Big Brown's win in the Preakness Saturday wasn't just a victory for the horse, his jockey, and his owners (and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, for that matter, which needed a happy race after the tragic horsey death at the Kentucky Derby). It was a victory for UPS. After Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby on May 3, the color-matched shipping giant made an exclusive sponsorship deal with the horse's team.

Jockey Kent Desormeaux had to wear a UPS logo, and only a UPS logo, on his racing pants and don a UPS cap in the winner's circle after the race. He'll have to do the same thing in a few weeks, when Big Brown runs in the Belmont and attempts to become the first Triple Crown winner in 30 years. "It's a marketing person's dream," said the president of the marketing agency that negotiated the deal. Indeed it is.

Big Brown's co-owner, Paul Pompa, Jr., actually named the colt after UPS when his Brooklyn truck company renewed a freight contract with the shipping giant last year. After Big Brown's athletic and marketing successes, Pompa says he'll consider naming his future horses after companies.

Neither UPS nor Big Brown's owners have disclosed the terms of the sponsorship deal, but if the colt wins the Belmont on June 7, the horse will get something worth far more than whatever UPS paid: He'll retire in his prime and never have to run another race again; he'll spend his days getting pampered, making sweet equine love for loads of money, and spreading his speedy seed across the land. Way better than the dog food factory.