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Big Brown is now two-thirds of the way there.

He really didn’t have to exert much energy in the Preakness did he?  The fuel that he didn’t use in the Preakness should come in handy in the Belmont Stakes.

He’s obviously a very special talent in a year where there isn’t very much competition. 

I’ll make one prediction-he won’t be as short of a price in the Belmont as he was in the Preakness.  A lot of “wise guys” will be talking about the Japanese import Casino Drive  who is tailor made for the Belmont.  His half-brother, Jazil, won it in 2006 and his half sister, Rags to Riches, won it in 2007.  Talk about great bloodlines!

It should be very interesting.  The anticipation will be great and the TV ratings for ABC will probably go through the roof.  Remember, ABC will televise the race, not NBC.

I’m praying for his health.  As you might know, these creatures are quite fragile.

Don’t forget, I’ve got quite a few Big Brown pictures and art prints available for sale.  I should be getting more from the Preakness very soon 

I met former jockey Cindy Medina who used to ride at Fairmount Park in Collinsville.  She is working in public relations these days and told me that she’s dabbles in painting glasses such as beer mugs, coffee mugs, wine glasses and more.  Her work is quite good and fits nicely on this website so it’s now available.  In fact she’ll customize glassware with almost any type of image that you desire.  Simply email a picture of the image that you would like to have painted and Cindy will do the rest.

You can see Cindy’s equine glassware here

We now have several Big Brown pictures and art prints from the 2008 Kentucky Derby.   We have pictures of him both pre-race and post-race.

We also have an Eight Belles picture of the filly in the Kentucky Derby post parade before her second place finish and very tragic ending.

The death of the filly Eight Belles, who broke both ankles, certainly took away from spectacular performance of Big Brown, who won the race and remained undefeated.

I didn’t think that Big Brown could do it (see my earlier post) and I was felt that I made the right decision when I saw that he didn’t break right away.  But you have to tip your hat to him and his connections, especially jockey Kent Desormeaux, who won his third Derby.  Kent is now in elite company.  Hopefully Big Brown will stay healthy.

My predictions did not pan out well at all.  The only thing that I got right was the stellar performance of Eight Belles, who ran second only to break down after the race.    It was really a freak injury and so, so, sad.  And it opens up the whole Barbaro “can of worms” once again.

It’s EXTREMELY difficult to pick a winner in a Kentucky Derby if you are limited to one selection.  It’s almost impossible this year.  I’m going to pick four horses and then I’m going to try to pick an exacta.  First, here are my throwouts:

Anak Nakal, Big Truck, Z Humor, Cowboy Cal, and Recapturetheglory

I believe that Pyro’s race over the synthetic surface at Keeneland can be excused.  The Arkansas Derby winner has proved to be a very important prep race in the last few years and it appears that horses coming from Oaklawn take to the Churchill Downs course very well.  Therefore, I’m including both Gayego, who has proven his versatility, and Z Fortune, who may be the better of Steve Asmussens two entries (he trains Pyro too).  Finally I’m also going to place the Santa Anita Derby winner Colonel John who has a running style that fits this race quite well.  This is a race filled with early speed.  I’m putting those four horses on the top part of my exacta and I’m putting these horses on the bottom half:

Cool Coal Man, Tale of Ekati, Court Vision, Eight Belles, Z Fortune, Visionaire, Pyro, Colonel John, Smooth Air, Bob Black Jack, Monba, Adriano, Denis of Cork, Gayego, and Big Brown

So my exacta ticket will look like this 6, 9, 10, 19 with 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20

One final warning, the filly, Eight Belles, has some great speed figures and her trainer Larry Jones won the Oaks on Friday with Proud Spell.  Jones is a terrific trainer and it would be quite a feat to pull off the Oak/Derby double.  It’s not out of the question.

And don’t forget to check out our robust selection of horse racing art prints