Unless there is a change in this last month countdown to the Kentucky Derby, occasional horse race experts out there may start warming up to a thoroughbred named Big Brown as a personal favorite in the race.

First this lightly raced horse is 3-for-3, sounds good but does not represent much overall in this extraordinary pursuit. His most recent victory was the $l million Florida Derby at Gulfstream. And a third reason is for you to start a Kentucky Derby romance with Challenger, and his hard-life trainer, Rick Dutrow.

And, both horse and trainer have been on life support of some kind getting to this chance of their racing careers. Big Brown is not scheduled to race again until the Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville. So, he will go to the post at that sacred starting place with but three races, but, all wins.

Know too, that George M. Steinbrenner has been in ownership along the way and that Big Brown is only three wins, three races away from winning his first race, ever, at Saratoga in upstate New York. He had two primers and then the biggie at the Florida Derby that made him famous, made him a leading 3-year-old who raced that distance for the first time at Louisville. It is a grand baptismal for wonderful horses. It is a grand time for all there.

The story line is his first owner Paul Pompa, started as a youngster at Saratoga in the hopes of cashing a couple of tickets for him and trainer Patrick Reynolds. Well, he cashed the tickets and his rookie horse beat a bunch of rookies by 101/2 half lengths. It was one of whose what-have-we-got-here moments.

Big Brown was sold a couple of times, for huge profits, and now his owners want him to win the Derby and all the rest. He may.

But, at Saratoga when Big Brown won his first was trainer Bill Mott with Majestic Warrior. Mott’s horse ran in another race and won. Another, War Pass, ran at Tampa Bay Downs; he broke poorly and never recovered. Mott said he will take War Pass to Kentucky, for a race before the Derby. May well face Big Brown there. Mott is a wonderful trainer.
So, as of this moment, Pyro is 4-1. This horse has won the Louisiana Derby. Big Brown is 6-1 and two in the advanced rating, and War Pass is three. This is the Mott horse that finished dead last in the Tampa Bay Derby. War Pass is 9-2. There are others, of course.

Now, if Big Brown is to pull it off at Churchill Downs, jockey Kent Desormeaux will have to ride the race of his life, and he promises to do that, and Rick Dutrow, the trainer of hard knocks, will have to chart the route of his life. Count on this tough lifed Dutrow to do that.

Now a word or two about trainer Dutrow. ... Well, he’s had his troubles. He is 48, the son of a trainer in Maryland . He has had repeated run-ins with officials. He served a heavy suspension of 60 days in 2005 for breaking medication and claiming rules. Last year he was suspended for 14 days for violation of the suspension rules. Yet, Dutrow, has won three breeder cup races, including the 2005 Classic horse of the year race with Saint Liam.

Yet, he brought his big horse of today, Big Brown, back to the track, repaired cracks in his feet. For owners who want quick results, one race writer wrote, Dutrow is the man. The expert wrote, “If Dutrow and his veterinarian can keep Big Brown healthy he will be a serious threat in the Derby . Got to be for this trainer. Once, broke and out of a job, he slept with the horses.

Not bad if they don’t step on you, or, well, that’ll do.