Superstar emerges from Kentucky Derby amid tragedy

The tragedy was the death of filly Eight Belles on a major stage. It was a freak accident, and longtime horse racing observers, including veterinarian Larry Bramlage, said they had never seen anything quite like it, a horse suffering two broken ankles at once.

Trainer Larry Jones wasn't blaming the track or anything else for his horse collapsing after galloping out for nearly a quarter of a mile after crossing the finish line.

Eight Belles' death comes on the heels of the well-chronicled Barbaro tragedy of 2006 and European star George Washington being euthanized on the track in front of the grandstands at October's Breeders' Cup.

The superstar is Derby winner Big Brown, who appears to have a good chance of becoming horse racing's first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. Next up is the Preakness at Pimlico in Baltimore on May 17 and then the Belmont in New York on June 7.

Big Brown was bought for $190,000 by Paul Pompa Jr. at Keeneland's April sale last year. Pompa gave him the name because, as a trucking executive, he does business with United Parcel Service. The company refers to itself as Brown because of the color of its trucks.

Big Brown won his first race by 11 1/4 lengths and then scored a 12 3/4 -length victory in an allowance race.

The son of Boundary gained national attention in his third race with a five-length victory in the Florida Derby, and then came the 4 3/4 -length victory in Saturday's Kentucky Derby.

Big Brown became the first horse to win the Derby with only three starts since Regret in 1915.

Pompa sold a majority interest in the colt after his first race in September 2007 to a group that operates under the name IEAH Stables. It is headed by Mike Iavarone and Richard J. Schiavo, who live in the New York area.

They brought in Dick Dutrow Jr. to train the horse and Kent Desormeaux to ride him.

Before the Derby, Dutrow was so confident about his horse's chances, he was saying he couldn't be beat and the race would be a mismatch.

Turns out he was right.

But he is taking a more cautious approach going into the Preakness.

"Now things start to change," Dutrow said. "Maybe there's going to be some hotshot speed horse in there. Maybe it will rain and it will be sloppy and some other horse will really like it.