News

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=3402141&sportCat=horse BALTIMORE -- The working premise for this column was that the smooth sailing is over for Big Brown. That winning the Belmont and the Triple Crown will be brutally difficult, no matter how easy he's made it look getting to this point. Then I talked to Bob Baffert. "I've never seen anything like him since I've been training," Baffert gushed Sunday. "Everyone's been waiting for the next Secretariat-type horse, and we got him. He's going to do it." ESPN.com 5/19/08

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/trackandfield/news/story?id=3402789 JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius says the 2012 London Olympics might be a more realistic goal than qualifying for the Beijing Games. Pistorius has returned to South Africa following a ruling that cleared him to compete against able-bodied runners. The athlete says he will compete in able-bodied meets in the coming weeks to try to qualify in the 400 meters for Beijing. But he told reporters Monday it will be difficult, and said the London Games four years from now might be his best shot. ESPN.com 5/19/08

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/triplecrown08/news/story?id=3401275 BALTIMORE -- Not once but twice, jockey Kent Desormeaux sneaked a peak to see if anyone was gaining on Big Brown. "I looked between my legs, under my arms, and they were eight [lengths] behind me," Desormeaux said. "I stopped pushing. I said, 'That's enough.' " His big bay colt ran away with the Preakness on Saturday and now is pointed squarely down the path toward the Triple Crown. The 3-year-old with the perfect record heads for the Belmont Stakes (ABC, June 7) in three weeks as the fourth horse this decade to try for the triple, a sweep last accomplished by Affirmed in 1978. The last to try was Smarty Jones in 2004. ESPN.com 5/18/08