Big Brown and the Economy

June 6, 2008 By 8 Comments

Where superstition, gambling, and the stock market intersect: According to this article, Big Brown victory may spook markets, whenever a horse wins the Triple Crown, the stock market plunges for the rest of the year. However, when a horse that wins the Kentucky Derby and Preakness (as Big Brown has done so far) but LOSES the Belmont Stakes (to be run on Saturday), the market goes up.

So cheer for anyone but Big Brown. But if he wins, sell everything you have in the market, which, if everyone does it, would create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Filed Under: Economics, Sports 8 Comments
About Gene Veith

Professor of Literature at Patrick Henry College, the Director of the Cranach Institute at Concordia Theological Seminary, a columnist for World Magazine and TableTalk, and the author of 18 books on different facets of Christianity & Culture.

  • Joe

    There have been so few triple crown winners that it can’t be causative and there is barely enough data to even suggest it is correlative. Go Big Brown!!!!!!

  • Joe

    There have been so few triple crown winners that it can’t be causative and there is barely enough data to even suggest it is correlative. Go Big Brown!!!!!!

  • http://www.geneveith.com Veith

    Yes, Joe, I do realize that racing horses do not CAUSE the stock market to do one thing or another. Not just because there is not enough data but because THE TWO HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH EACH OTHER!

  • http://www.geneveith.com Veith

    Yes, Joe, I do realize that racing horses do not CAUSE the stock market to do one thing or another. Not just because there is not enough data but because THE TWO HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH EACH OTHER!

  • Joe

    I know, but I am on a Big Brown high – I can’t let anything bring me down.

  • Joe

    I know, but I am on a Big Brown high – I can’t let anything bring me down.

  • Carl Vehse

    Well, there. You jinxed him, as the superstitious would say.

    It’s like some commercial passenger airplanes that don’t have a Row 13.

  • Carl Vehse

    Well, there. You jinxed him, as the superstitious would say.

    It’s like some commercial passenger airplanes that don’t have a Row 13.