The stretch run at Pimlico probably assured triple play

Kent Desormeaux might have won the Triple Crown in an unlikely place, the final sixteenth of a mile at Pimlico.

That's where the jockey, with a firm hold of the reins, took Big Brown in hand and downshifted. Saturday's Preakness was already won and the vanquished competition, if it can be called that, already retreating. And so Desormeaux saved a little something for the Belmont Stakes, the finale to sport's most famous triptych.

Since 1978, when Affirmed became the 11th Triple Crown winner, 17 horses have won two-thirds of the series. And 10 of those went to New York with a chance to become the 12th Triple Crown winner, but they all failed.

And some had been as dominant as Big Brown, who won Saturday by 5 1/4 lengths. Smarty Jones won the Preakness by 11 1/2 lengths, but Birdstone finally caught up with him at Belmont Park. Funny Cide won the Preakness by nearly 10 lengths, but he couldn't resist Empire Maker in New York.

With fresh horses joining the fray at every turn, at three distinctly different racetracks, with only two and then three weeks between races, sweeping the Triple Crown series might be one of the most difficult challenges in sports.

Few horses have even hit the Preakness-Belmont double. Since Affirmed, only five horses have won both the Preakness and the Belmont (Risen Star, Hansel, Tabasco Cat, Point Given and Afleet Alex).

But Big Brown has two advantages the others didn't, two things going for him that could make him the most likely horse to win the Triple Crown since Spectacular Bid in 1979: (1) A lack of competition and (2) that final sixteenth of a mile at Pimlico.

Big Brown now has won his five races by a total of 39 lengths. Nobody in the 3-year-old division is even close to him. And his victory Saturday at Pimlico was even more impressive than his win two weeks ago at Churchill Downs in the Kentucky Derby. At Pimlico, he answered every question.

He rated behind Gayego, the early leader. On the backstretch, when Riley Tucker advanced to his outside, Desormeaux momentarily had to check his progress to avoid being trapped in a box. He moved the big colt to the outside, and the race was over. Nothing to it.

Among his rivals, there doesn't seem to be a Birdstone or an Empire Maker. And for certain, in Big Brown's future there's no Easy Goer, who derailed Sunday Silence's Triple Crown bid in 1989.

In the Belmont, he could meet Denis of Cork and Tale of Ekati, who both finished far back in the Kentucky Derby. But the biggest threat to a Big Brown sweep could be Casino Drive, who has raced only twice, winning the Peter Pan Stakes in his American debut.

And that, along with a few very long shots to round out the field, could be it. No horse such as Coastal, Lemon Drop Kid, Victory Gallop or Touch Gold will challenge Big Brown at Belmont.

But that final sixteenth of a mile at Pimlico could be the very thing that enables Big Brown to extend his talent to the 1 1/2 miles of the Belmont. Last year, Curlin got up in the final strides, fully extended, to beat Street Sense in the Preakness, completing the 1 3/16 miles in 1:53.46. Three weeks later, Curlin couldn't quite get by Rags to Riches, Casino Drive's big sister, in the Belmont.

But Big Brown wasn't fully extended. He won the Preakness in 1:54.80 without ever feeling the whip. Nobody threatened him in the stretch; nobody could run with him. Desormeaux called on Big Brown at the top of the Pimlico stretch, the big horse sprinted clear in a blink, and then the jockey took his hold, depositing the balance of Big Brown's energy in the bank, to be withdrawn on June 7 at Belmont Park.

In 1979, on the morning of the Belmont, Spectacular Bid stepped on a pin, according to his trainer, Bud Delp, and that presumably compromised the gray colt's performance when he lost to Coastal. Barring a similar fluke, a pin or a lightning bolt, Big Brown is the most likely Triple Crown winner the sport has seen in many years.