Big Brown is the class of the Preakness field

By Steve Ginsburg

BALTIMORE (Reuters) - The only question surrounding Saturday's Preakness Stakes appears to be the margin of victory for unbeaten and untested Kentucky Derby champion Big Brown.

With four victories in four starts by a combined 34 lengths, the strapping bay son of Boundary looks to be heading for a Preakness triumph and then a shot at racing's elusive Triple Crown.

"It looks like it's Big Brown's party," Yankee Bravo trainer Paddy Gallagher said of the $1 million Preakness at the Pimlico Race Course. "We're just glad to be a part of it."

Big Brown rolled to an easy 4-3/4-length victory at the Derby two weeks ago and, out of respect or just common sense, almost all of his rivals have decided to skip the Preakness.

Only Arkansas Derby winner Gayego, who finished 17th in the 20-horse race at Churchill Downs, decided to make the trip to Baltimore for the middle jewel of U.S. racing's Triple Crown.

Trainer Richard Dutrow, Jr. appeared as confident of his colt as the Pimlico morning-line oddsmaker, who made Big Brown a prohibitive 1-2 favorite for the 133rd Preakness.

"Since he's come out of the Derby, up to this minute, I'm very, very happy with the horse," Dutrow told reporters on Thursday. "He's just done everything that you would want a horse to do coming out of a race like that.

"He hasn't missed an oat. He's aggressive with his gallops. It's all good."

If Big Brown can win the Derby, Preakness and the June 7 Belmont Stakes in New York he would become the first horse since Affirmed in 1978 to claim the coveted Triple Crown.

'GOOD RACE'

Should Big Brown and jockey Kent Desormeaux stumble in the Preakness, those ready to take advantage include Gayego, who had a horrendous trip in the Derby, Lexington Stakes champion Behindatthebar, or Kentucky Bear, who finished third at the Blue Grass Stakes.

But Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito, who is saddling 30-1 choice Stevil, concedes the mile-and-three-sixteenths affair is the favorite's to lose.

"The story here is without question Big Brown," said Zito, who trained 1996 Preakness winner Louis Quatorze. "I just hope we run a good race and get close and then try to beat him in the next town.

"But to say anybody on paper is going to beat Big Brown is going to be a hard stretch.

"However, they don't run on paper. They run on dirt. We have to run the race."