Curlin shoots for earnings mark in Jockey Club Gold Cup

Sep 27, 2008 - 10:03 AM ELMONT, New York (Ticker) -- Reigning Horse of the Year Curlin seeks to become the first North American horse to crack the $10 million mark in earnings when he faces eight challengers in the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup on Saturday at Belmont Park.

The Steve Asmussen-trained Curlin has a record of 10-2-2 in 14 starts. He comes into the Jockey Club with earnings of $9,796,800, second to Cigar, who earned $9,999,815 to lead North American thoroughbreds.

Curlin won this 1 1/4-mile race last year and a repeat performance will secure $450,000, driving his bankroll to $10,246,800.

"Cigar left an indelible memory and was always a great competitor," Curlin's owner Jess Jackson said this week. "To win the Jockey Gold Cup this Saturday is not about the money. Curlin has proven himself as a champion and established himself as one of the best racehorses in the last century.

"No horse has done what he's done - not racing as a 2-year-old and competing well in the Classics and winning (the Preakness), then winning the (2007) Gold Cup, Breeders' Cup Classic, Horse of the Year and the Dubai World Cup."

Saturday's weather forecast for the New York Metropolitan Area calls for rain, however, a sloppy or wet track doesn't figure to be a problem for the 4-year-old son of Smart Strike. Curlin rolled to a 4 1/2-length victory in the 2007 Breeders' Cup Classic at Monmouth Park over a sloppy, sealed surface.

Even the connections of Curlin's foes are wowed.

"I would say he stacks right up there with the greatest horses we have seen," said trainer Neil Howard, who will send out Mambo in Seattle, the second-place finisher in the Travers Stakes. "The Secretariats, talk about the Cigars and the Skip Aways.

"You've got to put Curlin right up there to tell you the truth, not only because of the races he has put together and races he won, but because he has done it like one of those throwback situations, travel all over the world and doing it all - distances, all weights. ... Steve does his homework like I have ever seen, not leaving a stone unturned."

Howard thinks Mambo in Seattle, the 7-2 second choice from post nine, is ready for the dance.

"I am anxious," Howard said. "Our horse is training well. He will run his race. He never embarrasses you. We all know that this is a big undertaking."

Curlin, the 3-5 morning-line favorite from post five, brings a five-race win streak into the Jockey Club Gold Cup. He put in his final prep on Monday, working a half-mile in 51.85 seconds over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga.

"He worked perfect," Asmussen's assistant trainer Scott Blasi said. "Typical Curlin-type work before he runs; half-mile blowout, nothing special; nice, smooth work."

What is next for Curlin?

Jackson said if Curlin comes out of the Jockey Club "fit and ready" he would consider the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic, the Grade II $500,000 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs or the Group I $2.5 million Japan Cup Dirt at Hanshin on December 7.

Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown is expected to run next month's Breeders' Cup Classic, setting up the possibility of an intriguing head-to-head showdown with Curlin.

"I think (Curlin has) already proven he's among the best horses of the past half-century, if not the past century," Jackson said. "To be compared to a Cigar or a Secretariat or to any other great horse is just a great honor for Curlin.

"We've followed the legacies of other great horses and tried to emulate what they did. That's why we ran in the Woodward. That's why we're running in the Jockey Club Gold Cup."