Big Brown 1-2 favorite for Preakness

BALTIMORE — If there's one thing Big Brown has proven, it's that it's not how you start a horse race, but how you finish. So when the buildup to the 133rd Preakness began in earnest Wednesday afternoon with a bump in the road, nobody seemed to fret.

Weather delays getting out of Kentucky meant that the Kentucky Derby champion was taking off at about 5:30 p.m., when he was supposed to land in Baltimore. At least that allowed his traveling companion and trainer, Rick Dutrow, to have a live pipeline to principal owner Michael Iavarone, who informed Dutrow via cellphone that his horse had drawn Post Position 7.

"They literally took off within two minutes of when they drew his name," Iavarone said. "He was elated with the draw."

Dutrow was airborne by the time Big Brown was installed as a 1-2 favorite in the field of 13. Gayego (8-1), the 17th-place finisher two weeks ago, was the second choice.

It's probably little consolation to the rest of the 3-year-olds, but chances are they won't have Big Brown to kick them around much longer. Although Big Brown is lightly raced, with a career 4-for-4 record, Iavarone indicated that an announcement on the sale of his breeding rights will be made today.

That tidbit came in response to a reporter's question over the chances Big Brown might race as a 4-year-old.

"None," Iavarone said. "It's the truth. That'll be announced tomorrow, by the way. I can't let you in on any more."

Should Big Brown fail to win the second leg of the Triple Crown, Iavarone said it's "unlikely" the horse would run in the Belmont Stakes on June 7.

"Unlikely" also describes how likely it is that an upset will occur Saturday.

What initially appeared to be a short Preakness field has swelled to a dozen rivals, half of whom were tagged with 30-1 opening odds.

Why are they even trying? "Second money, probably," said chuckling trainer Kenny McPeek, whose Racecar Rhapsody is among the 30-somethings.

Another is Icabad Crane, whose trainer, Graham Motion, is equally blunt. "We could all be in trouble if he runs the same race he ran in the Derby," Motion said.

Big Brown's connections aren't banking on that. The Derby required an honest effort from Big Brown, who became only the second horse to win after breaking from the 20th post. When the scenario was posed to Iavarone that Big Brown could regress with only two weeks' rest (but still win), Iavarone said, "I would think he has to. ... I assume he's going to have some sort of bounce out of that race."

Wednesday's travel issues shouldn't be a factor, Iavarone said, because Dutrow was informed of the delay before leaving Churchill Downs, allowing the horse to relax in his stall until the weather cleared.

The Preakness will be new territory to Big Brown in that he's breaking from the middle of the pack. In both the Kentucky Derby and Florida Derby, he drew the far outside post, which sent handicappers into a frenzy even though Dutrow laughed it off.

"He gets to save ground for the first time," Iavarone said. "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. We'll find out."

Rival rainer Reade Baker fired a warning shot of sorts via nationwide TV.

"He's beatable," said Baker, trainer of 15-1 shot Kentucky Bear. "He beat all those horses at Churchill, but he didn't beat us."

Kentucky Bear's only career win in three races was a maiden outing at Gulfstream Park. He was third in the Blue Grass Stakes.

The Big Brown camp, though, wasn't about to let Baker have the last word.

"I guess I should be afraid of Reade Baker's horse," Iavarone said, smiling. "That's what he's telling everybody, right?"

A rival's boast may not even be the strangest thing Iavarone has encountered in the past 11/2 weeks.

"The strangest thing I've ever seen," he said. "I got e-mail from a girl who said she played doctor with me in my garage when I was 6 years old. I've gotten some very strange calls. Psychics, shoe people, foot specialists."

The shoe folks were responding to Big Brown's long-solved foot issues. But the psychics perhaps could come in handy when stepping up to the mutuel windows.

"They said we were going to run second," Iavarone said. "I said, 'Give me the winner, then.' "

Hal Habib writes for The Palm Beach Post.