$10M barrier on the line at Belmont

No thoroughbred horse has ever earned $10 million in prize money, but that could change when reigning Horse of the Year “Curlin” races in the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park.
Recognized as “2007 Horse of the Year,” the four-year-old colt is close on the heels of the top North American money winner of all time, “Cigar,” the six-year-old who won an amazing $9,999,815 in his three-year racing career.
The highlight of the Belmont Park Fall Championship Season comes on Saturday, September 27, with Jockey Club Gold Cup Day. The full day of racing draws fields of international competition and championship caliber horses.
The schedule, topped by the running of five “Grade 1” stakes races, plays out in the New York area’s most magnificent sporting venue, beautiful Belmont Park.
Racing fans and casual observers who want to spend a fall day in the great outdoors can enjoy the Sport of Kings have a chance to witness history for he price of admission: just $2 for a grandstand seat; $5 in the prestigious clubhouse area.
Here’s some background on the very cool colt that’s poised to become racing’s first $10 million dollar horse if he wins the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Curlin has been called everything from a “fire-breathing Pegasus” to the “next Big Red,” a reference to the legendary “Secretariat,” who won thoroughbred racing’s “Triple Crown” in 1973, setting records that still stand at the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.
Now a winner of 10 of his 14 starts, including victories on two continents, Curlin has won $9,796,800, just shy of Cigar’s all-time mark, earning him the accolade of “No. 1 Thoroughbred in the World,” according to the British racing publication, Timeform.
A victory in the mile-and-a-quarter Gold Cup would vault him into the constellation of greats, as racing’s all-time money leader.
Long-bodied, with a powerfully muscled neck and a ground-gobbling stride, he is said to be as imposing a presence on the racetrack as LeBron James is on the basketball court.
With a gleaming coppery-red coat, a chiseled head and a tail that nearly sweeps the ground, the magnificent-looking thoroughbred leaves pundits struggling for the right superlative and fans in awe.
“As magnificent looking as he is on the outside, he’s probably even more magnificent on the inside,” says trainer Steve Asmussen of the four-legged international star, whose majority owner is Kendall-Jackson winery founder Jess Jackson.
Never finishing worse than third, Curlin has been ridden in all but his first start by Louisiana-born jockey Robby Albarado, who calls him “the best horse I ever rode.”
“He’s special,” said Albarado before their victory in the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes, on Saturday, August 30 at the Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York.
“You have little kids wanting to know about Curlin and that alone shows you just how special he is,” Albarado said, recalling them in crowds of autograph seekers.
Relating how Curlin has “Got it all, speed, stamina, heart, ability,” Albarado pointed out, “Now, as time goes on, he’s got an aura about him. He’s matured and he knows how special he is. He’s an amazingly popular animal.”
Far from all the attention being a bother, the potential legend seems to thrive on it. At the sound of a camera click, Curlin will stop and pose, ears pricked and eyes bright as he gazes towards the photographers, according to observers.
Last year’s wins include the Arkansas Derby, the “second jewel of the Triple Crown” Preakness Stakes, the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont and Breeders’ Cup Classic, a performance which earned Curlin the Eclipse award for top thoroughbred of the year.
Following owner Jess Jackson’s decision to campaign the colt at age four rather than breed him, Curlin served notice with a record-setting victory in the world’s richest horse race, the $6 million Dubai World Cup.
Upon returning to the U.S., he extended his winning streak to five, handily winning the $750,000 Stephen Foster Handicap race at Churchill Downs, Kentucky in June.
With an eye toward running Curlin on grass at the prestigious European race, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe this October, Jackson entered him in the “Man o’ War” Stakes at Belmont Park in July, where Curlin finished a solid second to the 2006 Breeder’s Cup Turf winner, Irish five-year-old Red Rocks.
From there, he returned to Saratoga where by adding the prestigious Woodward Stakes to his list of victories, Curlin joined the likes of Ghostzapper, Skip Away, Cigar, Holy Bull, Spectacular Bid, Forego, Kelso and Sword Dancer as winners of the race.
And now, it’s onto the Jockey Club Gold Cup, a race featured prominently on the resume of many past Horses of the Year including Mineshaft (2003), John Henry (1981), Affirmed (1979), Kelso (1960-64) and Whirlaway (1942).
Jackson said that the Jockey Club Gold Cup was selected for Curlin in order to “continue his legacy as one of America’s greatest thoroughbreds.”
“We are steering Curlin towards all the renowned competitions and certainly the Jockey Club Gold Cup is one of America’s most prestigious,” he said.
Jackson pointed out that many of America’s top thoroughbreds sealed their honored positions in the annals of the sport by competing in this race.
“Also, this contest is in New York State where Curlin has seen much success and received an outpouring of support,” he said.
In a few days you might see history made, for as little as $2. Very cool, indeed.