BIG BROWN GOES DOWN

Big Brown didn't come through as predicted earlier---in fact he failed to even really start the race. The jockey said when I asked him to run I didn't have any horse---if you don't know what that means it is that the horse was through. In my experience which isn't vast but I have ridden a few---the bumping he took in the first part of the race to get to the outside is enough a lot of times (and may be what went wrong this time) to make a horse quit trying. He ran up on the back legs of one horse---which is a very scary thing to do since getting the front legs tangled almost always results in a crash---the back legs tangled will result in a horse missing a couple of steps but the fronts will put you down. Then he bumped hard trying to get to the outside---one more tough thing for any horse is to keep getting bumped.

OK enough of that already---he didn't pull it off---it's a damn hard thing to do. He's still my pick for colt of the year---Nick Zito also should get trainer of the year 'cause he knocked him off with a 38-1 long shot. Luck? I don't think so---look back at the number of triple crown contenders he's knocked off at the Belmont---he's a pretty damned good trainer.

If I ever have another good race horse his name will be LAST BY TEN---think about how that will sound as the horse rounds the final turn in first place---I have wanted to name a colt this for at least 35 years.