Was it the absence of steroids in his system? Did the racing gods conspire to deny him after listening to his cocky trainer guaranteeing greatness yet to be earned? Was that crack in his left hoof responsible for enough discomfort to cancel his appointment with history? Must have been the heat or the track or the jockey, right?

As horse racing fans grasp for answers explaining how Big Brown could flop so infamously in the Belmont Stakes, how this supposed superhorse could leave such a Big Brown Stain by becoming the first Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner to finish dead last in the Belmont Stakes, there might be an elementary answer.

Winning these three races in a five-week span is the most difficult feat in all of sports. Only 11 colts have claimed the prize in the Triple Crown’s 130-year history. Don’t waste your time trying to find a more elusive championship, even if you’re a Cubs fan.

Now, the Triple Crown drought stands at 30 years. And people want to know what is the cause of such a long line of failure.

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Surely, the fragility of thoroughbreds over recent decades has played a role, most recently with the tragic end of Barbaro after the Derby champion’s breakdown in the 2006 Preakness.

When a half-ton animal moves at 40 mph on spindly legs, a tempting of fate is in the works. Since I was a kid accompanying my late father to Pimlico and Delaware Park, I’ve been amazed more of those legs don’t snap like twigs.

And it’s no secret the industry’s increasing emphasis on commercial breeding and eight-figure stud deals, which has spawned a de-emphasis on racing purses and long, lucrative careers on the track, has institutionally diminished the chances of future pursuers of the Triple Crown.

As outstanding ESPN racing analyst Randy Moss noted in a recent column: “Every starter in this year’s Derby traced back to legendary Native Dancer (born in 1950). A renowned geneticist studied thoroughbreds and was stunned at the lack of worldwide diversity, predicting a physical meltdown of the breed without an infusion of heartier equine genes — perhaps even from a non-thoroughbred source.”

With that, I still keep going back to the unique grind the quest for the Crown presents. Remember, 25 years passed without a champion until Secretariat smashed the barrier in 1973, followed by Seattle Slew in 1977 and Affirmed, the last titlist, a year later.

That is some pretty imposing math. Over the past 60 years, just three Triple Crown conquerors  have graced the stage. During the outage between Citation and Secretariat, there was no talk of other forces at work, besides the heavy lifting required to win those three demanding tests in five weeks.

Big Brown might have appeared to be a sure thing, but the math was working against him. Coming into the Derby, he had demolished his competition in three career races. Then, in little over a month, Big Brown was asked to double his victory total, in the wicked, 1 1/2-mile track at Belmont Park.

I find it interesting that the competitors kept coming after Big Brown, who faced a total of 38 contestants in the Triple Crown combined. Typically, Derby winners draw a vastly reduced pool of rivals. Those that win the Derby and Preakness usually face a skeleton crew in the Belmont. But eight horses took aim at Big Brown on Saturday.

It was obvious early on that the superhorse was missing something. Possibly, it was due to the cracked hoof that cut into his invaluable training time, the track or the energy Big Brown expended while he fought jockey Kent Desormeaux, who steered him away from the rail in heavy, aggressive traffic.

It was equally obvious by the time Big Brown reached the top of the stretch, seemingly comfortable on the far outside in third place — and already having run the Derby distance with a quarter-mile to go — that his fuel tank was on empty.

Desormeaux absolutely did the right thing by easing up on Big Brown at the top of the stretch. The overwhelming favorite was in no condition to press on and risk injury.

Instead, Big Brown galloped lazily into history as another footnote, another special animal that hit the wall under the weight of the toughest challenge in sports.

Gary Lambrecht writes about the NFL, Major League Baseball and college sports. He can be reached at glambrecht@baltimoreexaminer.com