LOUISVILLE, Ky. --- Frank Daniels stood outside the paddock at Churchill Downs on Wed-nesday, thinking about the first race of the day while watching a rebroadcast of the Kentucky Derby on a big screen.

Daniels is a racing fan who's been coming to Churchill Downs for 35 years. His eyes stayed fixed as Big Brown surged to victory. A split second later, filly Eight Belles followed, storming to the finish 43/4 lengths behind but well ahead of the remaining 18 colts.

"She didn't look hurt, did she?" Daniels said. "That's a strong- looking horse right there."

What the replay didn't show, or anyone could have guessed as she lunged for the wire under jockey Gabriel Saez, is that Eight Belles would be dead a quarter-mile later after breaking both of her front legs as she galloped out.

She was euthanized on the track, tempering Big Brown's win and raising questions on everything from the safety of the dirt at Churchill Downs to whether Saez abused Eight Belles with his whip in the dash to the wire.

"It was just a freak thing," Daniels said. "When you have people like (veterinarian) Larry Bramlage saying they've never seen anything like that in their career, it just shows you how odd it really is."

While saddened by Eight Belles' tragic end, many patrons said the furor over her death is overblown.

"It wasn't the track; it wasn't the breeding," Brian Johnston said. "It was a fluke. The people who are talking are people who don't watch it all year. This is a part of racing. If they want to try and make it safer, I'm all for it, but this wasn't anybody's fault."

The fans at Churchill Downs on Wednesday already appeared to have moved on. There wasn't an Eight Belles hat or pin to be seen in the modest crowd of a few thousand.

BACK ON TRACK: Big Brown returned to the track at Churchill Downs on Wednesday, four days after his victory.

Trainer Rick Dutrow said the 3-year-old colt has shown no ill effects from the Derby.

Big Brown will spend the next week galloping each morning before shipping to Pimlico for the Preakness.