by Tom Law

IEAH Stable’s and Paul Pompa Jr.’s undefeated Big Brown went through what has become a typical exercise routine in wet weather with an easy jog around Pimlico Race Course on Friday morning as he continued to prepare for Saturday’s 133rd edition of the Preakness Stakes (G1).

With heavy overnight rains soaking the Baltimore area, trainer Rick Dutrow opted to have Big Brown jog once the wrong way around Pimlico with regular exercise rider Michelle Nevin aboard. The Boundary colt went to the track right after the mid-morning maintenance break and was very relaxed and composed throughout.

“He had fun this morning just jogging out there,” said Dutrow, who had been forced to gallop Big Brown several times in the days after his Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) victory while he trained the colt at Churchill Downs before shipping to Maryland. “He liked [the wet track] today, but I don’t know that he would like it tomorrow when he’s running.”

Big Brown, the winner of all four of his career starts and a dominating 4 3/4-length winner of the Derby, has not recorded a timed workout between the Derby and Preakness although Dutrow plans to send the colt on a short quarter-mile blowout on Saturday morning. Dutrow followed a similar plan heading into the Derby, breezing Big Brown three furlongs in :35.40 two days before the race.

“I feel it will help him along and I like doing it when the opportunity arises,” Dutrow said. “I don’t force the issue though on that. If I’ve got a horse that didn’t miss any training then I won’t do it.”

Big Brown will face 11 challengers in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness, which lost an entrant on Friday morning when trainer Todd Pletcher informed Maryland Jockey Club officials that Coolmore Lexington Stakes (G2) winner Behindatthebar would not run due to an injury in his left front foot.

The scratch of Behindatthebar moves Big Brown in one spot from post seven to six, with most of the expected early speed to his outside.

Dutrow said he sees the race being relatively void of any early speed and that if Big Brown breaks cleanly “it’s his race to lose.”

“He’s the best horse in the field and if he breaks with the field, he should win,” Dutrow said. “It’s all about the break for us. The break, in my opinion, is the only thing we have to worry about.”

One thing Dutrow is not worried about is whether he will have a wager on Big Brown. Always one to support his horses at the windows—as evidenced by a six-figure wager on Saint Liam in the 2005 Breeders’ Cup Classic Powered by Dodge (G1)—Dutrow plans to stick with the same betting strategy he used in the Derby.

“I’m never going to bet on Big Brown, but I tell everyone else to,” Dutrow said, adding that after the assembled media suggested Big Brown could be 1-to-2 at post time. “You should hope you get 1-to-2.”

Tom Law is managing editor of Thoroughbred Times