Published: April 30, 2008 12:10 am            

KENTUCKY DERBY: What can Brown do?

It’s slightly past 8 a.m. on a brisk windy April morning when a small crowd of on-lookers assembles around Barn 22 on the famed Churchill Downs backside.

The gathering is small, barely cracking a dozen, but the main attraction briefly peaks around the corner, quickly shying away from the crowd and retreating back to his cozy confines inside.

That’s been the existence of potential Derby favorite Big Brown, the large but fairly unknown Florida Derby winner who made a late arrival at Churchill on Monday and yet still remains perhaps the biggest enigma for Saturday’s running of the Kentucky Derby 134.

The fairly untested, yet sometimes testy thoroughbred has dominated foes in three career starts.

Yet he sometimes seems uninterested in large crowds of on-lookers, even gatherings as small as the one outside his stable on Tuesday, a potentially fatal flaw as he will face more than 120,000 spectators when he loads into the starting gate on Saturday.

“He’ll be fine,” said trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. about his prize horse’s temperament. “He’s handled himself well in big races.”

Observers of the March 29 Florida Derby called the horse “shaky” as he loaded into the starting gate, almost bothered by the noise of the 40,000-plus fans at Gulfstream Park.

It failed to show in his performance though.

Big Brown — named after the United Parcel Service — trucked through the field for an easy wire-to-wire victory by eight lengths.

“I don’t see any 3-year-old that can beat him anywhere in the world and I’ve watched them all,” Dutrow said of Big Brown after Florida. “I totally misjudged him before his last race. I didn’t know he was that good.”

As good as the trainer feels his horse may be, history does not side with Dutrow’s wide-eyed optimism.

With only three career races, Big Brown must accomplish a feat that has not been repeated since 1915 by winning the Derby with fewer than four career starts. Even 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin failed in its quest to pull off the feat a year ago.

“We know history,” said Dutrow, whose horse is undefeated and has won its previous races by a combined 29 lengths. “People are going to talk about that, but all we know is this — we’ve got a special horse here.”







DERBY NOTES

Big Brown made his first official appearance on the Churchill Downs racetrack on Tuesday morning, galloping around the oval but recording no official workout time.

The unbeaten thoroughbred will run three furlongs on Thursday.

• Ekati the lone worker Tuesday: Barclay Tagg’s Tale of Ekati was the lone confirmed Derby starter to workout on Tuesday, clocking four furlongs in 49 2/5 seconds.

The Wood Memorial winner is the lone entry this year for Tagg, who trained 2003 winner Funny Cide.

• Colonel John, Court Vision run: The cold conditions likely kept most horses off the track Tuesday, but Colonel John and Court Vision both ran a slight exercise run. Both horses have confirmed they will run no more workouts before Saturday’s race.

        

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