In a surprising turn of events, Triple Crown contender BIG BROWN (Boundary)
returned to Belmont Park’s main track Tuesday morning and jogged 1 1/2 miles
under regular exercise rider Michelle Nevin. The unbeaten Kentucky Derby (G1)
and Preakness S. (G1) winner has recovered from a quarter-crack more quickly
than anyone expected.
On Monday morning, renowned hoof specialist Ian McKinlay repaired the small
crack in the colt’s left-front hoof wall with a set of steel sutures. By the afternoon,
trainer Richard Dutrow said he and McKinlay decided it would be beneficial for
Big Brown, who had not been out of Barn 2 at Belmont Park since Friday, to
resume training.
“I felt the horse going to the track was not only good for his conditioning
but also good for his mind,” Durow said. “He’s been kind of aggravated. He
doesn’t know why he’s not going to the track. He just doesn’t understand why
he’s not doing it. We can’t explain it to him and we just let him go out there
today and take the edge off him. He’s getting too rough around the barn.”
Normally playful and curious, Big Brown seemed more aloof in his stall later
on Tuesday.
Since the quarter-crack was officially diagnosed Saturday morning, Big Brown
has been walking around the shedrow twice a day with Nevin and was treated with
an antiseptic solution of iodine and alcohol. On Monday, McKinlay, who has been
working in his area of expertise for more than 30 years, said that except for a
small area in the heel, the foot was cold and that he expected everything to go
well.
With a light rain falling at Belmont Tuesday morning, Big Brown went out to
the track around 7 a.m. (EDT). After receiving a bath, he was walked around the shedrow
by Nevin several times, pulling her to a stop at the end of the barn to pose for
photos until Dutrow shooed the horse away.
“Ian is excited about this,” said the trainer. “He’s not going to let
anything get away from us. He’ll be around.”
Dutrow said the time off would not affect Big Brown’s ability to “finish what
he started” and that he was looking to breeze the colt early next week.
“I don’t know — it could be Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday
depending on the weather,” he said. “If I had everything I would want I would
like it Monday.”
Dutrow said he would not have the colt blow out the morning of the Belmont as
he did before the Preakness.
“I think he looks better now than he did for the Preakness,” Dutrow
said.
Co-owner Michael Iavarone said Big Brown was getting too aggressive in the
barn and needed to go to the track.
“I guess we surprised everybody today, Iavarone said. “I think the decision
to go to the track this morning was made late last night. Big Brown was just
getting too aggressive in the barn. He needed to go to the track.
“We were concerned on Friday when the quarter-crack was first discovered. But
Ian McKinlay had told us then that this was a straight-forward
quarter-crack. He has been on top of it ever since.
“Rick (Dutrow) said he could breeze anytime up to Tuesday,” Iavarone
added. “We weren’t concerned about the track today, even with the rain last
night. The track wasn’t that bad, and quite frankly, as aggressive as he’s been,
it was safer for him to be on the track than in the barn.”
Iavarone is scheduled to ring the bell to open the New York Stock Exchange on
Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.
Big Brown will seek to become racing’s 12th Triple Crown winner in the 140th
running of the Belmont on June 7.
In other Belmont news:
Nobutaka Tada, spokesman for the connections of CASINO DRIVE (Mineshaft), said the
chestnut colt was “50-50” to breeze on Wednesday in preparation for the 1
1/2-mile Belmont. The original plan was to breeze the colt after the mid-morning
harrowing, around 8:45 a.m.
“It will all depend on the weather and the track,” Tada said. “If it is
good, we will go out. If not, we’ll wait another day or so.”
Tada is expected to name a rider for Casino Drive on Wednesday.