We take you now to the Alex Brown Racing Forum:

• And then the deafening cheers for him when he stepped on the track and then again when he won. You know horses love the cheers and he got tons of them at Monmouth! I know he will carry these memories with him. (I believe that if animals can have dreams- which they do- then they can have memories too!) He retired WINNING and I'm so happy for that. Heck, Monmouth created a race just for him to run! My daughter, husband and I each have the BB long sl. tee shirts from the Monmouth Stakes along with wonderful memories and great pics of this brilliant colt.........he will always be special to us! — Monica

• he will never — i hope — have to endure compromising confusion again — but the quiet company as he heals of his immediate loving circle. a blessing in disguise. maybe not a race goer's remark but a loving remark. may he be surrounded with love. — martita

• God loves you, BIG BROWN, and so do I! I wish you a safe and speedy recovery from what sounds like a very painful injury, and a life of ease and contentment...YOU DESERVE IT! — Nancy

• Ah, yes.... Barbaro...... he def. was part of this. To think BB had to kick himself in the leg to get them to listen. This was a BIG LESSON that I hope is learned by all those humans that these horses depend on to care for them. — sylversky47

• I know you didn't ask me but I believe that God had a higher purpose for Barbaro and Eight Belles. Sometimes it doesn't seem fair but I truly believe that there was another purpose in mind for them. — Mary in MD

• THE NAME, BARBARO

How can it be
A year since you left
Without you
We're still bereft

We cried in pain
Felt torn apart
Heaven truly rained
Flooding our heart

When first I heard...
I cried, "NO"
You can't leave us
You can't go

I miss you
Longing for might have been
For your life to continue
The greatest win

We don't always get
What we hope to be
There's a bigger plan
Beyond you and me

So we carry on
Though a piece of heart did go
Written on that piece
The name, BARBARO.....

— Pam

Alex Brown Racing Forum
Big Brown Retiring After Hurting Hoof [New York Times]

Join me, won't you, as I live blog the broadcast, culminating in the mile and a half run at history.

- Rick Reilly wants Big Brown to win the Triple Crown so Eight Belles will be remembered. Hmm, sure. Also: "Big Brown. I love that name!" It is comforting to know supposed experts choose to root for horses in the same superficial reasons I do.

-Hey, it's Shaq... dressed as a jockey. Because that worked really well as a commercial.

-Hey, mawkish stories about 9-year-olds. Just what I want out of horse racing. Thanks ABC.

-"Can you guarantee a victory?" "Uh, yeah, sure." Most emphatic.

-Wanted expensive women and the drugs, did you Dutrow? Usually it's the other way around. And, hey, he could have bunked with Kimbo Slice in his car way back when.

-Hank Goldberg and his pinkish hue are going with Big Brown. Shocker. Of course, given his NFL track record, Big Brown should pull one of those runs straight to the infield.

-OH NOES! THEY MAKE THE JOCKEYS WALK UP TWO WHOLE FLIGHTS OF STAIRS FROM THE TRAINING ROOM TO THE FIELD!

-Anthony Garguila has the Sinatra swagger and the Manning haircut. Definitely a winner with this crowd.

-Brent Musburger: "The most important furlong is THE FINAL FURLONG" Thanks, Brent. I suppose the finish line is the most important line, too, right?

-Was Big Brown just called a beautiful athlete? When did Dee Mirich start announcing these things?

-GO HORSIES GO!

-Big Brown hanging at third after a half mile. A close pack at the front with Da' Tara, Tale of Ekati and Big Brown.

-Aaaaaand there goes Da' Tara

-Sorry steroid horse

-Welp, sorry history buffs. No triple crown this year. Oh yeah, and the ton of people who lost money. Sucks for you.

- "I had no horse" says jockey. Sounds like a problem.

-Dutrow shies away from interviews after guaranteeing a win. Um, wanna tell him to screw himself, reporters? Maybe try to hold him to his braggadocio bullshit? Cowards.

With apologies to the connections of Ichabad Crane, Ready’s Echo and Da’Tara, the 140th Belmont Stakes is a three-horse race. As everyone knows, Big Brown is attempting to become the 12th colt to win the Triple Crown on Saturday, and the first since Affirmed in 1978. Will he join titans such as Secretariat and Citation in the Hall of Fame, or will he be joining forgettables like Tim Tam and Kauai King in the Hall of Trivia? Let’s look at the 3 prime contenders:

1. Big Brown. He won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness handily, is undefeated, has won all five of his races by a combined 40 lengths and has yet to really run hard. On the downside, he’s dealing with a hoof injury that lost him some training time, isn’t really bred to get the Belmont’s onerous distance and has never faced adversity during a race. Also, in the karma department, this horse is clearly not the answer. Trainer Dicky Dutrow is a repeat offender of racing’s drug laws and has admitted Big Brown used to run on the same steroids used by Ben Johnson. Michael Iavarone, the principal of IEAH Stables, was fingered in multiple stock scams before entering the Sport of Kings. At least his jockey, Kent Desormeaux, is a decent fellow, if a bit brash and cocky.

2. Denis of Cork. Third in the Kentucky Derby, he was dead last in the backstretch of that race until passing 17 horses to get the show spot. He’s got the style to win this race (grinding away, Joey Knish style), still hasn’t reached his full potential yet, and has had 5 weeks off to prep for the race, which has been the winning route this decade. His biggest problem is trying to see how he’ll make up that nine-length gap from the Derby as a dead closer in a race with little early speed. He’s not only going to need to step forward, but he’ll also need Big Brown to run a poor race or get caught in a speed trap from the longshots. Not an impossible scenario.

3. Casino Drive. The new shooter and most likely upsetter of Big Brown, his mother foaled the winners of the 2006 and 2007 Belmont (Jazil and Rags to Riches). Although American bred, he was bought at auction by Japanese interests and made his first start in Japan, where he won by a dozen lengths. He made his second start in New York when trouncing a bad field in the Peter Pan four weeks ago, making the Belmont will be career start number three. While historically it’d be ridiculous to back a horse in his third start, conventional wisdom said the same thing about Big Brown making his fourth career start in the Derby, and he won easily. This horse is certainly talented enough to win, is bred perfectly for the distance and has the best distance jockey in the business (Edgar Prado) on his back; it’s just a question of overcoming his lack of experience and foundation.

So who’s it going to be? While a lot of the mainstream media thinks it’s a fait accompli that Big Brown becomes the first Triple Crown winner since Barack Obama’s high school days, in reality it’s a showdown between two horses with Tremendous Upside, with closer Denis of Cork ready to pick up the pieces if both fail to fire. Of course, Big Brown’s connections have totally ignored Denis of Cork and think Casino Drive doesn’t have a chance in hell. In a fine showing of ethnic sensitivity, Dicky Dutrow proclaimed: “All the Japanese people…thought Godzilla was dead. They’re going to find out he’s not dead. He’s here.”

Maybe it’s as simple as a Big Brown romp. But it’s a lot more likely that Big Brown’s cracked hoof, compressed racing schedule and breeding limitations will catch up to him with half a mile to go in the race. The feeling here is that we’ll see Casino Drive under a blanket of carnations at 7 p.m. on Saturday, with Big Brown quickly hustled off to the breeding shed for a life of sex and oats.

Dutrow Long On Confidence [Baltimore Sun]
Fun At The Preakness [Deadspin]

(Outstanding photos from Christopher T. Assaf of The Baltimore Sun.)

Regardless, this horse is going to be the focus of the sporting world for the next three weeks — God, please spare us another ridiculous ESPN Magazine cover — after winning the Preakness Stakes on Saturday. We find it difficult to become too inspired by a horse who, within minutes of winning the Kentucky Derby, already had an endorsement deal with UPS. Well, OK, the horse still doesn't have any idea what's going on and is mostly curious about where the oats are. But still.

Anyway, Big Brown seems to have a better-than-average chance to win the Triple Crown. If you are interested in this, bully for you; you have a more alert understanding of what's going on than Big Brown does. If you're like us, you're not, and far more absorbed by the gallantry and pageantry of the Preakness.

Oh Maryland, our Maryland ....

However, thanks to a wonderful post by 100% injury rate on FanIQ, we find that "Big Brown" wouldn't even crack the top 50 of most ridiculous and possibly crude horse names to ever run in this glorious event. No, not when "Golden Shower," "Nut Buster" or the venerable "Cum Rocket", which ran in the 1969 Kentucky Derby, have all raced at Churchill Downs.

Now, please put your double entendre hats and go to Jockey Registry to see if your ideal horse name is available. Enjoy.

The Dirtiest and Weirdest Racehorse Names Ever [FanIQ]