by Steve Bailey
The showdown Thoroughbred racing fans have been clamoring for all season moved a step closer to becoming reality on Sunday when Horse of the Year Curlin arrived at Santa Anita Park for a possible start in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1).
The four-year-old Smart Strike colt, fresh off a history-making victory in the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) on Saturday at Belmont Park, arrived at the Arcadia, California, track at about 8:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday and will work on the track’s new Pro-Ride synthetic surface for the next several weeks.
“The Classic is what we showed up for, but he’s got to train well to run,” said Scott Blasi, an assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen who accompanied Curlin on his cross-country flight. “If he’s going to run, we want Santa Anita to be his home for the next 30 days.”
If the colt takes to the surface, he could be entered in the Classic, where he finally would meet dual classic winner Big Brown and 2008 Horse of the Year honors would be definitively settled on the track.
“I think the American public is focused on those two horses running against each other,” Oak Tree Director Sherwood Chillingworth said. “This would bring much-needed attention back to racing.
“[Majority owner] Jess [Jackson] is a sportsman, and giving the American public another opportunity to concentrate again on horse racing is the most important thing of all right now.”
Blasi said Curlin, in typical fashion, made the journey without any problems less than 24 hours after he surpassed two-time Horse of the Year Cigar as the all-time North American-raced money earner with $10,246,800 in career earnings.
Following the race, Jackson, who has said throughout the year that he was hesitant to run Curlin in the Classic because of Santa Anita’s new, untested surface, reversed field and told Asmussen to ship the colt to California to let him train on it.
“Mr. Jackson instructed us to fly out [Sunday] morning about 30 minutes after the race,” Blasi said. “He was really strong in the test barn after the race and he cooled out great. [Jockey] Robby [Albarado] took care of him and just hand rode him through the stretch.
“He shipped very well. He ate a lot and drank a lot of water. He’ll walk here at the barn for two days, and then he’ll resume training. This works well because he would normally walk two days after a race anyway, and this way he’s already here and he’ll have a chance to hydrate himself real good and then have a normal training week.”
Blasi, who traveled straight from New York to California, said Curlin’s regular exercise rider, Carlos Rosas, was expected to arrive in California on Monday.
“He stopped in Kentucky to pick up his clothes,” Blasi said. “Steve told me to just buy some new clothes here.”
Should Curlin demonstrate an affinity for the surface over the next three weeks and be entered in the Classic, no one would be more thrilled than Big Brown’s trainer, Richard Dutrow Jr.
“I was happy to see what I saw [on Saturday] with Curlin, and I can’t wait to get out there and put [Big Brown] in the gate,” said Dutrow, who plans to ship Big Brown to Santa Anita the week of the race.
Other possible starters for the Classic include European stars Henrythenavigator and Duke of Marmalade, Grade 1 winners Commentator, Colonel John, Go Between, Spirit One (Fr), Student Council, and Well Armed, Grade 2 winner Casino Drive, and Travers Stakes (G1) runner-up Mambo in Seattle.
Curlin, who has won 11 of 15 career starts, was assigned a stall in Barn 27, which also is occupied by trainers Neil Drysdale, Jay Robbins, and Bill Spawr, on the Santa Anita backstretch.
The two day Breeders’ Cup World Championships are scheduled for October 24-25 as part of the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita. The $5-million Classic, the weekend’s signature race, will be run on October 25.
Steve Bailey is deputy news editor of Thoroughbred Times