Trainer Blames Jockey for Belmont Bust

It's been three days since Big Brown's shocking last-place finish at the 2008 Belmont Stakes and trainer Rick Dutrow is still blaming jockey Kent Desormeaux for the loss.

"I don't want to hurt anyone, especially Kent," Dutrow told The Associated Press on Tuesday morning in his barn at Aqueduct. "But I still don't understand what happened. I don't see the horse with a problem, so I have to direct my attention toward the ride. That's all I can come up with."

Big Brown was the big favorite going into last Saturday's race and by all accounts the horse was healthy and raring to go. With the Triple Crown on the line Dutrow had all the confidence in the world and even went so far as to guarantee a win. But after a good start coming out of the gates, Big Brown started to lose ground at around the 3/4 mark and with "no horse" to speak of, jockey Desormeaux felt he had no choice but to pull back on Big Brown. And the rest, as they say, is history.

The plan right now is to run Big Brown in the Travers Stakes on Aug. 23 at Saratoga and then the Breeders' Cup later in the fall.

Ah well. There's still plenty of great horse racing to bet on!