Before the 2008 Belmont Stakes, Rick Dutrow, trainer of the bay colt Big Brown, guaranteed that his horse would win the Triple Crown. He had good reason to be confident: Big Brown cruised to a 4 3/4 length win in the Kentucky Derby, and dominated the Preakness Stakes. At Pimlico, Big Brown was so far ahead of the field that jockey Kent Desormeaux eased him across the finish. But a pre-Belmont injury to Big Brown’s left front hoof was a doomsday sign: although the injury did not appear to affect the horse, Big Brown finished dead last at Belmont. “I had no horse,” Desmormeax said afterwards. The Big Brown saga would become sordid: Dutrow had given the horse a steroid before the Derby and Preakness, a move that was legal but widely criticized. Dutrow did not use steroids before the Belmont, but more than three years later, in October 2011, the New York Racing and Wagering Board banned him from racing in the state for 10 years for allegedly giving horses performance-enhancing drugs. He is appealing the ruling.