posted June 2, 2008 at 14:43 EST in Triple Crown Betting Trends

The only thing that we can say about any athlete ever in sports betting is how that athlete compares against his or her competition in the generation that he or she lives. For instance, there’s no way that we could ever say that Muhammed Ali would, without any doubt, have beaten a young Mike Tyson should the two have met at the prime of their careers.

The same goes with a young Chris Evert versus Venus Williams or a prime in her career Martina Navratilova versus Christina Hingis. That’s the nature of sports. Nobody can say without any doubt that Johnny Unitas was a better quarterback then Joe Montana. Nor can anyone say without any doubt that Kobe Bryant is a basketball player then Julius Erving.

Style is one thing, but performance is another. Performance is measurable in wins, losses, records and championships; especially in off track betting and Triple Crown wagering.

Such is the case with Big Brown. Big Brown is the only horse capable of winning the Triple Crown this year because he is the only horse that has won both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

But the question remains as to why it is Big Brown who has suddenly become the greatest horse in the world? If we forget about the human element for a moment, and concentrate on the horse, we suddenly realize that Big Brown’s greatness might be wrapped up in his overall pedigree.

Big Brown is out of the Danzig stallion Boundary. Although Boundary is known mainly for throwing sprinters, Danzig is one of the greatest American sires that the country has ever produced. Among Danzig’s best known offspring are Danzig Connection, who won the 1983 Belmont Stakes, Chief’s Crown who sired Chief Bearheart who won the Breeders’ Cup Turf two years in a row, and Danehill who has thrown over twenty-four Grade I winners.

With a pedigree like that from his father, it’s no wonder that Big Brown is as good as he is. But the brilliance in Big Brown’s pedigree doesn’t stop with Boundary and Danzig. Big Brown’s grandfather on his mother’s side is the phenomenal Nureyev. Nureyev has produced some of the most influential horses in the history of the sport. Among them are Gentleman, Royal Anthem, Spinning World, Theatrical and Miesque.

This explains Big Brown’s brilliant debut race on turf. Even though a two turn turf race usually isn’t where a horse will make his or her debut, Patrick Reynolds, Big Brown’s trainer at the time, thought it best to go ahead and put Big Brown into a turf allowance race. He responded the way a grandson of Danzig and Nureyev should have, romping by 11 ½ lengths.

The big question is why did Big Brown’s turf pedigree translate to his exceptional dirt races? The answer is not an easy one and probably has to do both with the fact that Big Brown is a quality animal in his own right as well as a fantastically bred machine.

But the overall theory sticks. He’s gotten the best of both his grandfathers through his father, Boundary, and his mother, Mien. That, more than anything, can help explain why Big Brown is on the cusp of making history in the Belmont Stakes.

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