Big Brown and Curlin May Matchup Within the Breeders' Cup Classic

Big bay handsome Big Brown, a dual Triple Crown race victor this season, and the chestnut hunk Curlin, reigning (2007) Horse of the Year, may well be headed for a monumentally anticipated showdown in the 2008 (October 25) $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). Curlin's connections have been non-commital concerning their charge's possible entry in the Classic, scheduled to be the final race of this season's Breeders' Cup World Championships in the two-day event at Santa Anita Park, Arcadia, California.

Commitment to Workouts

Thus far, Jess Jackson, majority owner of Curlin, the drop-dead handsome four-year-old chestnut son of Smart Strike, hasn't said Curlin will run in the Classic. But he shipped his HOY to California the day after Curlin's command performance win in the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) September 27 that sent the chestnut soaring to the top of North America's all-time career earnings list. In the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Curlin had a muddy track, something he doesn't find offensive. At Monmouth, New Jersey, he won last season's Breeders' Cup Classic like a roaring freight train sledding across slimey tracks. He handily romped past stubborn Wanderin' Boy, who had led comfortably throughout the Gold Cup, for a 3/4 length win under Robby Albarado's hand ride. Victory pushed Curlin's bankroll to $10,246,800, well past Cigar's $9,999,815, the top figure for 12 years.

On October 6, Curlin breezed a leisurely :52.80 in four furlongs on Santa Anita's new Pro-Ride artificial surface. "If Curlin likes it," said Steve Asmussen, his trainer, in response to questions about commiting to run in the Classic and how the chestnut worked on the synthetic Pro-Ride (a mixture of sand, wax, and fibers on a polymetric sealing base).

Big Brown Likes Everything

Richard Dutrow, Jr., Big Brown's trainer, has made no bones this season about how he likes the chances of his three-year-old bombing bay in any race. And he's not been shy about voicing a matchup call between BB and Curlin. He has said anywhere, anytime, he's ready for his bay to take on the chestnut. BB, a son of Boundary with the great Northern Dancer in both houses of his bloodlines, has run over opponents this season in his seven-race schedule on dirt, synthetics, turf and slop, winning six times, failing only in the Belmont Stakes.

The loss, of course, was hugely disappointing. BB was looking like the next Triple Crown Champion -- he would have been only the twelfth Thoroughbred in history to sweep the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes -- but something went awry on June 7. Kent Desormeaux, BB's regular jockey, eased the big bay at the turn, and thousands moaned his departure from the rest of the field that swept on without the season's brightest star.

Redemption was found in Big Brown's rebound. He won the next two races on his schedule and wiped away most of the doubt about his greatness; still the taint of the failed Belmont lingers. BB is set, looking strong in his recent Aqueduct work in New York, and seems ready to take on Curlin in another field in another setting for glory, and more importantly, to put the nay-sayers completely to rest.

When Jackson commits Curlin, and he surely will, all bettors will clamor to the windows on race day with two horses on their minds as the Classic field lines up for the next great match race, albeit a race within a race.