The owner of Big Brown is International Equine Acquisitions Holdings Inc., a portentously named facade for a consortium of guys who like to play big shot by buying pieces of thoroughbreds as if they are investing in hedge funds. The front man for the "company" is co-president Michael Iavarone, who in 1999 was fined and suspended by the National Association of Securities Dealers for making unauthorized trades. In 2003, Iavarone welshed on payments for horses he bought at auction. And in 2005, the trainer he employed, Greg Martin, had his license yanked for illegally doping a horse.

IEAH next turned its horses over to Richard Dutrow Jr., a graceless loudmouth and chronic doper. Dutrow has been fined or suspended for doping offenses in each of the last eight years, including two more offenses in January. In a sport with liberal doping policies -- steroids and painkillers can be legally administered -- Dutrow still manages to cross the line egregiously. He treated Big Brown with the steroid Winstrol on a monthly basis until May, when he decided the horse no longer needed it. It was hard to root for such a braying egotist, who announced his horse was a lock to win the Crown. "Stay out of his way," he said. "I just don't see no dogfight in this race."

But it was easy to root for jockey Desormeaux, who was out to redeem the most painful loss of his career. In 1998, Desormeaux and Real Quiet came into the Belmont pursuing a Triple Crown and took a four-length lead with a burst of speed, only to be caught at the wire by Victory Gallop and lose in an agonizingly close photo finish. The loss has eaten at him for years.

But on Saturday, Desormeaux had no doubts or second thoughts. He came into the press room, his thatch of thick dark hair still damp and combed to the side, and answered every question as cheerfully as a victor. "This will never eat me up," he said. "I'm quite proud."

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Desormeaux was as mystified as anyone as to what happened to his powerhouse of a horse. All spring, Big Brown was so strong he seemed to flex in his stall and in the paddock, muscles rippling like a bodybuilder. Afterward, Dutrow also was baffled. "The horse kind of looks like he is fine to me," he said. Nor could the on-call veterinarian, Larry Bramlage, detect any outward signs of trouble. But Bramlage also suggested that sometimes horses regulate themselves; they are intelligent enough to know when they shouldn't run. "He's a smart horse," Bramlage said. "Might have decided it wasn't his day, and he wasn't going to try."

To Desormeaux, it was just another lesson in just how elusive the Triple Crown is. "This obviously would have been a life-changing experience," he said. But if there was no great triumph, there was no great catastrophe, either, and that was a victory in itself. "You know, life throws curves," Desormeaux said. "Some of us hit it, some of us sulk around."

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