Major upset in NY !

Da' Tara wins the 140th Belmont Stakes wire to wire.

Well, no Triple Crown again! Why am I not surprised? Why am I not devastated?

Something just didn't click - Big Brown absolutely didn't fire today at all.
I am disappointed, but hey, that's racing. After Smarty Jones's loss in 2004, I promised myself I would not get my hopes up too much again. Good thing.

That said, I still felt fairly confident that Brownie was primed to make history, but there was still this little nagging thought that it might not happen. Rick Dutrow Jr., his extremely boastful trainer, on the walk over to the track, actually guaranteed - on national television no less - a win. Oh my.

Too much confidence is never a good thing in my book, and we were shown yet again that even the best horses have the worst days.
I believe it could have been a number of things that may have happened. Perhaps the quarter crack was more of an issue than we thought, perhaps he should have had that controversial steroid shot after all, perhaps he had some internal congestion and/or bleeding in the throat which can make a horse balk at running, perhaps it was the oppressive 93 degree sweltering heat that affected him, perhaps the racing gods just weren't smiling on him....
You know what they say... 2 outta 3 ain't bad...

Anyway, when it was evident, during the race, that Brownie just wasn't gonna get it done, jockey Kent Desormeaux kindly eased him and he ended up crossing the finish line last. The first horse in history to be posed to win a triple crown that ended up finishing last. Oy!

Trainer Dutrow, obviously distraught after the race, avoided reporters for some time but eventually told ESPN reporters that he had no idea what happened, that the horse does not appear to be hurt or injured in any way, and that they will scope him to see if it is that type of issue. Brown was walking the shedrow at the barn without any problem and did not seem to be in any kind of distress.

In any case, it just wasn't Brownie's day, and I have a major inkling that that was the last time we'll see him on the racetrack. I feel they will use this loss to go ahead and retire him to Three Chimneys (where he's headed to hang out with former stars Smarty Jones & Point Given) before he loses any more races and his stud fee plummets.

MEANWHILE, the strikingly beautiful longshot (38-1) Da' Tara broke alertly from the gate, went directly to the front of the pack, and went wire to wire to win the 140th Belmont Stakes. He looked really great! I love a good win, and this one was one for the books.
Da' Tara is trained by Nick Zito, who coincidentally trained the upsetter of Smarty Jones's bid for the crown, Empire Maker - in 2004. Jockey was up and coming Alan Garcia. Place (second) went to Denis of Cork, show (third) was a dead heat between Anak Nakal and Ready's Echo.

I do have a bit of a happy ending since Da' Tara's papa is Tiznow, who was a favorite of mine when he was racing, and - to no one's surprise I'm sure - is a grandson of Seattle Slew, making Da' Tara his great grandson. Cool!
Da' Tara does, in fact, resemble Slew - not only in the dark color, but in that wire to wire running style.

Seattle Slew remains the ONLY undefeated Triple Crown winner. Yee-ha.

And with Big Brown's loss, Affirmed remains the last Triple Crown winner (1978)-and we'll have to wait another year for a new crop of three year olds to see if the elusive Crown is in their grasp.

I'll wait...