Gordon bumping Jr.
Guadalcanal bumping Big Brown
These things happen.
Posted on 06/24/2008 5:50:55 PM PDT by gate2wire
Each day brings new entries in the "Brown Shoe Diaries." The latest photos from the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) reveal Big Brown was stepped on by Guadalcanal leaving the gate, and that the shoe did not re-set itself during the race as previously thought; the colt ran the entire way with the shoe dislodged and the nail protruding from it.
Even trainer Rick Dutrow, who had a hard time accepting the possibility that the incident hampered the colt, now believes after seeing the photos that it could have been an issue.
In a photo (shown below) that originally appeared as part of the Belmont race sequence in The Blood-Horse issue dated June 14, you can clearly see Guadalcanal stepping on the back of Big Brown’s right hind foot as the colt was bearing out into him. A slow motion look at the video of the start shows Big Brown’s head jerk sharply to the left just as he is struck from behind.
Another photo (above left), taken by free-lance photographer Bob Mayberger, shows Big Brown turning into the stretch while being eased by jockey Kent Desormeaux. The shoe is still dislodged just as it was in the original photo taken shortly after the break. So, the colt ran the entire race with a dislodged shoe (that had a bend or turn-down) and the nail still in it.
Hoof specialist Ian McKinlay at first thought the shoe had re-set itself upon impact with the ground during the race, because it was securely attached to the colt’s foot, although slightly spread, when it was removed by blacksmith Alex Leaf after the race. Knowing now that the shoe had not re-set during the race, McKinlay has a different take on it.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bloodhorse.com ...
Thank you for posting this. I was wondering what happened and I haven’t seen any of the previous postings.
Only one of my apologies was sincere...you decide. :-)
You are very welcome. The link in post 2 has a few more pics.
wow, what clear photos!
Yes, I think it pretty much explains the whole thing. I commend the jockey for making the hard decision to hold Big Brown back. He has suffered a lot of abuse and kept the faith.
Pretty interesting ,huh. Very common occurrence, but doubt it’s been caught on film like this too often.
Desormeaux has taken a beating over this.
He really has and I am glad that he has been vindicated. The article has some very telling pictures. They’re quite clear and the analogy about losing a heel of a pair of high heels is appropo.
I am happy over this and if I were rich, I would pay money to get one of Big Brown’s babies. His price just went back up again.
The photos are clear the shoe was a serious problem. I am amazed at the clarity of the photos.
“I would pay money to get one of Big Brown’s babies.”
My problem with Big Brown is his propensity for quarter cracks. This is the kind of thing that gets passed down through generations. No questioning his talent, but to me(no great expert), this seems to be a significant problem.
After looking at those pictures I am surprised BB ran as well as he did. Thanks for posting. I was waiting to see the pics.
“I am amazed at the clarity of the photos.”
I’ll bet everyone at Belmont who had a camera is blowing up their photos as we speak.
You’re welcome.
Guadalcanal bumping Big Brown
These things happen.
Would Jr. have whined about it? :-)
Nope! :-) Bump-n-grind!
Besides, Big Brown got over into Guadalcanal, actually...right?
“Because this is about the 5th time it has been posted...”
Really? I’ve never seen it posted before once on FR, let alone 5x. I find it interesting. Why did you even bother to read the thread?
In my opinion, yes he did.
No, not at all. We are good. Keep moving.
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