Jeff Zelevansky / AP

Big Brown's owner Michael Iavarone, left, and trainer Rick Dutrow chat in the paddock area at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., Monday.

The data does suggest that Big Brown’s fellow 3-year-olds are not world-beaters at this early stage of their careers. Of Big Brown’s opponents in the Belmont, for instance, only one other horse — Casino Drive — has ever earned a triple digit Beyer speed figure, which is often used as a benchmark for contenders in Triple Crown races. Big Brown, on the other hand, has recorded triple digit figures in four of his five career races.

Dutrow finds such criticism baffling, saying it makes no sense to diss Big Brown just because he’s that much better than his competitors.

“These horses just cannot run with Big Brown,” he said. “It’s not Big Brown’s fault and it’s not their fault.”

But for some fans, the combination of unlovable connections and suspect competition is too much to swallow.  Even some of those who have publicly yearned for the exposure that a Triple Crown would bring to racing say they can’t get behind Big Brown.

And the disenchanted aren’t mere casual followers of racing. They are hard-core fans who pack their fannies into ice-cold seats at Aqueduct  to take in a midwinter weekday card, who plan vacations around the Saratoga and Del Mar meets and drive hundreds of miles to see the slowest horses compete at county fairs. The same ones who can tick off from memory the roster of the 11 thoroughbreds  that have captured the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes over a five-week period.

Take Terry Bjork for instance. An ardent racing fan from Illinois who spends much of his free time traveling to racetracks around the country and then chronicling his visits online, he wrote in a recent post titled “Triple Yawn” on the online racing forum the Derby list stating that he is completely indifferent to Big Brown’s bid:

“I find absolutely nothing to cheer for in this current quest,” he said. “Even the horse's name is stupid. There it is. Nothing to hang my hopes and dreams on. Just yawn.”

For Dutrow, this is the one barb that hits the mark. His misdeeds and the shortcomings of the competition should not, he says, be held against the most remarkable horse he as ever trained.

“If anyone out there that is not rooting for Big Brown, if they were to meet the horse, I'm sure they would."

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