Big Brown had a dislodged shoe

Photos provide Belmont clues

Michael Iavarone believes he's finally found hard evidence, an exposed nail and a dislodged shoe, to explain why Triple Crown hopeful Big Brown ran so poorly June 7 in the Belmont Stakes.

A photograph by free-lancer Bob Mayberger posted Tuesday on The Blood-Horse magazine Web site at www.bloodhorse.com shows a nail sticking straight up on Big Brown's right hind hoof. Iavarone, the co-president of IEAH Stables, said the shoe was hit by another horse's hoof "two or three" strides into the race. He said the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner ran 1 1/4 miles before being eased with "a dislodged shoe and the nail sticking out."

According to The Daily Racing Form chart, "Big Brown steadied and broke outward [from post position 1] at the start." At that point, another shot by Mayberger, taken from behind, reveals Guadalcanal's left hind hoof stepping on Big Brown's right hind as the favorite comes out into him. Big Brown's head jerks sharply left at the moment of contact as Kent Desormeaux rises in the irons and shifts his weight to the left.

"The shoe is still on, and the nail is still on it," said Iavarone, who saw the photos a few hours before they appeared on the Web site. "He stepped back down on the nail and bent it, so it stayed lodged in the shoe but wouldn't have gone back into the same hole. It happened early in the race, so now it's a horse trying to run almost an entire mile and a half like that. What I can tell you for sure is that gives you no shot."

Iavarone theorized that the shoe reset itself when Big Brown stepped on pavement while being led back to the barn after the race.

Originally, extreme heat and Belmont Park's deep track were suspected of contributing to the previously undefeated horse's shocking last-place finish. Iavarone said that after seeing Mayberger's photos, trainer Rick Dutrow and equine hoof lameness specialist Ian McKinlay agreed the dislodged shoe most likely was the answer.

"Rick and Ian are on board with this," Iavarone said. Dutrow had been skeptical about the shoe explanation, but on Tuesday The Blood-Horse's Steve Haskin quoted the trainer as saying, "... Now that I've seen the pictures, I have to keep an open mind to it. The pictures don't lie."

Mayberger's photographs jolted but also relieved Iavarone.

"What we wanted all along was a reason, just for our own state of mind going into the next race," he said. "This is much more digestible for me than any of the other reasons."