And he was right.

In just the fourth race of his life, Big Brown yesterday ignored a terrible outside post position, turned it into a dream trip and ended with a 43/4-length victory in the 134th Kentucky Derby.

Talking about his boasts, Rick Dutrow, Big Brown's trainer, said he had merely been listening to his horse.

"When he turned for home, I knew the game was over," Dutrow, who won his first Kentucky Derby, said after his horse finished the 11/4-mile race in 2 minutes, 1.82 seconds. "I don't know if we've seen his best. . . . You cannot imagine how lucky we are to have this horse."

The race was also marred by tragedy.

Second-place finisher Eight Belles, the filly from Delaware Park who finished 31/2 lengths ahead of third-place Denis of Cork, broke bones in both her front legs while galloping out after the race and was euthanized on the track.

"We were having trouble getting through the crowd and getting to the track," said Larry Jones, Eight Belles' trainer, who had been unaware what had happened to his horse until after he got to the track. Jones said he saw Kent Desormeaux, Big Brown's jockey, heading toward the winner's circle.

"You could tell it was not like he had just won the Kentucky Derby," Jones said. "He was a little bit solemn."

Later, Desormeaux said, "I want to say that right now I think this horse [Big Brown], he showed you heart, and Eight Belles showed you [her] life for our enjoyment today. I'm deeply sympathetic toward that team. I'm very sorry for that loss."

Desormeaux had won this race twice before and nearly won the Triple Crown in 1988 with Real Quiet. But even before this race he had called Big Brown the best horse he'd ridden.

Jockeys often say such things about their latest great ride. But Big Brown, the 5-2 favorite yesterday, will be a much bigger favorite in two weeks in the Preakness Stakes.

Asked what Big Brown has that Real Quiet did not, Desormeaux said, "Speed. Real Quiet did not have speed. He would never have won a six-furlong race, and he didn't."

Referring to Big Brown, the jockey said, "This horse could win tomorrow if I needed him to."

Trying to become the first Derby winner to start from the No. 20 gate since Clyde Van Dusen in 1929, and the first to win in just his fourth start since Regret in 1915, Big Brown quickly got up to fourth nearing the first turn. But he still hung wide a little bit after the initial charge and eventually fell to sixth along the backstretch.

However, the speed horses ahead were going too fast, with fractions of 23:30 and 47:04, as slow as any first Derby half-mile in the last eight years. That set up great for Big Brown.

"Going down the backside, I didn't know what Kent knew at that time," Dutrow said. "And there were some horses going on the inside that looked like they were moving up on him, and I got a little bit nervous at that point. But Kent knew that he had plenty of horse underneath, and he just bided his time. It was all good. Brown showed up."

Colonel John, the second choice in the race, finished sixth, while third choice Pyro was eighth. Visionaire, trained by Michael Matz, was 12th.

Big Brown did not get to Dutrow's barn until January, after a majority share had been sold to IEAH Stables, which is run by a couple of New Yorkers who worked on Wall Street. At that point, Big Brown had won once, winning by 111/4 lengths last September on the turf at Saratoga.

"I just know it's absolutely unbelievable that he could make this race when he didn't even go to the track in the month of January," Dutrow said. "Just incredible. When he won that allowance race [on March 5] after such a short schedule . . . this horse will overcome anything. He's just born this good."

Asked if he had sympathy for the connections of Eight Belles, Dutrow said, "Look, I love horses. That's why I'm in this game. I love the competition, and I love horses more than anything."

Dutrow talked of his daughter, Molly, crying after a horse broke down last year at the Breeders' Cup.

He also talked more about his own horse. Everybody understood that Big Brown would have to be special to overcome that post, even against an inconsistent crop of 3-year-olds.

"I don't even know what we just did," Dutrow said.

When he was introduced as "Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Rick Dutrow," he looked to the ceiling and started clapping.

"Oh God," Dutrow said.