Big Brown proved his worth as a bona fide Triple Crown contender in dominating Saturday’s Kentucky Derby. Any early guesses on the odds he’ll have to win in Baltimore come Preakness post time May 17?

The trainers of the horses Big Brown beat were certainly impressed. It says a lot that, according to The Sun’s Sandra McKee, all but one trainer in the Kentucky Derby field declined an invitation to participate in the Preakness. That means a whole new set of challengers (except perhaps fifth-place Derby finisher Recapturetheglory, whose owner is still considering making the Preakness trip) for Big Brown in less than two weeks. An unproven field against a (now 4-0) proven horse — guess that leaves plenty of room for betting on a longshot.

The first year I went to the Preakness, I watched a girl place a $4 bet on the first race of the day for a trifecta involving three horses whose names just appealed to her. No background, no prior horsing experience, just three random names. Of course, her picks won in order and she walked away with about $120 … and my money-saving tact that day of just betting on the Preakness was thrown out the door — it was at least one bet on every race after that. (I took home about $100 that year, lost $100 the next year, broke even once, then lost some money again — this year, I figure I’m due.)

My advice: Even if some of the drama may already be gone for this year’s Preakness given Big Brown’s rising stock, go early, take in all the other races that day, throw some money down, and walk around the infield laughing at the drunks in the interims. Keep me amused in the meantime with your best suggested horse names — they might end up in a future print edition of b.

And in another nod to Big Brown, this is what the trainer of Eight Belles, the filly that tragically had to be euthanized after Saturday’s Derby, had to say about him: “I’d just as soon let him be our next Triple Crown winner and let my filly go out in glory.” In a final nod to Eight Belles, I think she already did.

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