• by J Mitchell McMahon , July 22, 2008

Belmont Stakes flop Big Brown owns the dubious distinction of poorest showing in would-be Triple Crown history, but there was a silver lining for the diminished Kentucky Derby winner. It came by way of New York Racing Authority, who, despite failing to maintain flushing toilets and flowing water for 98,000 Belmont Stakes fans, had the decency to put the kibosh on a lowbrow, last-minute sponsorship with Hooters, the Atlanta-based food chain, which signed an exclusive marketing deal with Big Brown.

It was an awful idea, emblematic of the lack of public sympathy for International Equine Acquisitions Holdings Stables' heartbreak. Not since Burt Reynolds portrayed Stroker Ace, The Fastest Chicken in the South, had a red-blooded American been so unwittingly propped up as a face card for a seedy purveyor of fried poultry and tacky women. UPS sponsorship was one thing, but when Mike McNeil, vice president of marketing for Hooters, told the New York Daily News, "We'll have our girls in the winner's circle when the horse wins," NYRA joined the collective cringe shuddering through the thoroughbred racing industry.

Before the big race, Kelly Wietsma, president at Equisponse, the New York marketing agency working with Big Brown's agency, 16W, said, "We're definitely going to mass market (him). I want every kid in America to be able to walk into a Wal-Mart and buy a Big Brown shirt or a Big Brown Beanie Baby."

Equine research puts the intellectual faculty of a mature horse on par with that of a 3-year-old human. By 3, people respond to brand marketing. So perhaps Big Brown didn't relish his transformation from gallant racehorse to Hooters billboard and air-delivery logo. He even may have taken issue with Hooters' animal rights philosophy, which is, basically, well-done.