No Excuse Yet for Big Brown Trainer Rick Dutrow was at a loss to explain the eclipse of Big Brown in the Belmont Stakes. The Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes hero was on the verge of becoming the first American Triple Crown winner for 30 years but was eased dramatically by jockey Kent Desormeaux rounding the home turn. He moved past the stands in a walk and finished a sad last in the demanding mile-and-a-half contest. "The horse is not injured. We will scope the horse," said Dutrow, who had been ultra-confident beforehand. "I was looking for a problem, and so far, I don´t see a problem. "I am looking for something to be wrong, and I don´t see it. "When they turned for home, I knew something wasn´t right. ""If we feel he is 100%, we will get him back in training and move on. This is a very disappointing race, and right now, it looks like he will have a good life even if he never races again. "When Kent starting pulling him up, I thought something was wrong. He´s in good shape and we´re very proud of him. "Something has got to be wrong when he puts in a race like this. I just don´t know what happened." Big Brown was attempting to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978 and 12th overall. Instead, he became the 11th horse since Affirmed reached racing immortality to win the first two jewels only to fall short in the Belmont. The race went to Da´Tara, trained by Nick Zito. Zito said: "The champ, Big Brown, didn´t run his race. He wasn´t himself. Da´Tara was himself." It marked the second time Zito had dashed the dreams of a Triple Crown hopeful. He also saddled Birdstone, who edged Smarty Jones in 2004.
