The Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, the prohibitive favorite, looked to be struggling heading into the final turn before he made his late run at Coal Play. Coal Play took the early lead from Big Brown at the start and set the fractions until the final yards.
Big Brown, trained by Rick Dutrow Jr., beat six rivals and went off as the 1-5 favorite. Winning time for the 1 1/8 miles was 1:48 1/5.
The victory in the $1 million Haskell Invitational marked Big Brown's fourth in a Grade 1 horse racing this year.
Big Brown also became just the second Kentucky Derby winner to capture the Haskell Invitational, joining War Emblem in that distinction.
Reported by Kentucky Derby Blog
Big Brown burst on the racing scene this winter in Florida when he blitzed an allowance field on March 5, and then won the Grade 1 Florida Derby by five lengths. He went into the Kentucky Derby as the favorite and ran to his odds, scoring by nearly five lengths. In the Preakness, he was never extended while winning by more than five lengths, and came into the Belmont Stakes with a chance to become an undefeated Triple Crown winner despite some foot problems.
