The Big Brown legend was formed before its time. The colt was brilliant in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, not just winning but also dominating. What mythmakers typically can't handle is reality.

Even before the Belmont Stakes disaster (blame it on the ride, the heat, the Triple Crown grind, the stars, the moon), Big Brown was never Secretariat or Spectacular Bid. Big Brown was a very good horse beating a bunch of below-average 3-year-olds. That, however, did not fit the story line.

Big Brown won the $1 million Haskell Invitational yesterday at Monmouth Park. The colt won by showing great courage in the stretch to run down a loose leader that really looked like a gone winner at the top of the stretch.

Big Brown showed a new dimension. Everything had been easy before the Belmont. This was not easy. But that did not mean it was not a strong race from Big Brown. It was. It just won't be perceived that way because it does not fit into the myth.

"He set the bar so high," trainer Rick Dutrow said. "He's a special horse. I don't care what anybody says."

Special is fact. Beyond that is fiction.

Kent Desormeaux, who rode Big Brown so poorly in the Belmont, rode the colt perfectly in the Haskell. When it was obvious speedball Coal Play was going for the lead at all costs, Desormeaux, rather than get pinned inside in a speed duel, eased his mount back and outside Coal Play. When Edgar Prado, on Atoned, tried to trap Big Brown on the first turn, Desormeaux, gave his mount some rein and Big Brown ran into the clear.

The problem was simple. Coal Play was not stopping. Big Brown was chasing but not gaining. At the head of the stretch, it really looked like Big Brown was in trouble.

Coal Play was still 2 lengths in front at the eighth pole. Big Brown, however, really leveled off in the final 200 yards, running the final eighth in 12.71 seconds. And Big Brown needed all of it, finally catching Coal Play with 75 yards to go and winning by 1 3/4 lengths.

There was $835,000 in the win pool, with $551,000 of that on Big Brown. It was very anxious for every bit of that half million.

Big Brown won his fourth Grade I race of the year. The colt has now earned $3.3 million. By the numbers, the final time of 1:48.31 for 1 1/8 miles equated to Big Brown's effort in the Florida Derby and was just below his Kentucky Derby - really good races, just not great.

"[Coal Play] didn't wait for me," Desormeaux said. "Big Brown had to go get him."

Dutrow thought Big Brown was "going to get beat" at the top of the stretch, but the colt showed what really good horses eventually must show.

"I saw a dimension of Big Brown today that I just didn't know existed," said Big Brown's owner, Michael Iavarone. "He showed more than just his ability. He showed his heart. That's the sign of a great race horse."

The word "great" is the problem. It is overused, especially in horse racing. Seattle Slew was great. Affirmed was great.

"The plan was to go to the lead, but that would have been suicidal," Desormeaux said. "That guy on the outside was making the lead no matter what."

Unlike the Belmont where he misread the situation, Desormeaux understood this scenario perfectly. And gave his mount every chance.

"If [Big Brown] was a human being, I'd want to go clubbing with him," Desormeaux said. "He's just awesome."

Big Brown will join Smarty Jones at Three Chimneys Farm in 2009. Meanwhile, there are one or two more races to run. The big goal is the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic on Oct. 25 at Santa Anita. Dutrow said Big Brown could run in the BC without another race. In a perfect world, he would like to run the horse somewhere in mid-September. Might even run him on the grass.

"The biggest possibility would be the Pennsylvania Derby," Dutrow said.

Before you get too excited, Dutrow thought a bit more about that and said the Sept. 1 race probably would be too soon. If the Pa. Derby were in mid-September or late September [where it should be as a final prep for the Breeders' Cup], Big Brown would almost certainly be in that race.

There were 45,132 at Monmouth. They came to see a star. Big Brown is that.

To get to that next level, Big Brown will need to beat older horses. He will need to beat 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin.

Curlin's owner has been off experimenting on the grass with the colt. What everybody wants to see is Curlin-Big Brown on dirt or even the polytrack of Santa Anita.

"Curlin couldn't win the Derby, we could," Dutrow said. "Curlin couldn't win this race, we could. Curlin got beat [by] a filly. We haven't. Our horse is undefeated on the grass. Curlin isn't. I don't know why people think Curlin is such a good horse. We're way better than Curlin."

Sounds good, but the reality is that Curlin today is about 5 lengths faster than Big Brown on dirt. Curlin ran against a much stronger group of 3-year-olds last year. Big Brown's one grass win was against maidens. Curlin's only grass try was a second in a Grade I stake.

Beat Curlin and myth will meet reality and surpass it. Then and only then, Big Brown gets to great. *