Big Brown back on the track

Kentucky Derby champion Big Brown returned to the track at Churchill Downs on Wednesday, four days after his 4 3/4-length win in the Run for the Roses.

Trainer Rick Dutrow watched from the rail as Big Brown walked a lap around the track with exercise rider Michele Nevin. Dutrow said the 3-year-old colt has shown no ill effects from the Derby, in which Big Brown became the first horse in nearly 80 years to win from the No. 20 post.

The two-week turnaround for the May 17 Preakness Stakes remains the trainer's main concern.

"Coming back in two weeks, he is stacked up against it," Dutrow said. "He's not a robot. He has run fast races and fast numbers and two weeks is not ideal timing. You need time to regroup, and we haven't got that kind of time. I just have to hope that he stays good. "

Big Brown will spend the next week galloping each morning before shipping to Pimlico for the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown.

Dutrow said he's considering putting his colt through a "minor" workout before the Preakness much like the three-furlong work he put in on the Thursday before the Derby.

"He's just a good horse and he does things so easy," Dutrow said.

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SYNTHETIC IN N.Y.? The New York Racing Association announced this week that it is considering replacing dirt with synthetic surfaces at its horse racing tracks.

These conversions would include Aqueduct Race Track in Queens, Belmont Park on Long Island and Saratoga Race Course.

The State Task Force on Retired Race Horses is studying the economics of the synthetic surfaces and will discuss the possible switch this summer.

A NYRA spokesman said the conversion would cost up to $50 million if training tracks are included.

Synthetics may be safer for horses to run on, and animal safety has been a hot issue especially in light of the fatal injury of Eight Belles in last weekend's Kentucky Derby.

A daylong forum on converting the existing dirt tracks will be held July 29 at Saratoga Spa State Park by the state Task Force on Retired Race Horses.

Jack Knowlton, a prominent Saratoga horse owner and a member of the task force, said artificial turf appears to cut fatal horse injuries about 25 percent, although it may increase minor injuries. Opinions among horsemen are mixed, he said, with his own trainer one of the opponents of making the switch. Most jockeys appear in favor, Knowlton said.