Sweet Spot May Be Big Brown's Key

There is something unique about Big Brown, and it’s not just his decimation of the fields at the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. It's a silver-dollar sized white spot at the top of his left front leg. “Some good horses have something about them that's totally different from other horses. … It’s their X factor," the Irish-born trainer who broke Big Brown as a yearling tells Sports Illustrated.

Big Brown was not highly-acclaimed when he was born, and passed through several different hands until he startled his trainers late in 2007 with some remarkable workout times. Now the colt sits a Belmont victory away from racing immortality. "You believe," says the Irishman, "that the spot was placed there by the hand of God." (More horse racing stories.)