The American Spectator

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Special Report

(Page 2 of 2)

With the odds at a ridiculous 1-4, and no way of making real money, I just decided to place $2 on Big Brown to save the winning ticket as a souvenir (I placed a separate $10 bet on the 12-1 Tale of Ekati to come in third).

When I first saw Big Brown in person, it seemed that something was a bit amiss. Although the horse was known for his Tiger Woods-like temperament, he looked jittery to me. As he walked by, about 20 feet way, he turned his head and body sideways.

Our positioning couldn't have been any better, as we were standing right in front of the starting gate. But given that we were on track level, we didn't have any elevation to see what was going on during the rest of the race, so watched on the screen, and looked at the board that displayed the order of the horses.

Based on what we were able to determine, it looked like Big Brown was running the perfect race, sticking in the top three positions for a mile, and, so we thought, just waiting for the right time to explode. As the second half started, I began to feel an adrenalin rush.

"It's just like Preakness," I said.

My brother Bruce, who had joined us, predicted: "When he starts to make a move, people are going to go nuts."

But nothing happened.

INSTEAD, BIG BROWN suddenly dropped off of the leader board. Da' Tara, a 38-1 underdog who Big Brown had beaten by 23 1/2 lengths the last time they faced, galloped past the finish line, followed by seven other horses. Then I looked down the track and Big Brown was trotting toward the finish, his head lifted up, as I looked on deflated.

All of the physical tests taken since the race have come back negative, and as of now there are lots of theories, but no actual explanation for what went wrong. Jockey Kent Desormeaux gave the simplest answer: "I had no horse."

We made our way to the exits along with the rest of the stunned crowd, hearing all sorts of tales. Somebody walking ahead of me said he was standing next to a man who had bet $40 on the longshot Da' Tara to win, earning a hefty payout of nearly $1,600.

We navigated through the picnic area, where people packed up their coolers and vendors tried to peddle Belmont t-shirts that they could no longer give away.

"Everybody so stupid," a man in a beige tank top hollered, tauntingly pointing at his head for emphasis. "Why nobody listen to me? I tell everybody, this horse was weak. It no have any stamina!"

If only I had been speaking to the right expert.

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