“This was perhaps the ultimate proof that the Triple Crown must be approached with the utmost respect.” — “Trainer Dutrow eats crow after Big Brown busts at Belmont”, Pat Forde, ESPN.COM

Big Brown proved on Saturday that the racing gods are alive and well and as nasty as ever to those with short memories and disrespect for the great history of the game. Heading home from Belmont on Saturday (at a steady 10mph across the Belt Parkway) it occurred to me that Big Brown’s failure to win the Triple Crown was nowhere near the disappointment of Smarty Jones Belmont miss in 2004. The reasons are obvious. While I was pulling for the horse, the arrogance of his connections made the result easy to swallow. I’m not the only one, as many seem to be breathing a sigh of relief, as opposed to expressing disbelief, at the inexplicable performance of Rick Dutrow’s horse.

Here are some photographs from Saturday:

The calm before the storm

The camera stand that spooked Big Brown? (Read the story here)

The trophy table

Spots in the shade….good thinking

The crowd a few hours before the big race

Thors Echo on track for the True North (one of my many losers on the day)

Filing onto the turf for the Manhattan

Better Talk Now gets a push into the gate

Big Brown gets his head in front of Da’Tara for the last time heading towards the gate

Crowd tries to figure out “what the hell just happened” after the Belmont Stakes

The winner’s circle

Nick Zito and Alan Garcia pose with their rich friends

Smile!

Nick Zito, Mike Lupica, Steve Haskin, and Robert LaPenta exiting the winner’s circle

The (presumably) self-appointed Miss Belmont Stakes tries to make sense of it all

The end…even with a difficult day at the windows and an anti-climatic Belmont Stakes it was a great Saturday. It was hot and crowded but an excellent day of racing. Their is nothing like watching the races with a real crowd.

This Triple Crown season made me appreciate how good it was last year. Let’s hope for a more competitive (and less controversial) crop in 2009. Looking forward to Saratoga…I will be there opening weekend. Back to the history posts next week, I am working on a piece about the Havre de Grace racetrack that I promised a few weeks ago. Thanks for reading…