Big Brown heading for Triple Crown after winning the Preakness Stakes
Big Brown is on course to become the first horse in 30 years to win the US Triple Crown of horse racing after winning the Preakness Stakes last Saturday (17 May).
The Rick Dutrow-trained three-year-old won the first leg of the Triple Crown — the Kentucky Derby — on 3 May, a win that was overshadowed by the death of filly Eight Belles.
After winning the 133rd Preakness Stakes in Maryland on Saturday, Big Brown now heads to the third and final leg of the prestigious Triple Crown — the Belmont Stakes held in New York on 7 June.
Ridden by Kent Desormeaux, Big Brown finished five lengths ahead of Macho Again, with Icabad Crane coming home in third place.
Connections are hoping that Big Brown, by Boundary, will become only the 12th winner of the US Triple Crown.
The last horse to win the Triple Crown was Affirmed in 1978. And six horses have been in the same position as Big Brown now is in the last 11 years, the most recent being Smarty in 2004, — but all have failed the final challenge of winning the mile and a half Belmont Stakes.
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A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.