Before The Disappointment

Michael Brick: The horse had appeared as some rippling bolt of destiny, his very name conjured from myth: Big Brown, as timeless and plain as Shane or Paul Bunyan.



As his ill-fated Triple Crown campaign drew near its culmination Saturday, he observed a monastic vigil inside Barn 2 at Belmont Park, sequestered from the nervous anticipation and drunken enthusiasm of tens of thousands gathered in the name of history.



"Horses are creatures of habit," said Mike Delaney, an agent of the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Agency, who was standing watch in the barn. "And it's important that they stay in a routine."