Curlin, the Classic and the Crackerjacks

Soon, Curlin will be on his way to Santa Anita. And soon, the carping crackerjacks will look that way, too.

After Curlin won today’s $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park and pushed his earnings to $10,246,800, a record for a horse based in North America, his connections announced he would leave Sunday for California, according to the New York Racing Association. And at Santa Anita he’ll get a feel for the new Pro-Ride synthetic surface, with the idea, and indeed the hope, being that he’ll take to it and move on to the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 25.

And so now, in the weeks leading up to the Classic, pundits and pseudo-pundits – and there are far more of the latter – will question whether Curlin is quite as good as he once was. After all, they’ll say, he won the Gold Cup by only three-quarters of a length over Wanderin Boy. And he won the Woodward by only 1 1/4 lengths over Past The Point.

Those performances don’t quite compare, they’ll say, to Curlin’s domination in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, where he won by 4 1/2 lengths over Hard Spun. Since then, or, to be more specific, since making the journey to Dubai, he hasn’t quite been, they’ll say, the same horse.

In that assessment there may be some validity. He’s not the same horse. As a 4-year-old Curlin has become more mature and professional. As for the implication that he may not be as good, that’s pure flapdoodle.

He overcame trouble to win the Gold Cup, just as he overcame trouble in the Woodward, and in both he ran down a horse who had been cruising on the lead. Curlin’s winning time today – 2:01.93 for the 1 1/4 miles– was actually quite good given the sloppy conditions. I would even suggest that his victory today was better than his performance in last year’s Gold Cup.

Last year, of course, Curlin closed with determination to get up in the final strides and beat Lawyer Ron by a neck. This year, he closed strongly again, without feeling the whip, to win with authority, if not necessarily the éclat some might prefer. But the fourth quarter-mile of today’s race sets it apart. Curlin ran that fourth quarter in 23.22. And, keep in mind, that was around a turn. He covered today’s final half-mile in 48.15. Last year, he ran the final half in 48.94.

His final quarter wasn’t quite as fast this year, but that’s only because he had control of the race by mid-stretch. When he had to deliver a punch, in that fourth quarter, he delivered it with overwhelming power. No, he’s not quite the same horse -- he has learned that the purpose of all this running in circles is simply to finish ahead of the opposition, not run away from them – but he’s just as good.

His maturity and professionalism are evident, too, in his workouts. At the end of a five-eighths move in the company of a stablemate with modest talent, Curlin will finish with an advantage of only a length or so.

Alysheba was the same. As I’ve pointed out before, he finished first in 12 races (including the Blue Grass, where he was disqualified) in his career, but he won by more than a length only twice. And he won his last four, including the Classic, by a combined margin of 1 3/4 lengths.

Buckpasser was like that, too. He won 25 races in his career – 15 by less than a length. Although he was one of the most talented horses in the history of the sport, only three times in his career did he win by more than two lengths. He understood the goal, the objective, the purpose of all this running in circles: It’s winning.

Curlin understands it so well that today he became the first North American horse to surpass $10 million in earnings.

Comments

[Vic in Chicago]

Hi Gary - Excellent write-up on Curlin going to the Breeders Cup Classic. I admire Jess Jackson for deciding to give it a shot, and I also admire him for letting Curlin make the final decision (by how he adjusts to the synthetic surface).

This year's field is shaping up as stronger than last year's, and Curlin will have his work cut out for him.

(Side note - I wish Nick Zito would loosen up and send Commentator. He's running the best he ever has, and who wouldn't cheer for a seven-year-old gelding?)

All that said, you never want to bet against Curlin. Any horse that wants to win the BCC has to beat the defending champ, and that won't be easy!

(One more thing...how about a write-up one of these days on the incredible, and absolutely gorgeous, Zenyatta! Did she look great Saturday or what? Actually, I'd like to see her take on the boys in the BC Classic!)

Take care.

Vic in Chicago

[Gary West]

Vic,

After writing this for the blog Saturday, I spoke with Steve Asmussen, and he described exactly what I was talking about by saying Curlin "definitely understands what his job is." The implication was clear: His job is simply to win.

Yes, I'm looking forward to the Breeders' Cup. The synthetic surface seems to be encouraging the Europeans, and the Classic field could be outstanding. And you're quite right: I need to write more about Zenyatta. (By the way, when I wrote about her a few months ago, I got a rather rude, if not downright nasty, letter telling me I should have written about Peppers Pride instead.) She's a remarkable filly.

I'd love to see Zenyatta take on males, but given the fallout from the Eight Belles tragedy, I dont think we'll see that. But she's the perfect filly for the task. She's so big, no colt could push her around.

I agree: Commentator seems to be in the best form of his life and deserves a shot at the Breeders' Cup.

But now I have a question for you? Were you at Hawthorne this past weekend, and if so, what were you impressions of Fairbanks?

Thanks for reading, Vic.

[Vic in Chicago]

Hi Gary,

No, I was not at Hawthorne. I might have gone, but I was so excited about all the huge races at Belmont and Santa Anita that I went and got a table at my local sports bar/OTB and watched hour after hour of the top horses in the country.

The highlight came when my two favorite horses in the world, Curlin and Zenyatta, raced within 20 minutes of one another.

By the way, thanks for your nice comment about Chicago a while back. Actually, I lived in Ft. Worth from 1988 to 1994, and enjoyed it a lot. We lived Southwest, out off of Bryant-Irvin, before it was quite so built up as it is now.

It would be fun to come back and visit, and stop by Lone Star Park, which wasn't there then.

Keep up the good writing!

Vic

[Vic in Chicago]

Hey Gary -

I take back my comments that you need to write more about Zenyatta. I went back and dug up your piece on Lady Z from back in July. Wow - you were on the Zenyatta bandwagon early! (I missed it at the time.)

By the way, have you heard of another filly named Zarkava? She's an unbeaten three-year-old in Europe who is such a monster that she's taking on the boys this Sunday in the Arc d'Triomphe in Paris (including Duke of Marmalade), and - get this - she's the betting favorite!

Forget Big Brown vs. Curlin, how about Zenyatta vs. Zarkava?

[Gary West]

It's hard, Vic, for me to imagine a 3yo filly beating older males, as Zarkava has just done. What a remarkable horse. But I think her victory might also tell us that we, meaning we Americans, perhaps cling too closely to our preconceptions. How many American trainers would even have attempted to run a 3yo filly in such a race?