Big Brown's jockey, Kent Desormeaux, unsaddles the Triple Crown hopeful after the horse failed to finish in the 140th Belmont Stakes on Saturday. (Richard Drew/Associated Press)

Big Brown lost.

And that news was just the first of the headlines from Belmont Park early on Saturday evening that left 94,476 fans at the track in Elmont, N.Y. and millions on television gasping as they watched Da' Tara win the 140th running of the Belmont Stakes.

Big Brown's disappointing finish meant American racing's Triple Crown has not been won in 31 years, going back to Affirmed in 1978.

Only Da' Tara's owners, trainer Nick Zito, jockey Alan Garcia and a few ecstatic bettors even saw the 38-1 shot cross the finish line, because everyone else was watching Big Brown being pulled up.

Sitting third at the end of the long Belmont backstretch during the 1½-mile race, Big Brown suddenly fell off the pace, went well wide and was "eased" by jockey Kent Desormeaux while the rest of the field headed for the home stretch.

"He was empty. He didn't have anything left," Desormeaux said. "There's no popped tires. He's just out of gas."

There, Da' Tara was pulling away, with Denis of Cork second and Anak Nakal and Ready's Echo in a dead heat for third.

Canadian-owned Tale of Ekati finished sixth.

No sign of problems

Big Brown never crossed the finish line. He was taken off the track and to the veterinarians where a quick examination showed no apparent physical problems, which only added to the mystery.

The horse had suffered a quarter-crack in one of his hooves two weeks ago, but after being cared for was considered in top shape for Saturday's race.

"Something has to not be right for him to be pulled up in a race, so I have to try to find out what it was," said trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr. "I'm sure it's not the horse's fault, so there's nothing to be down on him."

Big Brown was composed when he was loaded into the gate first, right on the rail, and he broke nicely at the bell.

But even before the first turn, he ran into trouble, bobbing his head in frustration as he took a kick from a horse in front of him — not an uncommon occurrence in thoroughbred racing.

Tale of Ekati was also up on the early speed, along with Da' Tara and Anak Natal.

Into the backstretch, the first half-mile went by in 48 and 1/5 seconds, and that was a reasonable pace, as was the time of 1:12 and 4/5 through three-quarters.

But as the horses headed for the far turn, the fight seemed to go right out of Big Brown, and Da' Tara cruised to victory.

Canadian-owned horse injured

Tale of Ekati's trainer, Barclay Tagg, told CBCSports.ca on the phone from his own barn at Belmont that the result wasn't really a shock to him.

"Nothing surprises me in a horse race," he said. "I don't know what happened, but I would guess he bled."

Internal bleeding is nothing new and Tagg thought if it was bleeding, Big Brown would be alright.

"Most horses bleed now and then, if you give them medication they're fine," he said

Tale of Ekati had his own problems, Tagg said. When Big Brown backed up at the end of the back stretch, he did so into Ekati.

"[Big Brown] was wobbling and stepped on [Ekati's] right hind heel and he cut it pretty badly, and that stopped us afterwards, I think," said Tagg, who added he wasn't angry about the incident because it was accidental. "He'll be OK."

Hype was tremendous

Big Brown was one of the most hyped horses to run the Belmont in years, and the stories around him were almost endless.

There was jockey Desormeaux, who had the Triple in his hands back in 1998 when he brought Real Quiet down the stretch of the Belmont, only to be beaten by Victory Gallop in a photo finish.

Desormeaux wanted this Belmont as much for his son Jacob, 9, who was born profoundly deaf and was found to have Usher's syndrome at age seven. The condition will ultimately take his eyesight, and the jockey had hoped to give his son a brilliant memory.

But most of all there was Dutrow, who was living out of a barn at Aqueduct racetrack with his young daughter 10 years ago as his career hit rock bottom. The youngster's mother, a crack addict, had been murdered when the girl was less than two.

Throughout Dutrow's career there has been criticism about his use of drugs, both for himself — he was suspended for five years for personal drug use — and his horses.

Dutrow said he gave Big Brown steroid injections before the first two legs of the Triple Crown – the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness — but not before Saturday's running of the Belmont.

Steroids are expected to be banned by the end of the year as horse racing tries to clean up its image.

In the three weeks leading up to the Belmont, the wildly outspoken trainer had guaranteed, again and again, that his horse would complete the Triple. At the end, it might have been Dutrow's way of trying to convince himself.

"We did really good with him winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness," he said. "This is a very disappointing race. Now, it looks like he's fine. It looks like he'll live a good life even if he never runs again."

With files from the Associated Press