Big Brown Packs Punch at 2008 Preakness - 05-19-08

May 19 - As one of the most prestigious horse races on the annual North American racing calendar, the Preakness Stakes is all about big crowds, the best thoroughbreds, and of course tons of betting excitement, and this Saturday's event was no different, after the favorite, Big Brown, thundered home in first place.

The crowd at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. roared their approval as the big-hearted 3-year-old colt bolted home, seemingly without much effort, to take first place. Apart from earning the coveted Preakness Stakes trophy, and the $1 million dollar purse, Big Brown also earned the adulation of the crowd.

Big Brown's gutsy performance at Preakness was just what the doctor ordered, following the death of top filly, Eight Belles, who tragically broke both front legs at this year's Kentucky Derby earlier this year at Churchill Downs race track, and was subsequently euthanized. Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby.

Overcome with emotion after the race, Big Brown's rider, Kent Desormeaux, was quoted as saying that 'Big Brown was a horse of a lifetime', and many others in the horse racing world seemed to agree from regular punters to casual horse racing fans and even those in the business.

Ex-jockey Hall of Famer and current NBC TV commentator, Gary Stevens, was quoted as saying that in his career of 27 years, he had never seen a horse accelerate like Big Brown did.

Once the race began, it was plain to see that Big Brown was like a 'loaded spring' after Desormeaux set him up in an ideal position just behind the two pacesetters, ready to pounce at will.

And pounce he did when, during the turn into the stretch, Desormeaux let Big Brown loose - without need for the whip - leaving his fellow horses far in his wake.

While skeptics may have attributed Big Brown's win to a weak field, as opposed to the colt's brute talent, strength and speed, what is undeniable is that Big Brown is one in a million and a horse that punters, viewers, trainers, jockeys and commentators alike, love to support.