The euphoria of a dominating Kentucky Derby victory by another unbeaten colt lasted maybe 20 seconds for anybody who was watching the horses gallop out past the finish line. Before you could even consider the complete ease with which favored Big Brown had dispatched the other 19 horses and could contemplate the depth of the colt's talent, there was a more immediate concern.

When the brilliant Eight Belles, just the second filly to finish second in the Derby, started to lean forward and sink to the ground on the first turn, it was clear something was wrong. She tried to get up. The apparatus that lets a horse stand was no longer working. Everything in her front legs had blown apart. Her will told her to stand, but she could not.

A few moments later, the Derby winner galloped by on the way to the winner's circle as the needle was coming out with the solution that would end the filly's pain.

And her life.

"These kind of things make you want to try another sport," Wilmington's Rick Porter, the owner of Eight Belles, said yesterday, "but we'll regroup and life will go on."

The Derby is the one major race that had no catastrophic injuries in the modern era. It was almost as if that race, America's race, was immune from the breakdown epidemic. Then, it wasn't.

"We've hit some big highs, but I'll tell you, that was the ultimate low," Porter said.

The game will go on, but sometimes you wonder why.

"It's not just me, it's the fans, it ruined it for everybody,' Porter said.

There were 157,770 fans at Churchill Downs on Saturday, the second largest crowd in Derby history. They saw a Smarty Jones, Barbaro-like performance from Big Brown, an unbeaten Derby winner just like the other two. BB got a 109 Beyer speed figure, comparable to Smarty and Barbaro, and put to rest two final Derby maxims - that a horse can't win from the 20 post or with just three races.

Big Brown did not just win the race. The 2-1 favorite won just like trainer Rick Dutrow said he would. Kent Desormeaux rode like he knew he could not lose, keeping BB wide on the first turn, wide on the backstretch, unhurried behind a moderate pace. Sixth after 6 furlongs, Big Brown ran his next quarter-mile in a touch more than 23 seconds, mostly around the far turn, getting the lead by the quarter pole.

It was what they call the "track kitchen" move at Churchill because it starts around the track kitchen, which is located at the end of the backstretch. It is the same move Smarty and Barbaro made.

When Big Brown began to move, it was like the others were tied to a post. Big Brown was in a race of his own during the stretch run, winning by 4 3/4 lengths, giving the colt a combined winning margin of 33 3/4 lengths in his four-race career.

Big Brown ran the mile-and-a-quarter in 2 minutes, 1.82 seconds, and did not look all in at the finish line or during the gallop out.

"I don't see that he beat a great Derby field, so I wouldn't know how to judge things," Dutrow said. "Like Secretariat [in 1973], that was best crop I've ever seen in my life, and he beat 'em - he took 'em to the cleaners every time he ran against them. I'm not one to compare him against past horses. It just wasn't a strong Derby field other than our horse."

The trainer knew that going in and said so. Some were offended. The truth often does that.

Big Brown has already earned $2,114,500 for his connections, who paid millions for a 75 percent interest after his first race. Interestingly, after all the artificial dirt talk during the Derby prep season, the first four finishers had never run on anything but conventional dirt, save for that debut grass race by Big Brown.

Dutrow was the fifth first-time Derby trainer to win the race in the last 6 years, proving again why they call this horse racing. It is always about the horse.

"I don't know who's going to beat him," trainer Graham Motion said of Big Brown. "To win off three starts . . . even Curlin could not do that."

Desormeaux won his third Derby. This was the easiest. Describing BB's speed on command, the rider said, "What is the gear like? Every time I ask him, it's like leaving the starting gate again."

Eight Belles' trainer, Larry Jones, one of the nicest people in the business, came to the press box several hours after the Derby to answer questions, some of which even had answers. Yesterday, Jones told Porter he thinks the injuries may have happened because of what he calls "cross tracking."

Eight Belles sometimes switched leads in her front legs, but not in her hind legs. Jones speculates the legs may have crossed and hit, causing the devastating injuries in both front legs. The cause may never be known for sure. Nor will the effect.

Meanwhile, the game does go on. There was $114 million bet on the Derby, $164 million bet on the 12-race card, which took place on a glorious day. The Preakness is in 2 weeks. Unless fifth place Recapturetheglory goes to Baltimore, there is a very good chance that the only Derby horse in the Preakness will be the winner.

Dutrow said he would not be as confident in Baltimore because of the 2-week gap.

"When the horse goes into the race the right way, good timing and all, I don't see anyone beating him," Dutrow said. "But now it's not happening. You've got to come right back off that huge, huge race."

Pimlico officials see eight potential Preakness challengers at the moment - Lexington Stakes winner Behindatthebar, San Rafael winner El Gato Malo, Count Fleet winner Giant Moon, California Derby winner Yankee Bravo, Withers winner Harlem Rocker, Kentucky Bear, Stevil and Tres Borrachos. El Gato Malo and Kentucky Bear were entered in the Derby, but did make the field because of insufficient earnings in graded stakes. Lightly raced Kentucky Bear was training as well as any horse in Kentucky leading up to the Derby.

But Big Brown was the horse in the Derby. Big Brown will still be the horse leading up to the Preakness.

Another 100,000 will convene on May 17 in Baltimore. We will watch again. And we will hold our breaths again. *