Horse Racing Betting: Big Brown back training

By Jordan Walters
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

Horse Racing Betting at WagerWeb Racebook

In a clear sign of how important Big Brown is to the whole sport of horse racing nowadays, the Triple Crown hopeful jogged on Tuesday, and it was huge news.

Big Brown jogged a mile and a half at Belmont Park on Tuesday morning for the first time since Friday morning after it was revealed he has a quarter crack in his hoof.

"I was very happy with this move," trainer Rick Dutrow said.

Hoof specialist Ian McKinlay put in a set of stainless steel sutures to help begin sealing the quarter crack on Monday morning, and it wasn't expected the horse would run at all until Wednesday or Thursday.

"I guess we surprised everybody (Tuesday)," co-owner Michael Iavarone said.

The injury had healed so much after 24 hours that that when Dutrow and McKinlay spoke Monday night, it was decided if the trainer thought the hoof looked good in the morning, a trip around Belmont Park would be in order.

"What we're trying to do is stabilize that heel so you get quicker healing," said McKinlay, who has worked on horses' feet for 31 years. "Basically, we've done what we can right now and it might be 48 hours before we see the full results in stabilizing the quarter."

 

The Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner now appears set for his attempt to become the first Triple Crown winner in the Belmont Stakes on June 7.

Dutrow said unbeaten Big Brown could have his final serious workout before the 1 1/2-mile Belmont as early as Sunday and as late as Wednesday, depending on the weather.

Dutrow could have waited a day before sending out Big Brown, but knew the sooner the better for several reasons.

"I felt him going to the track was not only good for his conditioning, but also good for his mind," he 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. And we can't explain it to him. So we let him go out there today and take the edge off of him. He's just getting too rough around the barn."

However, he added that the time away from running would have no affect on the horse.

"There's no way in the world that four, five, six, seven days of him missing on the track is going to affect his outcome and his racing ability when he runs the Belmont," Dutrow said. "There is no way this can affect him. He's not going to get tired because he missed a few days."