Here are a few of the best:

“I’m old enough to have seen Secretariat in person, more than once, and forgive me for being biased but Big Brown is no Secretariat,” wrote Linda Riba of Montrose, Colo. “I had the chance to run my hand down Secretariat’s front legs and get a close up view of his feet – no splints or cracks in the big red horse’s legs or hooves. As big as he was even as a two-year-old and as hard as he pounded the track, he was a classic candidate for splints and other stress fracture type injuries but he had none! Secretariat was, in my humble opinion, the epitome of what a Thoroughbred should be: athletic, fast over distance, perfect conformation, wonderful temperament, beautiful, and SOUND! “

Frank Jonason of Perth Amboy, N.J., was among many readers to remind us that Big Brown might be another Bellamy Road, who sizzled in the Wood Memorial but flopped in Louisville. : “After a little research I found out that both horses are from the Danzig sire line. I won’t be foolish enough in 2008 to put down my hard earned cash on a horse who has a history of foot problems , who comes from a sire line with a history of leg problems , at short odds. I will be much happier throwing a few bucks on a longshot such a Giacomo and take my chances.”

Charlene Shaw, who gets bonus points for writing that she was a Colonel John fan before Saturday’s Santa Anita Derby, went deeper into the annals of prep phenoms: “Here’s an axiom to remember as you extol the virtues of Big Brown: ‘Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.’ Here’s some of the ‘past’ you are forgetting: Arazi, Unbridled’s Song and – most recently – Bellamy Road. We’ve been down this souped-up Derby prep highway before.”

But Tom Cicatello of Buffalo, N.Y., takes another lesson from Big Brown’s bloodlines: “What a story! So is it a Bellamy Road or a Seattle Slew? Was it a freak race or freak racehorse? He has Norther Dancer on both sides so I am betting on a new heavy weight champ. Look out "Big Red" here come Big Brown.”

Cindy Thomas, of Hodgenville, Ky., gets the Hoofbeat drum roll of the week for dressing down a writer who would even dare suggest Big Brown is in the Big Red League: “Second coming of Secretariat? Whoa down, not so fast... I'll concede that Big Brown is more than a "good horse" who ran out of his mind, in fact I told everyone as he was blasting down the stretch that they were looking at the next Kentucky Derby winner, a true Kentucky HOT Brown. And I would love to see him win the Triple Crown; the sport, the fans, I need it. But to compare him to the greatest race horse that ever stepped foot on the track, the horse that was built by God himself, sorry, not in your or my lifetime will I co-sign that statement.”

Let’s keep the momentum going next week. Click here to e-mail me and let me know where the Kentucky Derby winner will be found. I’ll run a smattering of the best responses and, I hope, give at least one handicapper bragging rights come May 3.

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