Saturday, June 7, 2008

No Triple Crown for Big Brown

Today, Big Brown, the horse that became a mob darling and the center of great media speculation after winning the first two races of the Triple Crown, finished last in the Belmont Stakes, the third and final race of the series. The winning horse, Da' Tara, as well as the other 7 horses who beat Big Brown, crushed the dreams of millions of horse racing fans and commentators who hoped the horse would be the first Triple Crown winner in 30 years.


Now, if you've ever read any of my blogs, you'd better be wondering right now, what on earth is he doing talking about horse racing?


Good question. The answer is that Big Brown's story teaches a very valuable lesson: Nothing is certain. Big Brown's odds on the race were 1 to 4; Da' Tara's were 38 to 1 (in other words, it was generally accepted that Big Brown was 152 times as likely to win as Da' Tara). And yet, somehow, Da' Tara won, and the favorite came in a distant last place.


So the next time you think something is certain - like, I don't know, a Democrat winning the presidency this year - remember Big Brown. Even if the odds are 152 to 1.

1 comment:

Rainier96 said...

Darn. I was hoping the reason for the post was that you had bet your graduation present from Grandma on Da'Tara!

If I were the oddsmaker, I'd say that the line on the Democrats' chances of winning the presidency was even-odds. But my lack of skill as a gambler is legendary.