Distance wasn't their problem

Here we were, ready to compare Big Brown to Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed, but the '70s Belmont favorite to whom Big Brown is most analogous might turn out to be Canonero II.

Canonero, whose handlers were Venezuelan, won the 1971 Kentucky Derby and Preakness and was a hero to New York's Latino community by the time he arrived for the Belmont. But he developed health problems before the race.

As SI's Whitney Tower wrote after the Belmont: "Despite all attempts to play down Canonero's various ailments, insiders knew that the colt was not ready for the test ahead. A week before the race he had a skin rash, an athlete's-foot-type infection and 'burned' heels. He missed two vital days of exercise and gained 50 unwelcome pounds."

Only after Canonero finished fourth behind Belmont winner Pass Catcher did trainer Juan Arias admit the colt was (as Tower wrote) "only 75 percent of himself going to the gate, and that there had been reason to take him out of the race. 'If I had to do it again I probably would not run him," (Arias) said, "but we felt we owed him the chance to consecrate himself in racing history. I still feel he is a good horse and that I trained him well. My horse ran in glory.' "

I'm writing this a couple of hours after Big Brown's last-place finish. There has been nothing said to indicate that his quarter crack -- or any other pre-existing condition -- bothered him. Maybe he suffered the pulmonary bleeding that's a not-uncommon cause of racehorses' bad days, or he was spooked by the traffic in the first turn, or he hated the hot weather, or he just wore down in his third contest in five weeks.

But if it turns out Dutrow and Co. suspected Big Brown was far less than 100 percent going in, then the fans who bet the favorite down to 1-4 odds would be justified in thinking, BIG BROWN SHOULD NOT HAVE RUN.

A couple of footnotes, pardon the expression:

- Canonero recovered from his ailments and, although he never won another major race, he did win the following year's Stymie Handicap at Belmont Park over 1972 Kentucky Derby winner Riva Ridge.

- Pass Catcher, the 1971 Belmont winner, was ridden by Walter Blum. One of the Big Brown barn's assistant trainers is Walter Blum Jr.

- Those were the days, when racing was big enough news, and Sports Illustrated was in the habit of serious enough journalism, that the subtle questions surrounding a losing horse's handling made an SI cover.