• Brandweek, Friday, June 6, 2008 10:15 AM

Hooters has signed a deal to have its logo -- an owl whose eyes are seen in the word Hooters -- on the racing silks of jockey Kent Desormeaux when he mounts Big Brown in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday. The three-year-old is favored to become the first horse in 30 years to win the Triple Crown.

Big Brown was named for the shipping company by his original owner, Paul Pompa Jr., in 2007 after Pompa renewed a contract with UPS Freight for his company, Truck-Rite Corp. UPS signed a marketing deal with Big Brown's new owners earlier this year to have the company logo appear on the horse's saddle blanket and to use Big Brown in ads.

With this deal, Hooters is able to go where it was prevented from appearing during the recent NCAA men's basketball tournament, when a full-page print ad featuring Dick Vitale and Hooters' girl Sara Hoots was pulled from the official program.

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