As UPS shipments go, this one hardly seems profitable — taking a 126-pound package just a mile and a half, dropping off

basically at the pickup point. But the job — otherwise known as Saturday's Belmont Stakes — might pay sizable dividends

Associated Press (ENLARGE)

Big Brown's jockey, Kent Desormeaux, has a sponsorship deal with UPS, the terms of which are carefully guarded.

Associated Press (ENLARGE)

The legend of Big Brown started building May 3 with a victory in the Kentucky Derby. A Preakness victory followed, giving the horse a chance to become the first Triple Crown winner since 1978. And, yes, the name really refers to UPS.

BELMONT STAKES 6:25 p.m. Saturday, New York, ABC BUSINESS Latest Headlines: [an error occurred while processing this directive] • More business news • Business photo galleries

for the Sandy Springs-based delivery giant if Big Brown takes care of business.

"We've made a lot of deliveries, but historically nothing this big," said Ron Rogowski, the corporation's director of sponsorship and events.

Poised at the starting gate to equine immortality, heavily favored to become horse racing's first Triple Crown winner in 30 years, Big Brown also is taking UPS along on one of sports marketing's fantastic, fortunate rides.

And another Atlanta-based company — Hooters — has jumped onboard the Big Brown bandwagon, just this week becoming a secondary sponsor. The chain famous for its wings and its voluptuous waitstaff adds a whole other element to the building commercial carnival around Big Brown.

There was a brief photo session Wednesday with the horse and its jockey, Kent Desormeaux, and a gaggle of Hooters models. Additionally, there will be two models joining the small Hooters corporate presence at Saturday's race, although it is uncertain whether they could take part in the winner's circle celebration should Big Brown win.

"We'll try to get as close as we can," said Mike McNeil, vice president of marketing for Hooters.

They definitely pose an extra distraction, but as McNeil said, "UPS is a giant compared to us. Because of the name of the horse, they are going to get a lot more out of it than we are — they're probably paying a lot more, too. We just want to do what we can and be a part of the team, part of the branding."

Hooters will get a logo placement on Desormeaux during the race and will promote Belmont watching parties at many of its 442 restaurants around the country. Where UPS loses out in sex appeal, it more than makes up in name recognition and its longer-standing relationship with the horse and its ownership.

"If [Big Brown] wins the Triple Crown, he will be one of the most celebrated athletes in 30 years," said Kelly Weitsma, the agent who helped broker the sponsorship deals. "And [UPS] has really been able to ride the train with us."

As Big Brown has won the first two legs of the Triple Crown — the Kentucky Derby and Preakness — Desormeaux has worn the UPS logo.

The story of how the horse got his name, the popular nickname for UPS, has spread through all levels of the national media. His original owner was a grateful trucking exec with whom UPS had just renewed a freight contract.

In monetary terms, Eric Wright of the corporate sponsorship research firm Joyce Julius Associates figures that UPS has received an estimated $4 million worth of media exposure thus far. That number easily would double if Big Brown wins again Saturday, he said.

In human, emotional terms, Big Brown has given the 12,200 UPS employees in Atlanta and 425,000 worldwide a reason to rally around horse racing's most famous trifecta. "Go Big Brown" buttons have become de rigueur from Snellville to Singapore.

"It's a chance to be involved with a potentially historic moment," said Rogowski, who spotted many of those buttons during his trip to Asia last week. "As well as the marketing opportunities, it's an opportunity for the employees to get excited."

"You can bet the farm [on Big Brown]," said Gene Reilly, a UPS print production supervisor who is planning to host a Belmont watching party for friends and co-workers at Marietta's Trilogy. "I really believe he's too big and too powerful to be beaten.

"It's all over the place, in every hallway [at UPS] — 'Go Big Brown, Go Big Brown.' We're going to have a big party to root him in and see him make history. UPS is right there with him."

Such enthusiasm aside, even as Big Brown has won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness with an unchallenged closing burst, history is littered with almosts. Since Affirmed became the last Triple Crown winner in 1978, 10 horses have won the first two legs but failed at the Belmont. The campaign wears on the favorite and, indeed, Big Brown's handlers currently are treating a cracked hoof that appeared after the Preakness.

UPS has its share of carefully plotted sports marketing campaigns, from the Olympics to NASCAR sponsorship. Big Brown, however, appeared as if by magic.

Even the slickest marketing exec could not have designed such a scenario. The odds against latching onto a champion thoroughbred are staggering — from an estimated crop of 40,000 yearlings each breeding season arises but one 3-year-old winner of the Kentucky Derby. Also, the thoroughbred registry does not allow blatantly commercial names. Therefore, there are no horses named King of Beers or Coca-Cola Kid on the immediate horizon.

It just so happened that UPS abandoned its federal trademark of the name Big Brown three years ago, before Paul Pompa Jr. decided to pay tribute to his biggest business benefactor. Pompa sold majority interest in the unbeaten horse to IEAH Stables for $3 million after it won its first race as a 2-year-old.

Rogowski said Big Brown was not on any corporate radar until a few weeks before May's Kentucky Derby, when IEAH approached UPS about striking up a relationship. First, the company had to verify both the horse's potential and the story behind the origin of its name.

"Within a few days, we realized this was a phenomenal opportunity," Rogowski said. Technically, the sponsorship deal is with Big Brown's ownership group and his jockey, since a horse has difficulty signing a contract. Terms of the deal, which was renewed after each successful step of the Triple Crown, are carefully guarded. But it clearly is Big Brown that is carrying the freight.

Just as for the gambler putting $2 on the nose of a horse, there are risks for a company putting its image on the line behind all the uncertainties of horse racing. For instance, Big Brown's Derby victory was largely overshadowed by second-place finisher Eight Belles breaking down shortly after the finish. The filly, both front legs shattered, had to be destroyed on the track. UPS was largely silent during the ensuing discussion on the humaneness of racing, choosing to donate $10,000 to Thoroughbred Charities of America after the Derby.

Its relationship with Big Brown has been as low-key as the small corporate patch that Desormeaux wears on his riding britches or the UPS hat he dons in the winner's circle. UPS is letting the horse's performance do much of the talking. There will be, for example, no UPS commercials during the Belmont network telecast, the company said.

Ultimately, then, what can Big Brown do for Big Brown?

There is the obvious "top-of-the-mind awareness" that UPS hopes to generate with potential customers, said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. Also, he said, there is great value in being able to treat some of the company's largest customers to a day at the races and impress upon them the image of Big Brown triumphant. UPS will have a large hospitality area at the Belmont.

"It is hard to find unique sports marketing platforms anymore," Swangard said. "This one is unique, and it will be very hard to replicate in the future."

If Big Brown wins Saturday, his name will be etched forever along with such classic ones as Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Citation. Rogowski said UPS does have plans in place to piggyback upon that possibility beyond the Belmont, but he was not about to reveal any of them beforehand.

And if he loses, "that's pretty much it," Swangard said.

For unlike the typical UPS delivery, this one is not guaranteed.

"There are such big expectations that I'm nervous already," Rogowski said days before Big Brown makes his one last run.