A home stretch worth of time before long shot Da'Tara crossed the finish line registering a stunning upset in Saturday's Belmont Stakes, those watching were already wondering what happened to Big Brown?

Replays reveal Big Brown broke sharply and was taken in hand by jockey Kent Desormeaux, allowing Da' Tara - the expected pacesetter - to cross over and gain the rail. Desormeaux, sought to ease Big Brown to the outside of the leader, only to find his way blocked by Tale of Ekati . Unable to find clearance, Desormeaux made a brief effort to settle in the pocket formed by Da' Tara and Tale of Ekati.

Big Brown would have none of it, so Desormeaux dropped back, allowing Big Brown to bull his way through a narrow gap between Tale of Ekati and Anak Nakal .

Sitting in what many saw as the catbird seat, Big Brown settled into the race and the eventful part of his trip was over. When asked by Desormeaux about five furlongs later to move to the lead , Big Brown had no answer and was eased coming off of the turn for home when it was clear that he was going nowhere.

Principal owner Michael Iavarone reported Sunday morning that the mystery remained unsolved. Refusing to blame the much-publicized quarter crack on Big Brown's left front hoof or the fact that the colt came back with a very loose shoe on the same side behind, Iavarone was quoted as saying that Big Brown was "clean, sound and angry."

In reality, the solution to the riddle is very simple. Big Brown's Triple Crown attempt was doomed from the moment of the post draw when he received the stall on the rail. Committed to not seek the lead, which was his for the asking, there was no way that Big Brown wouldn't encounter traffic difficulties on the way to the first turn.

For this, the big colt trained by Rick Dutrow, Jr. was totally unprepared.

Inexperienced, having raced only five times, Big Brown's introduction to Bronx-style racing shockingly took the competitiveness out of him in less than a quarter of a mile.

Back in the day when it was unnecessary to give a horse an anabolic steroid shot once a month in order to race him with as little as two or three weeks between starts, Hall of Fame trainer Elliot Burch perfected a method of preparation for the Belmont Stakes that worked beautifully on three occasions from 1959 -1969 .

Burch's horses - Sword Dancer, Quadrangle and Arts and Letters - all competed unsuccessfully in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. So to get ready for the Belmont, Burch ran them in the Metropolitan Mile against some of the best older horses in the land. Sword Dancer and Arts and Letters won their Met Miles and Quadrangle was second .

Burch immersed his horses in the fire of the most stringent competition available and emerged with battle-tested warriors which not only won their respective Belmonts, but carried on well through summer and fall, each adding the Travers Stakes to his list of accomplishments.

Sword Dancer and Arts and Letters garnered the ultimate award of Horse of the Year in their three-year-old seasons.

Some physical condition may yet present itself to provide an explanation for Big Brown's Belmont debacle. But, for now, let's just chalk it up to lack of experience.

Bill Marshall has covered horse racing since 1972.