One way to look at things is to say I drove 450 miles round trip over the last 24 hours only to have my heart slightly broken. Another way to look at things would be to say I drove all that way and was able to get within arms reach of the horse I love like no other. By now the news is old hat. Everyone knows what transpired. Curlin put in a game effort in the Grade 1 Man O’ War Stakes but was not able to overcome former Breeder’s Cup Turf champion Red Rocks, ultimately going down in defeat by 2 lengths. The defeat marked an end to Curlin’s run of 5 consecutive victories.
What happened? Well for starters, Curlin appeared to break about a half step slow out of the gate. Two front runners, Sudan and Mission Approved, rocketed to the front and were eyeball to eyeball through early fractions of 22.69 and 42.62. Red Rocks was settled nicely in third, with Curlin jogging along behind in 4th.
As the field turned for home, Sudan and Mission Approved were fading, as is to be expected when “suicide fractions” are set in the early going. Red Rocks and Curlin set in for their drives and for a moment it appeared that Curlin was going to blow past Red Rocks for the score. However, Red Rocks had something left in his tank, and he was able to maintain and even slightly increase his lead on Curlin in the stretch. Ultimately jockey Robby Albarado stopped urging him with the wire closing fast and with no chance of catching Red Rocks.
Curlin returned from the race and was greeted to applause from many of the 8,000 or so fans in attendance who had come to see the defending Horse of the Year take on the challenge of competing against Grade 1 turf runners for the first time. I offered my own words to the colt as he stood before us. It was clear he was unhappy with the outcome.
“That’s okay, boy – we still love you anyway!”
So what happens next? Well, that’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? Owner Jess Jackson seems determined to give Curlin a chance to earn a place in history like no other. Post race comments depict him leaning towards giving Curlin another try on the grass. I’d just like to take a moment to officially tip my hat to Jackson and company for having the courage to test such waters. It’s not often you see the top dirt horse in the world leave his preferred surface in search of greater challenges.
Is the Arc still in the works? Who knows? I know many were ready to dismiss Curlin as having no chance in the Arc, but I’ll ask folks to consider that if this were any other horse – we’d be saying “wow, he could move forward off that first try.” With Curlin, the expectation are simply so stratospherically high that we seem to accept nothing but perfection and victory. I think it’s worth remembering that he had only had one light workout on the grass before wading in against two Breeder’s Cup Turf champions in Red Rocks and Better Talk Now.
I guess what I’m getting at is this: Yes, he deserves another chance – and if his connections want to send him to the Arc still – then I say go for it and perhaps work in another turf effort between then and now to get a more solid reading on where he is. I won’t lie – he didn’t look quite his usual self on the grass – but that could’ve just been the luck of the draw today. As we often say, they are horses and not machines.
I was in the paddock area busily trying to snap pictures of him and offer words of encouragement prior to the race. Amy tells me that it was mentioned over the loudspeakers that Curlin was acting up a bit in the paddock area – which would make sense as it seemingly took forever for him to emerge and do his lap before heading out to the track. I’ve not been able to find a source on that at the moment, but if one emerges, I’ll add it as a reference to this post.
I guess all-in-all today just wasn’t Curlin’s day to prevail on the lawn – but that’s certainly not a definitive statement that it’ll never be his day. He took on a tough group for his first try and fought on valiantly for 2nd. Isn’t it amazing that Curlin’s ceiling is so high that no matter what the colt takes on, 2nd place feels like a disappointment? I think that really says something about how amazing he is.
Great horses lose races – even Secretariat knew defeat. Curlin will be back – and if he doesn’t bounce back on the grass, look at it this way – he’s still the world’s best dirt horse. Only one horse in the world can say that. Greener pastures await, be they on turf or on the main track. Curlin, his connections, and his loyal fans can hold their heads high with pride and rest assured that he gave a good account of himself. For the time being though, you have to take your hat off to Red Rocks, who ran his heart out today and looked every bit the part of a Breeder’s Cup turf champion.
Click on the “more” tag below if you’d like to see some of the photos we shot today of Curlin. It was beyond description to be so close to him that you could almost reach out and touch him. Hopefully there will be many more opportunities to see him before his career is through. I’ll follow him anywhere. France, Japan, you name it and I’ll go see him if humanly possible.
Curliin emerging from the tunnel and stepping onto the track at Belmont Jockey Robby Albarado sits confidently atop the 2007 Horse of the Year
Trainer Steve Asmussen watching Curlin go to post in the Man O' War.
Curlin after the Man O' War
Curlin after the Man O' War #2
Curlin heads back to the paddock after finishing 2nd in the Man O' War
Wow, K! Sounds like you could nearly feel his hot breath on your…arm. This must have been such a thrill. Because of your blog, I can now pick him out amongst the other horses; something I hadn’t thought I’d aspired to do.
I think the impression was that Curlin and co. really had nothing to lose by trying him on turf. Hell, he ran second to a Breeder’s Cup champ, so the scenario hasn’t really changed. Curlin can still get to the Longchamp and still win, which would place him pretty high in the running for greatest horse ever.
Red Rocks is a solid group-2 horse with a one-run style that prefers firmer going with 11F being a good distance for him. His trainer is correct in stating that he was/is underrated.
Actually it is a disappointment that Curlin showed declining form on turf. The horse was blowing after a fairly slow 7F work then was given a slow 4F work on dirt, not much prep for turf. I still think they should run in the Arl Million.
As I noted several times elsewhere, there’s no question Curlin should stay on grass and go to France.
Unless it’s all about money, Curlin’s done it on dirt and can only sully his place in history if he loses on that surface again. Winning will do nothing for him.
After all, after Big Brown didn’t win the Triple Crown, dirt is dead this year. Even if Big Brown and Curlin were to meet at some point, what excitement would there really be in that ?
If Jess Jackson truly wants to give race fans something to cheer about, he’ll keep the horse on grass. To pull the plug on him at this point would forever brand his fine animal as just another good horse that couldn’t cut it on turf.
Thanks for the post and photos. Wish the outcome was more to your liking but he certainly put in a good effort. Hope he sticks around and runs in the BC Turf. How many other horses will ever have a real shot at winning the classic and the turf?
I thought it was a good first effort and that they should give him another turf race here in the States to see if he improves next time out. Turf running seems like a very different style and he has had very little experience with it so far.
Thanks to all for the comments. Always love hearing your takes on what transpires.
My feeling today – having had roughly 24 hours to digest is this.
Curlin needed to be running where Red Rocks was running. I don’t think he has the right kind of kick at the moment on turf to beat the very best. He’ll beat a lot of horses. It took a pretty darn good run by Red Rocks to beat him – but to move forward I think he needs to be where Red Rocks was: Not forward enough to be burned by the speed duel, but ahead of everyone else. I think he left himself too much to do in the stretch for his first run. The more I watch that replay though, the better and better I feel that he is capable of moving forward.
Your analysis above makes a lot of sense. Sorry it wasn’t a win.
test
Damn straight, Kevin! Curlin can definitely move forward from this. No one said it was going to be easy, running on turf. They are going to have to actually train him over the surface, teach him some new tricks. Even then, maybe he goes to France and doesn’t win the Arc. Is he going to embarrass himself? I hardly think so. Even finishing in the top six or seven would be huge. Besides, how many Arc horses come here to run on dirt? Look no farther than the ill-fated George Washington.
Look at the turfsters in Curlin’s family: in addition to Portcullis, Canada’s 2002 champion grass horse, Smart Strike’s graded winners or graded stakes-placed horses include: Shoal Water, Strike a Deal, Twilight Meteor, Smart N Classy, Tungsten Strike, Communique, Fly Smartly, Burst of Fire, Sedgefield, Pleasant Strike, and Chin High. Those Smart Strikes offspring who also share Curlin’s broodmare sire, Deputy Minister, include turfsters Super Freaky and Deputy Strike.
And then there is multiple G1-winner English Channel…give grass a chance
Hey Kevin, It’s Brian from the Belmont Paddock. I love the way you wrote this article.
It was so amazing to see him in person again, what an unbelievable animal, in looks and performance. It was dissapointing seeing him come in second, but after the innitial shock and disappointment wore off and I reviewed it in my head, it didn’t seem like such a bad effort. Actually, if it had been any other horse people would have been praising the excellent first try on turf against a top notch field.
I heard from two different sources that he slammed into the left side of the gate coming out at the start, which would explain his unusually slow start. I think he sat way to far off the suicide pace in the early stages, and was asked to make up too much ground in the stretch in his first turf attempt.
I’m deffinetely confident that he can do this though, go out and beat the best of “both worlds”, turf and dirt. He’s risen to every challenge so far, and even though he didn’t win, I applaud his fine effort against some of the best turf specialists around.
He’s still number one in my heart! Go Curlin!!
About the Man O War itself…it was a quirky race…if you watch it from the perspective of a race within a race…given the fact that the 2 pacesetters were literally out of touch with the rest of the field…you will note that Red Rocks had the equivalent of a loose on the lead run in comfortable fractions…passed the front runners as an obvious matter of course…and held off the one stalking him…Curlin & the one closing, BTN. From a pace perspective…the duel upfront was meaningless except for the two engaged in it. Red Rocks was fit and ready & got a perfect “frontrunner’s” trip. Castellano gave the horse a very smart, in tune ride, as well.
I hope they give Curlin another shot on the grass. One race and then abort makes little sense unless he stunk the joint up…which he decidedly did not. There’s no shame in running 2nd in a Grade 1 race, 1st start on grass after 1 grass work.
I think it’s likely he will move forward in his 2nd race on the weeds…Plus, I love the sporting nature of his connections original plan…if not the Arc, then some variation on the same theme will serve to amplify the horse’s legacy, for sure.
Keven; we have talked about this in the past. Curlin `s fractions were average for the race and he did not set down very well in the streach. Red Rocks a group 2 grass horse overseas that prefers a soft or heavy turf pulled away from Curlin in the streach. If Curlin was a group 2 turf runner he would of ran off with Red Rocks. That being said he has not worked on the grass but once and could improve but remember the Man o War was at best a group 2 field. I cant wait to bet against him in chicago. Back to dirt I say…………….GLC
He can certainly move forward off this race. He hadn’t had to run fast in quite a while. He needed that fast race to get back in top form. He should pay a more realistic price in his next turf race too.
That said, I wouldn’t mind seeing him lose again on the turf if Big Brown is able to dominate in the Haskell and they end up racing each other. I think that would be more interesting to casual fans who don’t care about turf races in France.
Kevin; looking over the comments by steve and jerry ifeel i need to go over the great turf horses i have watched in my 40 years of racing. the champions have a good crusing speed and can postion themselves wearever the races pace is then when asked to sit down and go and keep going. Curlin started timedly not slow timidly did`nt show good crusing speed and did finish sort of well but thats because hes a great horse and a real tryer. i`m sure if he could talk he would keep me off of that s–t. If he had some races under his belt say 5 or 6 he might be good on the weeds but not great the great ones runwell right out of the gate and show no timid reaction to grass. your favorite horse did not show his love for the surface. get him back on dirt where he is a champion. sorry for the sad words and i hope i`m wrong but don`t think so. you have some real interesting watchers here and i come to your site dailey because of the great feedback you get keep it up. GLC
I think Curlin should get at least 3 chances on turf before pointing to the Japan Cup Dirt. Trying him at a flat mile might not be a bad idea either should he fail to win the Arl Million. The BCM could be in Curlins future? Pyro might like a mile on turf.
@Sally C – thanks, glad you stopped over.
@test – are you with the emergency broadcast system?
@Val – wow, knew about English Channel but did not know how extensive his connections were on the grass. That would seem to bode well longterm.
@Brian – hey man, glad you stopped over! Had a great time chatting with you in the paddock. Screamed my voice out during the race – still don’t have that back yet. Thanks for the kind words and I agree with your sentiments. Go Curlin indeed!
@Steve G – very interesting analysis. It was like a race within a race. Hadn’t thought of that before. Needless to say I’d like to see him get another try as well.
@Gerald – always value your opinion here as well. Perhaps hitting the gate had a bit to do with the timid start – but I agree that I remember thinking he didn’t quite look like himself in the early going. Hopefully that changes and he can move forward.
@Jerry – uh-oh – Big Brown and Curlin rears it’s head again?
Yeah, I think the whole country is silently hoping that scenario takes place if in fact he’s not destined to run a big one in the Arc.
@Don – I’m kind of hoping the Japan Cup Dirt is on his list as it would give me an excuse to visit Japan – a country I’ve always wanted to tour. Although I tell Amy that’s all about Sekigahara and not for the local ladies.
Kevin; always sounds like i`m knocking your horse and i don`t mean to. he is a dandy…….GLC
Not at all, Gerald. I appreciate your take. You’re just calling it how you see it. Can’t fault anyone for that.
Curlin will win this time……..
kevin; its delmar time. beware the polytrack was a mess last year you needed a dart board and a lot of darts. the turf was all right but the main track was a mystery the entire meet. poly stats was no help. i was at a loss because i had done so well on the old surface. i`m going to keep better track this year. i do know 1 thing the best jocks have an edge here because they understand the track and get the beater suited horses so don`t be afaid to bet bejorno on a 20/1 shot………GLC
@Gerald – Del Mar time indeed! I’m steamed that I wasn’t able to do any opening day picks – and won’t have any for tomorrow as well.
You and me both were baffled by the main track. I did so well at Hollywood last year, then got wiped out the first 3 weeks of Del Mar.
I only got to see the last 3 races today, but it looked fair. I know the front runner won the last race and it looked like from comments off the pace and closers won the rest.
You were darn right about the best jocks – Bejerano picked up right where he left off.
I should have some picks for Friday and the weekend. I’m giddy as hell about Del Mar and Saratoga.
Curlin was flown into New York on a Thursday and raced on a Saturday with only one work on grass, he might have been tired. I hope they give him some play time for awhile, he has earned it.
[...] then again, given the healthy crowd on hand (which from my vantage point seemed quite larger than Curlin drew for his turf debut in the Man O’ War last summer) that was largely there just to see Rachel- it seemed the correct decision to leave the race on [...]