ARCADIA, Calif. — Rick Dutrow moves easily and anonymously through the early morning crowds clogging the pathway from Clocker's Corner to the stable area at Santa Anita.

There's no one hanging on his every word or photographers poking their lenses into his face and the stalls of his two horses.

The trainer who made headlines and tripped traditionalists' triggers with his boasting along the Triple Crown trail is at the Breeders' Cup without his biggest star.

Dutrow was flying high in the spring as a result of Big Brown's dominating victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. Then came the colt's stunning flop in the Belmont Stakes.

Big Brown was supposed to take on defending champion Curlin in Saturday's $5 million Classic, a highly anticipated matchup at the season-ending championships that would have made Dutrow the center of attention again.

But a foot injury Big Brown sustained during a workout in New York on Oct. 13 scuttled those plans and prompted the colt's retirement.

"I'm sure a lot of people in the game wanted to see a showdown and we're as disappointed as anyone," Dutrow said, "but the horse is good and he's going to live a good life, so there's nothing to be sad about."

Big Brown continues to recover and is due at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky., by the end of the year to begin his stud career.

"He's good now," Dutrow said. "He's walking good. He's out of the woods."

So the trainer has turned his attention to the two horses he'll saddle Saturday — Kip Deville in the $2 million Mile and Salute the Count in the $1 million Turf Sprint.

Dutrow is 3-for-8 in the Breeders' Cup, and having Kip Deville successfully defend his title would help even out the wild swing of emotions Dutrow experienced this year.

"I enjoyed being in the races that I was in and being around the horses," he said. "I had Benny (the Bull), Kip and Big Brown all at once and that was exciting."

Kip Deville is 2-for-2 on the turf at Santa Anita, where he was based from 2006-07.

"Kip likes this track," Dutrow said. "I'm expecting him to run big."

That's about as boastful as he gets, which doesn't compare to Dutrow's bragging that the Belmont was Big Brown's to lose.

"Maybe I said some good things and some bad things, but it's just me," he said.

Instead of celebrating racing's first Triple Crown winner in 30 years, jockey Kent Desormeaux pulled up Big Brown in the stretch and he finished last, stunning fans who had jammed Belmont Park expecting to see history.

"I wish he would've had a good, clean trip. I wish things wouldn't have gotten all screwed up there," Dutrow said. "It looked like he just couldn't lose that race and it just couldn't have worked out worse. That was a huge disappointment."

Besides his outspokeness, Dutrow took plenty of heat for admitting he had used the anabolic steroid Winstrol on Big Brown before the Derby. It has since been banned in Kentucky and elsewhere.

The trainer is facing a 15-day suspension in Kentucky for violating doping rules there involving Salute the Count, the same horse running in the Breeders' Cup.

As always, Dutrow brushes off the controversy that often swirls around him.

"I'm a good guy to pick on and I'm a good guy to write about, so whatever comes out is fine with me," he said. "It's not going to make me or break me. I'm not going to do anything stupid because somebody says something bad about me."

Big Brown bounced back from the Belmont with gritty wins in the Haskell Invitational and the Monmouth Stakes and was poised for a shot at Curlin before his career-ending injury.

"We had so much fun with him," Dutrow said. "He went for the Triple Crown. You can't do much better than that. We got nothing to be sorry about or complain about. We had a great year with him."

Kip Deville accompanied Big Brown during a workout over Aqueduct's turf course when his famous stablemate tore a three-inch piece of flesh off his foot after it collided with his right rear foot.

"I wish we could've had a shot at it, but it wasn't meant to be," said Michael Ivarone of IEAH Stables, Big Brown's principal owner, referring to the BC Classic.

Dutrow said he expects Big Brown to win an Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old, while predicting Curlin will earn his second consecutive Horse of the Year honor.

"We couldn't show up so that's got to cost us for the voting, and he (Curlin) showed up. That's got to mean something," the trainer said.

Experiencing his first taste of success in the Triple Crown has made Dutrow hungry for more.

"I want to be there. I had a lot of fun," he said. "We got a couple of nice horses and we're looking forward to next year with them. We're looking to just keep building and just keep going good."