OCEANPORT, N.J. - The 2007 Horse of the Year did not start in 2006. From Feb. 3 to Oct. 27, Curlin put together one of the more amazing seasons in racing history. And the colt saved his best race for last.
When the field hit the stretch of Saturday's $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Monmouth Park, it was down to three horses . . . Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, Preakness winner Curlin and Hard Spun, the colt that kept trying to outrun both of them all year long.
Hard Spun was in his customary spot in front. Curlin and Street Sense had been together the whole race, Curlin on the outside and Street Sense in his favorite spot along the rail. The stage was set for a Classic finish as Curlin and Street Sense were closing fast.
Curlin altered the script. There would be no photos. There would be domination. Curlin ran away from Street Sense and ran by Hard Spun, winning by 4 1/2 lengths, running the mile and a quarter in 2:00.59, making the quite sloppy surface look very fast, earning a Beyer figure of 119 and running his final quarter-mile in 24.3 seconds. Hard Spun easily held second. Street Sense tired in the stretch and finished fourth, a length behind Awesome Gem.
Street Sense, despite wining the Derby and Travers, would get no year-end awards, no Horse of the Year, no 3-year-old champion. The Derby winner and Hard Spun will head off to Darley stud in Kentucky to get ready for stallion careers. Curlin will get all the awards. One can only hope he will race on in 2008, but it is only a hope, given the big money in the breeding world.
In nine 2007 races, Curlin broke his maiden by 12 3/4 lengths, was sold privately for many millions, won the Rebel Stakes by 5 1/4 lengths, the Arkansas Derby by 10 1/2 lengths, finished third in the Derby when he wasn't quite ready for the big field, ran down Street Sense in the Preakness, was barely beaten by the filly Rags to Riches in the Belmont Stakes, finished third in the Haskell, ran down top older horse Lawyer Ron in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and then blew away the best field assembled in 2007.
Add it all up and it was $5.1 million in purses and who knows how much for stallion rights, certainly more than whatever his three new owners paid for 80 percent of the horse back in February.
What Curlin did is unprecedented in modern American racing. Horses simply do not accomplish all this without some 2-year-old racing foundation. But Curlin did it and, apparently, just now is peaking.
