New Poll: Curlin, Now What?
I think Curlin ran well but his solid second wasn’t the unwavering “full speed ahead” signal we all had hoped for.
If anyone can learn quickly, it’s Curlin. I’m always blown away when I think about how much he learned between the Derby and the Preakness. The Derby was the first time he wasn’t on the pace and the first time he couldn’t easily put away a field. But he came right back in the Preakness and owned sitting off the pace and suddenly showed off his new found skill of looking an opponent in the eye and going after him.
I’m hoping he’ll be the same overachieving student after the Man o’War:
So, what would you do? Run him again on the turf in the states? Should they change the target to the BC Turf? Should he just stick to dirt OR stick to the plan for the Arc? I’m not sure how I feel about it, I’m leaning towards another turf try here in the states and then ship him for a prep race if works out well.
In the last poll, 16 of you (me included) thought Zenyatta should train for the Classic, 15 of you thought she could be interesting and 12 of you gave the whole idea a big thumbs down. Her performance in the Vanity no doubt helped in the No department but I still think at the very least she’s an interesting prospect for the Classic, particularly given the absence of Heatseeker and Curlin.
Thanks to all who participated in the last poll and I’ll so some much needed catch up posting tomorrow!
Posted by dana on Jul 12 2008
Filed Under: 2008, BC Classic, Poll, 4yo, Zenyatta, YouTube, Turf, Fans, Curlin, Race Replay, International Racing, Racing
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It will be interesting to see where they run Curlin next. I just don’t see them shipping him to France for the Arc. It was a nice second place finish, but I just don’t see him beating Europe’s best on the turf in the Arc. If they ship him anywhere it should be to win not place.
My guess is they will move him back to dirt and maybe aim for the Japan Cup dirt. They seem dead set against running him at Santa Anita for the Breeders Cup.
I bet against Curlin and had Red Rocks. It was a logical day to take a stand against him. I would think they’d give him another shot on grass. It would be premature to scratch the Arc plan after today’s performance. Red Rocks and Talk are no slouches, but Curley Joe will need a much bigger performance to win overseas. There are a few big guns over there. Try him back on grass, and if it doesn’t work out, it’s not like the horse will have forgotten how to run on dirt. But, wait, there isn’t any dirt left in California.
He was so handsome today.
:(
No question he should stay on grass and go to France.
Reason being, unless it’s all about money, he’s done it on dirt and can only sully his place in history is he loses on that surface again. Winning will do nothing for him.
After all, after Big Brown lost the Triple Crown, dirt is dead this year. Even if the two horses were to meet at some point, what excitment would there really be in that.
If his owner truly want’s to give race fans soemthign to cheer about, he’ll keep the horse on grass. After all, he’s the one who got us all excited about the possibilites. To pull the plug on him at thispoint would forever brand his fine animal a loser.
TvNB
D - I don’t know, I agree with Charles that they should give him one more try. The more I think about it the more I think about his Derby to Preakness performance.
After watching the race again he actually ran like he used to run before the Derby, off the pace. Since then his been a little more involved in the pace if not totally on it. Mind you, yesterday’s pace was stupid but still, I would have thought he would have been positioned more like Red Rocks. I think he could do better on turf if he actually trained for it and tried again.
E - he sure was!
TvNB - I agree that it would be the wrong thing to do to pull the plug.
Val has a great rant/post on the subject!