Big Brown Triple Crown dreams wilt away

By Steve Ginsburg

ELMONT, New York (Reuters) - Big Brown's Triple Crown dreams wilted in the searing heat when 38-1 longshot Da' Tara won the Belmont Stakes in a wire-to-wire shocker Saturday.

Bidding to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, Big Brown sat in third for most of the race but had nothing down the stretch and finished last.

"I was keeping an eye on the horse in front and I thought, 'Okay, let's engage and let's at least keep him honest,'" Big Brown's jockey Kent Desormeaux told reporters.

"And I was done. I had no horse.

"It was hot as hell out there. There were no popped tires. He was just out of gas."

Da' Tara, who lost to Big Brown by 23 lengths in the Florida Derby, won for just the second time in eight career starts and was the longest shot in the nine-horse field.

Ridden by Alan Garcia and trained by Nick Zito, the dark bay won by 5 1/4 lengths over runner-up Denis of Cork. Anak Nakal and Ready's Echo finished in a dead heat for third.

"I salute Big Brown," said Zito, who also trains Anak Nakal. "He's still a champion and he wasn't himself today. We took advantage of it."

When Desormeaux realized Big Brown had nothing left, he pulled him up in mid-stretch and let him stroll awkwardly across the finish line.

CROWD FEARS

Many in the crowd of 94,000 at Belmont Park feared Big Brown had suffered some sort of breakdown but the prohibitive 1-4 favorite appeared healthy in a post-race examination.

"It was a very disappointing race but the horse looks like he's fine," said trainer Richard Dutrow, Jr. "He didn't get the Triple Crown but he got the Derby and the Preakness and that was great.

"Right now, we're trying to figure out what happened. Something's not right for him to be pulled up in a race so I have to try to find out what it is."

The winning time of 2:29.65 for the mile-and-a-half was well off the Belmont Stakes' record of 2:24 set by Triple Crown winner Secretariat in 1973.

Temperatures were in the low 90sF most of the day at Belmont Park and although it had cooled somewhat by post time, it was still hazy, hot and humid.