Mike Brunker Horse racing editor • Profile • E-mail

ELMONT, N.Y. - The sport of horse racing craves nothing so much as a Triple Crown winner, but Big Brown’s bid for the history books in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes is stirring some powerful conflicting emotions among the sport’s insiders and fans. While there is genuine enthusiasm for the big bay colt as he attempts to become the first horse in 30 years to sweep the three-race series, he also will be running against a strong headwind of disapproval and dismay.

The mixed reaction is in large part attributable to the colt’s somewhat unsavory human connections.

Trainer Rick Dutrow Jr., 48, has a checkered history of drug violations, both for his horses and himself. Among other things, he has been suspended by racing authorities for giving medications not permitted on race day to his horses and misreporting a workout for a stakes horse he shipped to Canada’s Woodbine racetrack. He also was booted for marijuana use.

He has been variously described in media accounts as “a drug-addled horseman who was ruled off New York racetracks,” “an eccentric superstar … disparaged as an example of the recent doping problem in the sport” and “a busted cheater.”

Dutrow also triggered a small uproar before the Preakness by acknowledging that he gives Big Brown a monthly dose of the steroid Winstrol — use of which is legal in many racing jurisdictions, though not in any other professional sport — even though he doesn’t know if it does the horse any good. That led some fans to suggest that Big Brown’s Triple Crown — if he completes it — should be marked with asterisk.

As Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas put it last week in an interview with the Associated Press, “If we were making a movie (about Big Brown), we may not cast Richard Dutrow.”

To his credit, Dutrow has been forthright in admitting his past problems, while simultaneously insisting he has cleaned up his act.

“I know there are some people out there that think the wrong way of me and that is fine,” he said last week during a conference call with reporters. “…. I got enough people who like me out there too, you know.”

Michael Iavarone, majority owner of the undefeated colt through his company International Equine Acquisitions Holdings, also has felt some heat in the past week.

Bloomberg news service reported on May 28 that the 37-year-old businessman who purchased a 75 percent stake in Big Brown for $2.5 million after his first race, was linked to some shady dealings during the seven years he spent working as a stockbroker on Wall Street. Among other things, it said, he was fined, censured and suspended for making trades that were not authorized by customers. The Web site promoting his new venture — a hedge fund investing in thoroughbred racehorses — makes no mention of his trouble with securities regulators, it noted.

Writing about both Dutrow and Iavarone’s tarnished reputations, the Washington Post’s Andrew Beyer opined that if their horse wins on Saturday, “The only admirable figure in the Belmont winner's circle will be Big Brown.”

While Dutrow has patiently endured such slams, Iavarone showed this week that he is growing tired of them. "This is about Big Brown, not what I did 15 years ago," he said in response to one such question. "This is just sad."

While the media has been focused on Big Brown’s human connections, many serious racing fans have had their attention on data suggesting that Big Brown apparently has been beating up on inferior competition. As they see it, his admission to the exclusive Triple Crown club would cheapen what has been the most coveted and elusive achievement in the sport.