It's Derby's 'Big' question

Favorite has run only 3 races so far

Derby favorite Big Brown gallops under exercise rider Michelle Nevin during a workout at Churchill Downs yesterday. (John Sommers 2d/Reuters)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It seems fitting that Big Brown is the favorite for Saturday's Kentucky Derby, since United Parcel Service is the biggest employer in Louisville (more than 20,000 people) and the company's motto is: "What can Brown do for you?"

Ask Rick Dutrow that question, and the 49-year old trainer will smile and say, "We've got the best horse. I haven't seen any horse with my eyes that can beat him."

And that's the point. No one has yet. Of course, you will hear that Big Brown has run only three races in his young career, and while that will work in some places, it won't work in the Kentucky Derby, which will be run for the 134th time Saturday.

Again, Dutrow has an answer.

"That doesn't bother me at all," he said yesterday morning on the backstretch at Churchill Downs. "All that means is that we have the freshest horse."

Dutrow says he will back up his words with his money. The last time he felt so good about one of his horses was three years ago when Saint Liam was running in the Breeders' Cup Classic and Dutrow bet $160,000 on Saint Liam. His horse won by a length, and Dutrow says he won $384,000 on the bet.

Not bad for a guy who started out working in Maryland with his father, Dick, one of the leading trainers in the country. When Rick went on his own, he moved up to New York, where he used to live in the tack room at Aqueduct, conducting his life, both business and social, there.

"Had a microwave, a phone," said Dutrow.

Asked if he had any female visitors, Dutrow paused, laughed, and said, "Yes."

All part of the portrait of a trainer who has won and lost, played by the rules and against the rules, one whose career has been dotted by suspensions.

"Some I deserved, some I didn't," he said.

The media attention for the favorite is a big part of Derby Week, and make no mistake, Big Brown is the favorite - although the last Derby winner to run as few times as Big Brown was Regret in 1915.

The bay colt sired by Boundry was bought last year for $190,000 in Keeneland's April sales of 2-year-olds. Four months later, in his first race at Saratoga, he broke his maiden with an astounding 11 1/4-length victory. That prompted interest from IEAH Stables, which bought a majority interest in the horse from owner Paul Pompa for $3 million and promptly installed Dutrow as the trainer.

The plan was to bring him along slowly through the fall and winter, but a flaw in the "freak" horse cropped up as he developed an abscess in the sole of his left front hoof. The horse was idled for 45 days, which drove Dutrow wild.

"Normally, it's 10-11 days," said Dutrow, who waited out the winter for Big Brown's hooves to get healthy.

When he was ready for an allowance race in March, not even Dutrow was sure how good a horse he had.

"When I first saw him at Aqueduct, he didn't take your breath away," said Dutrow, who found veteran Kent Desormeaux to ride the horse (whose name is a tribute to UPS, according to Pompa). A win by 12 3/4 lengths was followed three weeks later by an equally impressive 5-length victory in the Florida Derby.

Dutrow says Big Brown's feet are fine.

"Every day has been a good day for Big Brown," said Dutrow.

Dutrow says Big Brown is good enough to overcome any training flaws.

"His talent and his ability are going to get us there," said Dutrow, "not my training techniques. "If our horse runs his race, if there is a horse that can beat him, he's going to have to show up.

"When you watch all the horses run, I like our horse. This race has a real long first turn, and when Big Brown breaks, he's going to be in front of 15 [of the 20-horse field] because of his natural speed. It's going to happen naturally, it's going to be good."

Dutrow contends the cockiness comes from what Big Brown has done - three races, three wins, by a combined 29 lengths.

"I'm very confident in Big Brown only because he has given me confidence," said Dutrow. "He has given me all the right signs."

Desormeaux, who has ridden two Derby winners (Real Quiet in 1998 and Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000), says Big Brown might be the best horse he ever has ridden. He says the horse has an aura about him.

"He knows he's good," said Desormeaux.

Just how good will be determined Saturday afternoon.

Kentucky Derby
What: 134th Run for the Roses
When: Saturday, 5 p.m.
Where: Churchill Downs, Louisville, Ky.
TV: Channel 7