Big Brown goes for a jog

Triple Crown candidate Big Brown, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, was taken for a jog today by trainers.  This coming two days before doctors had said they would allow such activity after finding a crack in one of the horse's hooves.  Although reports are that Big Brown looked very good in the workout, this whole injury is very disconcerting.  Any time that a horse is injured in the least bit, the risk for a greater injury in a race goes up.  Even if this injury would not have a high propensity toward causing a more horrific injury on raceday, the repercussions of Big Brown going down would be catrastrophic to horse racing.  I don't see the sport recovering from such an event.  The masses would claim negligence, no matter what the cause, on the horse's caretakers, and eventually on the institution of horse racing itself.  A new holder of the Triple Crown would be an incredible boon for horse racing, however I really hope Big Brown's handlers make the right decisions in the days leading up to the Belmont.

 I also wonder whether or not Big Brown truly is this superhorse that the media is building him up to be.  In the days leading up to the Kentucky Derby, analysts were having trouble picking what horse would be the favorite.  The consensus sentiment was that the field was one of the worst in memorable history.  Now, if Big Brown dominates the Belmont as he has the first two legs of the Triple Crown, it will be hard to argue he is not one of the greatest horses in recent years.  However, the horse racing purist in me does not want to see a horse that beat out inferior competition go down in history as an equal to such names as Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Affirmed, and the rest of horse racing royalty.