple Crown! Here Comes Big Brown