Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff
Well, if you’re the thoroughbred racing industry, brown can help resuscitate you. Big Brown that is.
The unbeaten (in 3-career starts) Kentucky Derby favorite is drawing rave reviews and awe inspiring descriptions of his running style. If you believe the hype, we’re about to witness the newest superstar athlete unleashed on the American public. And in the process, horse racing may finally enjoy that long anticipated resurgence we’ve been clamoring for since the last Triple Crown winner, Affirmed, 30 years ago.
Maybe it’s that desire for the next great horse. Maybe it’s been the long time between “Crown” winners and the many close calls during that stretch. But I can’t remember a similar buzz surrounding a pre-race favorite as what we’ve seen and heard this week about Big Brown. I know I’ll be rooting hard for this colt to take the sport by storm, both because I love rooting for “the story” (that’s what we sports dudes tend to do) and because I’d love to see Rockingham Park and Suffolk Downs return to their glory days.
A Triple Crown winner would go a long way toward achieving both goals.
Step 1 in the process is today. If you’re a horse racing fan, you’re joining me in praying it’s not a miss-step.
Consider this your Kentucky Derby thread…what do you think of the race? Who will win? Can Big Brown live up to the hype? Who will take him down? And feel free to comment here after the race as well.
I think you missed the most important part of this story. The poor little horsey that was euthanized. I'm being sarcastic. All this talk of the euthanized horse once again proves just how pathetic people are. The fact that the horse was put to sleep is a good thing. Horses serve absolutely no purpose since they've stopped using them for travel. Oh wait i forgot, the disgusting police horse in downtown Lowell has really improved the city. Death to horses!