GO CURLIN : Curlin Preakness News

Preakness winner, Hard Spun likely headed to Belmont
By Sandra McKee
Originally published May 21, 2007

The sun had barely put a streak into the night sky yesterday morning, when trainer Steve Asmussen strolled into the stakes barn at Pimlico Race Course.

Asmussen, usually an intense man who follows a tight schedule, wasn't supposed to be there. He had said the night before - shortly after his brilliant 3-year-old, Curlin, had won a spectacular battle to win the 132nd Preakness by a head bob over Street Sense in a record-tying time of 1 minute, 53.46 seconds - that he would be flying back to Lexington, Ky., that night.

But here he was, looking mellow, though he sheepishly smiled and said, "I don't think that [getting mellow] will happen."

But he had altered his schedule and acknowledged that yesterday was one of the rare times he didn't actually know how many of the 210 horses he trains were running in races.

"I decided I'd rather stay here, have dinner with my family and enjoy what we had just accomplished," he said. "I wanted to prolong it."

Maybe the word for Asmussen is satisfied.

After listening to veteran horsemen telling him for weeks leading up to the Kentucky Derby that Curlin was too inexperienced and too lightly raced to be a contender in that race, he now has a horse with a Triple Crown victory on his 4-1 record, whose only blemish is a third-place finish in the Derby.

If not for a bad trip at Churchill Downs, he might have won there, too. As it was, he finished a strong third and Asmussen was in a hurry to get Curlin to Baltimore.

Now, the big red horse has shown his willingness not only to put out the big effort through adversity, but Saturday also showed how he responds in a dogfight. No one is questioning his capabilities now.

"I felt an urgency to come here," he said. "I just felt for his well-being he needed to run in the Preakness.

"He had been ridden so aggressively in the Derby, I didn't want to confuse him by taking him directly to the Belmont. I needed him to know he needs to keep doing the work.

"And now it feels so satisfying that people are seeing what we saw in him from the first. ... If you're not going to run a horse like him in this race, what are you waiting for?"

Curlin, Street Sense and Hard Spun, the first three finishers, came out of the Preakness in good shape, their trainers said. Asmussen said Curlin, though, knew he had done some hard work Saturday.

"He was moving a little bit slower this morning," Asmussen said. "He was in a little more of resting mode. A little tired. Quiet. Like us. Less adjectives. Just answers."

The answer to whether the big three will now go on to the Belmont appears fairly clear to Asmussen and Larry Jones, Hard Spun's trainer. Carl Nafzger, who trains Street Sense, sounded a little more interested in the Belmont yesterday than he had Saturday night, but was still unsure.

"The Kentucky Derby establishes stud value, and the Preakness confirms it," Nafzger said. "So I lost no ground here. I got rid of the people talking about [Street Sense having a] Churchill bias. I got him off the rail and in the middle of the racetrack.

"We'll decide on Belmont in three or four days."

All three men said they would walk their horses early this week, return them to the racetrack in midweek, consult with their owners and then make a final decision.

And they all seemed intrigued by the idea that their horses could continue their rivalry in the third classic.

"They all three did race extremely good in Kentucky," Asmussen said. "They came here and still looked extremely good. Now ... I'd like to see all of us back at the racetrack in three weeks."

If these three horses do go to New York, they will have the opportunity to do something no other class of 3-year-olds has ever done.

When Curlin, Street Sense and Hard Spun, the top three finishers in the Kentucky Derby, finished in the top three at the Preakness, they did something that had only been done twice before.

In 1997, Kentucky Derby champion Silver Charm, runner-up Captain Bodgit and third-place finisher Free House also finished in the top three at the Preakness, with Captain Bodgit and Free House swapping places.

And in 1978, Affirmed, Alydar and Believe It actually mirrored their Derby performances.

But no class of 3-year-olds has finished in the top three at all three classics. The three horses coming closest were Ponder, Capot and Palestinian in 1949, when they ran 1-2-3 in the Derby, 5-1-2 in the Preakness and 2-1-3 at the Belmont.

In fact, the top three finishers in the Derby have continued on the road to the Preakness and Belmont just six times.

"It would be good for racing," Jones said, when asked whether he would like to see Curlin and Street Sense join Hard Spun in New York for the 1 1/2 -mile endurance test.

"The Belmont is out there to test the champion. I think a lot of us have evenly matched horses, and our job is to try to get our horse to improve at the right time. I think tying a classic stakes record here shows we're a good crop."

And Jones, who has seen Hard Spun finish second in the Derby and third in the Preakness, sounds excited when he thinks about going to New York.

"I think Steve and Carl feel real bad that Hard Spun hasn't had a turn at winning," he said, laughing. "But the Belmont will be so much different. We look like we could be the lone speed in that race, and I'd like to see what we could do if we were out front without someone breathing down our throat."

sandra.mckee@baltsun.com

MSNBC: Curlin tough enough, will win Preakness
There is no teacher like adversity, which is why Curlin will move to the head of the class in Saturday's Preakness Stakes and defeat Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18727877/from/ET/

he following appeared on Boston.com: Headline: Curlin could crash party
Date: May 18, 2007 "Two weeks ago, he was a curiosity as much as he was a 3-year-old
colt running in the Kentucky Derby. Curlin had raced three times in his career, but not once
as a 2-year-old. No horse had won the Derby after not racing as a 2-year-old since Apollo in '82. As in 1882."

http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/horse_racing/articles/2007/05/18/curlin_could_crash_party/
'CURLIN' UP
By ED FOUNTAINE
Click on the link below to access the story.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/05152007/sports/curlin_up_sports_ed_fountaine.htm

(WHAS) Gary Roedemeier's Preakness picks
01:37 PM EDT on Thursday, May 17, 2007

It was so easy to pick Street Sense for the Kentucky Derby and then watch the race unfold just as I had envisioned. So, Street Sense is my horse. How can I pick against him in the Preakness? I can. Something deep down inside says Curlin is going to win the Preakness. And then a third horse is going to win the Belmont. But, first let’s look at this Saturday.

Curlin:
Curlin did not have the best trip in the Derby, but remember, Street Sense was running 19th as they went around the first turn. Even Street Sense Trainer Carl Nafzger says, if there’s one horse with a chance to improve from Derby Day, it’s Curlin. But maybe he’s just taking the pressure off his horse, who passed Curlin and everybody else at Churchill. But at the Preakness, Curlin will likely get a stalking trip and be ready to make a move after that last sharp turn to the left. I think Pimilico fits this horse for some reason and he will win the second leg of the Triple Crown.

BALTIMORE SUN

Curlin stands as roadblock to Street Sense repeat
Courtesy of the Baltimore Sun

John Eisenberg
May 17, 2007

These days, as soon as a horse wins the Kentucky Derby, fans immediately start calculating whether this is the one who could overcome all obstacles and break the Triple Crown drought, which dates to 1979.

As you may have noticed, those obstacles tend to arise more in the 1 1/2 -mile Belmont Stakes than in the Preakness. Ten horses have won the Crown's first two jewels during the drought only to lose in the Belmont. Only two horses have won the first and third jewels but faltered in the Preakness.

For a good horse, the Preakness has served as a valedictory more than an obstacle, and while there are many explanations, let's focus on a key one that has surfaced in the past decade: the absence of the best horses who didn't win the Kentucky Derby.

The Preakness used to shape up almost every year as a Derby rematch, but fewer owners and trainers are running their 3-year-olds in all three races, fearing burnout. The Preakness, coming so soon after the Derby, is getting skipped more often.

Remember Empire Maker? After he ran second as the Derby favorite in 2003, his trainer, Bobby Frankel, skipped Baltimore, pointed the colt for the Belmont and won it, spoiling Funny Cide's Triple Crown bid.

Since Silver Charm, Free House and Captain Bodgit battled it out so memorably in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness a decade ago, fewer dangerous Derby losers have come back for more at Pimlico.

But things might be different this year with Curlin among the eight starters scheduled to run Saturday at Pimlico against Street Sense, the latest Kentucky Derby winner.

Street Sense appears to have a legitimate shot at going all the way, but among the many obstacles that could deny him, Curlin's presence in the Preakness ranks high.

Hard Spun, the Derby runner-up, is also back for more, as is Circular Quay, a horse that has been off the board only twice in eight races, most recently in the Derby, where he was sixth. But Curlin, a lightly raced colt who ran third at Churchill Downs, has been turning horsemen's heads all spring.

Curlin is a big, powerful chestnut who exudes winning qualities; baseball scouts wouldn't hesitate to label him a five-tool prospect. He sold for just $57,000 as a yearling, and sore shins kept him from competing as a 2-year-old, but when he finally made it to the track earlier this year, he won his first race so impressively that within 48 hours his owner sold a majority interest in him for $3.5 million.

Curlin seemingly validated the sale by winning his next two races, including the Arkansas Derby by 10 1/2 lengths, to enter the Derby unbeaten. His talents were so obvious he was among the betting favorites despite his extreme inexperience.

Bob Baffert, the trainer who has won three Derbys and four Preaknesses, said before the Derby "we all tried to buy that horse [earlier this year] but we were too slow and didn't have enough money." Asked what he thought about trainer Todd Pletcher's chances of winning the Derby with five starters, Baffert replied, "I would rather have Curlin than any five horses."

As it turned out, a bad draw and a 20-horse field gave Curlin trouble in the Derby; he got caught in traffic coming out of the No. 2 post and trailed 13 horses entering the second turn before finding his stride and rallying to finish third. He wasn't gaining on Street Sense or Hard Spun at the end, but he passed a lot of horses.

Baffert's comment proved prescient when Pletcher's horses placed sixth, eighth, ninth, 18th and 20th, with Circular Quay the best. That colt's late entry here is another positive development for the caliber of this year's Preakness.

But it is Curlin's presence that gives the race a dose of star power.

"That's a very gifted horse," trainer D. Wayne Lukas said yesterday.

Curlin's connections didn't deliberate for long before deciding to run in the Preakness. Trainer Steve Asmussen expressed interest on the morning after the Derby, and a commitment soon followed.

"We've got an outstanding 3-year-old that is very healthy at an extremely important time of the year, with an opportunity of winning a classic," Asmussen said.

The colt shipped from Kentucky to Baltimore yesterday and will gallop at Pimlico for the first time today. His goal is to follow the examples of Afleet Alex and Point Given, the most recent horses to lose in Kentucky and then rebound to win the Preakness.

It happened a lot more between 1985 and 1997, when no fewer than nine Preakness winners stopped Triple Crown bids here after losing in the Derby. Curlin looms as a potential throwback to that no-so-distant era, and a real threat to Street Sense.

Link to the article: http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/horseracing/preakness/bal-sp.eisenberg17may17011628,0,3461963.column

BLOODHORSE

Preakness Contender Curlin Works Easy Half-Mile - May 14, 2007

05/11/07 - Curlin will have another go at Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) winner Street Sense in the Preakness (gr. I).
Courtesy of the BloodHorse

Trainer Steve Asmussen said May 10 that his third-place finisher in last week's Derby came out of the race in good shape and is set for the second leg of the Triple Crown on May 19.

"The only hesitation was waiting for him to go back to the track" after his first defeat in four lifetime starts, Asmussen said during a conference call. "I was curious where he would be mentally."

Curlin went for a one-mile jog at Churchill Downs on May 9. Asmussen thought his lightly raced colt might be nervous on his first trip back to the track.

"He's not shown any indication of that," Asmussen said. "His appetite has stayed good. He's a very big, strong horse and we're very pleased how he came out of race physically. He was very relaxed going to the track, and I just wanted to make sure it was still him."

Curlin won his first three starts by a combined 28 1/2 lengths, and went off as the 5-1 second choice in the Derby behind Street Sense. Robby Albarado will again be aboard the colt.

Curlin finished 5 3/4 lengths behind runner-up Hard Spun and eight lengths back of Street Sense.

"I don't think Curlin could have come out in any better shape," Asmussen said. "And I think he is capable at this level."

(WHAS) Gary Roedemeier's Preakness picks 01:37 PM EDT on Thursday, May 17, 2007

(WHAS) Gary Roedemeier's Preakness picks
01:37 PM EDT on Thursday, May 17, 2007