Big Brown is Three Year Old of the Year; Nicanor Carries the Expectations of the Friends of Barbaro

Big Brown has won the 2008 Eclipse Award for Three Year Old of the Year. No brainer, he won the Florida Derby, two out of three Triple Crown races, the Haskell Invitational and the Monmouth Stakes. The rest of the TC class of 2008 did very little. Which is why the honor feels a little bit ho hum.

I'll never forget the cluster of supposed contenders behind Big Brown and Eight Belles as the Derby field rounded Churchill's far turn - barely a one lifted a leg, and the few that mustered a pulse lacked the speed to make the effort pay off. Same story - minus the tragic Eight Belles - in the Preakness two weeks later. Three weeks after that, with Big Brown eased before reaching the stretch, the class of 2008 really showed their stuff as the Belmont Stakes was won by the front-running but slow moving Da Tara and only Dennis of Cork managed a mild rally behind him.

I'll also never forget riding the Long Island Railroad to Belmont Park, seated in front of a man and his young son, the man explaining to the child that they were there to see history and so was everyone else. His tone struck me as self-conscious, missing the emotional investment palpable among those who witnessed Smarty Jones's failed attempt at the TC in 2004. Belmont Stakes 2008 was like an event people had circled in the New York Times and put on their calendars - a duty to self and family, like Symphony in the Park or a one time only rare exhibit at the Museum of Natural history. Unlike with Smarty Jones, it was nothing personal.

I, in company with some lively new aquaintances, watched the race from under the clubhouse eves, in good view of Big Brown's butt as he broke spastically and flung his head around. As Kent Desormeaux heaved him outside and in, we saw Big Brown's rear legs churning, and wrote him off before the first turn. This was a choke performance by Desormeaux. If your horse belongs with the greats, show a little trust.

After that ignominious day, Big Brown rallied to win twice more later in the summer, earning a lot of respect for himself and his occasionally smarmy connections. Backhanded as my kudos may be, nobody else deserved the Eclipse award for three year old of last year. Nobody remotely contended. Big Brown was valedictorian of a class of slackers.

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Ron Anderson needs a special Eclipse Award for Best Jockey Agent. There are many top flight big talent jockeys but one obviously needs Ron Anderson in order to show up everywhere, every time on the hottest horses, and pile up record or near-record yearly earnings. Anderson did it with the now-retired Jerry Bailey, and Garrett Gomez's performance today comes close to mirroring Bailey's early 2000's career. Congratulations to Gomez for his latest Eclipse award, but he needs to cleave that thing in two and hand half of it off to Anderson. Most impressively, according to the Washington Post, the key to Anderson's success as an agent is his good manners.

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Nicanor, Barbaro's three year old full brother, makes his racing debut this Saturday, in a maiden special weight at Gulfstream, sandwiched between the Holy Bull (won by Barbaro three years ago) and the Donn Handicap. Edgar Prado will be aboard. No pressure Nicanor!!