"Once we got past the wire, he was dragging me out of the irons," said exercise rider Michelle Nevin, the native of Ireland who is on Big Brown in the mornings. "I said, 'Whoa, buddy. You've got to wait.' "

Rumors of continuing foot problems are scoffed at around the undefeated Florida Derby winner's barn.

"He had his issues, but they're not issues anymore," co-owner Michael Iavarone said.

Obviously, Big Brown's people will not say they wanted the outside No. 20 gate for their horse, but it hasn't drained them of their confidence. You almost expect trainer Rick Dutrow to say he's ordered another auxiliary gate and they will start tomorrow from No. 25.

Dutrow makes it sound simple: The horse has won all three starts in his career. Now, he'll win his next three. Then, there will be a big party at Dutrow's house on Long Island.

"I think Rick can take things to a new level," Iavarone said of Dutrow's confidence. "I think we've all seen that. I can't say I'm as confident as Rick is, but he's around the horse more. I really believe that what Rick says, he's sincere."

This is Dutrow's first Derby, but he has won three Breeders' Cup races and had the 2005 horse of the year, Saint Liam.

"When you have the best horse in the race, that's usually what you need to win," Dutrow said. "That's all I've been looking at."

His jockey, Kent Desormeaux, who missed the Triple Crown by a nose at the Belmont on Real Quiet in 1998 and won the Derby again in 2000 with Fusaichi Pegasus, consulted with Dutrow at the draw before they picked the No. 20 gate over 1, 2, 18 or 19.

"I can catbird somebody, and they can lead me to the far turn," Desormeaux said.

The race might look radically different on Sunday morning, but right now, Desormeaux is confident he can at least get up to third or fourth, perfect stalking position, before the first turn.

"I'm pretty sure I'm going to be as quiet as a church mouse trying to rein him in," Desormeaux said of leaving the starting gate. And if nobody else beats him to the turn, "I'll lead the parade around [the first turn], if that's the way it turns out."

Despite the outside gate, the horse has 3-1 morning-line odds, partially because Dutrow and the owners plan to put a bundle on the horse themselves.

"Maybe some people will be afraid of it, but we're not going to be afraid of it," Dutrow said.

The trainer is doing an as-told-to diary this week for the New York Post. In it, he referred to the many stories bringing up his 60-day suspension in 2005, when a couple of his horses tested positive for illegal medications. He wrote: "If Big Brown wins, he should be appreciated as a Derby winner. That's the story, not that I got suspended years ago for a drug test. One's got nothing to do with the other."

And Dutrow didn't put Desormeaux up to saying this about Big Brown: "For what he's shown me so far, he's probably the best horse I've ever ridden."