Big Bomb

Someone should have told Rick Dutrow that this has not been a good year for inevitability. Ask the New England Patriots. Or Hillary Clinton. But the trainer of the racehorse Big Brown continued to shoot his mouth off that winning the Triple Crown was a foregone conclusion.

Even if you did not watch the Belmont Stakes, you probably know that Big Brown, dominant winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, did not complete the sweep. He finished last after jockey Kent Desormeaux took him out of the race in the final turn. "I had no horse," Desormeaux said.

Dutrow liked to cite the horse's intelligence as a reason Big Brown was unbeatable. Maybe he should have thought that the horse would be smart enough during the Belmont Stakes to think, "Screw this! A mile-and-a-half is too far." Indeed a horse so bright might have been looking to the future. "My stud fee is big enough already, Ricky. Lead me to the breeding shed!"

But Mr. Dutrow, like Bill Bellichick and perhaps Mrs. Clinton before him, had to create such a loathing for his arrogance that when the inevitable became the unwinnable many people reveled in his downfall.