As I mentioned in my pre-Derby blog, it is tempting to pinpont flaws in the Kentucky Derby favorite and instead search for that obscure “dark horse” who nobody else will have. In the end, the public got it right as Big Brown proved that he is in fact just lengths better than the remainder of this class.

As a result, he will apparently take on an entirely new cast of characters at Pimlico next — a group no more scary than the 19 he dusted at Churchill Downs.

Yet in the aftermath of Derby 134, much is being made of the tragic loss of Eight Belles. Let me, for a second, analyze a different side of this situation — and that is that Rick Porter got it right! He, along with trainer Larry Jones, looked at the Derby field, and determined that their filly belonged. And boy did she ever.

Racing in and amongst horses every step, she was practically the only one in the screen with Big Brown at the wire.

It is truly a shame what happened to Eight Belles, but imagine the heat that Porter/Jones would be under if a similar fate resulted after she finished 20th?

Porter knew that this cast wasn’t very good, and indeed she was better than 18 of them. Kudos for knowing their filly, and spotting her well.