Big Brown's trainer bullish on chances for Triple Crown

Oozing confidence, Dutrow calls it an 'even money' bet

Rick Dutrow is a betting man.

As the trainer of Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown, he is also a blessed man. Still, he continued to insist Thursday that he has yet to wager a dime on the unbeaten 3-year-old dream deliverer.

''Not this time,'' Dutrow said. ''I haven't yet, and I'm not going to start now.''

The next now for Big Brown will come in the $1 million Preakness Stakes on May 17 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. It's the second leg of thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown and begged the question: What odds would Dutrow take on his star colt becoming the first sophomore since Affirmed (1978) to sweep the hallowed series?

''Even money,'' the 47-year-old Maryland native said. ''He came out of the Derby great, and I like our chances in the Preakness. It's the best he's come out of a race in the three races that we've had him.''

Big Brown's Derby added to the formidably unorthodox foundation of racing's newest headliner. Breaking from Post 20, he delivered a 4?253-222?-length victory as the 2-1 favorite. He became the first horse to win from that post since 1929 and the first to win with only three previous career starts since the filly Regret in 1915.

While he is likely to go up as the morning-line favorite in the Preakness at no higher than 6-5, Big Brown faces a significant historical hurdle if he carries his streak to the Belmont Stakes on June 7: All 11 Triple Crown winners -- from Sir Barton (1919) to Affirmed -- raced at least once as a 2-year-old at Belmont. Big Brown never did.

''I didn't know that, but I'm not thinking about it,'' Dutrow said. ''This is a different set of 3-year-olds, and it doesn't matter what happened 30 or 40 or 80 years ago. He has to line up with these horses, and he has these horses to beat. That's all he has to deal with.''

In the Preakness, Big Brown probably will have to deal with eight to 11 challengers. He has scared off almost all 18 surviving foes from Churchill Downs; only fifth-place finisher Recapturetheglory -- under Rolling Meadows native E.T. Baird -- is scheduled to be saddled again at Pimlico.

Baird prompted the pace throughout in Louisville and was as close as second midway through the final turn. His rookie Derby ride was made all the more noteworthy because he was thrown from the fractious Recapturetheglory as the post parade was traveling through the paddock tunnel en route to the main strip.

''[Recapturetheglory] had a terrible incident going into the tunnel,'' trainer Louis Roussel III said. ''He was unnerved by the crowd. It was horrible. He left his race in the paddock. I don't know how many lengths he lost there. Then coming out the tunnel, after he threw the jockey off, it was amazing [Baird] got back on the horse. I kept looking around expecting [the colt] to get scratched.''

On Thursday, the Maryland Jockey Club listed Recapturetheglory as one of eight ''confirmed'' opponents for Big Brown in the Preakness. The new shooters (with trainer) are Behindthebar (Todd Pletcher), Giant Moon (Richard Schosberg), Kentucky Bear (Reade Baker), Racecar Rhapsody (Ken McPeek), Stevil (Nick Zito), Tres Borrachos (Beau Greely) and Yankee Bravo (Paddy Gallagher).

Three ''possibles,'' according to the MJC, are Harlem Rocker (Pletcher), Macho Again (Dallas Stewart) and Riley Tucker (Bill Mott). The 133rd running of the 1>-mile classic is limited to 14 starters.