NEWS
'Professional' Curlin set for Woodward
Posted: Monday, August 25, 2008 12:14 PM
CURLIN
Photo by Z
by Phil Janack
Horse of the Year Curlin put in his final preparation for the $500,000 Woodward Stakes (G1) on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course with a half-mile breeze on the Oklahoma training track on Monday morning.
Under exercise rider Carlos Rosas, the four-year-old Smart Strike colt was clocked in :49.14 for four furlongs, the fourth-fastest workout of 25 timed moves at the distance. He covered the first furlong in :13.01 and a quarter-mile in :24.98.
"He's very professional,” Rosas said. “Once you step on the track, he knows what's going on. Right now, he knows what's coming. I think he's ready. He's ready to rumble."
Curlin went out at his usual time, shortly before 6 a.m. EDT, but without recent workmate, Hawaii Calls, a four-year-old colt also owned by Jess Jackson's Stonestreet Stable.
"We're ready. We just didn't need much today," said Scott Blasi, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen . "We got the work we needed in him last week."
Monday's breeze was the sixth for Curlin at Saratoga, each a week apart. He was sensational in a seven-furlong move in 1:24.84 on August 18, which came on Saratoga's main track.
"We've had a nice, steady progression of works with him. We're very happy with how he's trained up here," Blasi said. "Last year, we chose to keep him up here getting him ready for the Jockey Club Gold Cup [Stakes (G1)].
"We didn't ship him down to Belmont until a few days before the race. We chose to keep him up here, and that's because of how well he does up here."
Curlin has earned $9,496,800, leaving him $503,015 shy of Cigar's record of $9,999,815 for all-time leading North American-raced earners. Skip Away is second at $9,616,360. A victory in the Woodward would put Curlin second at $9,796,800.
Curlin probably will face a small field in the 1 1/8-mile Woodward, his return to dirt after running second to Red Rocks (Ire) in his turf debut, the Man o' War Stakes (G1) on July 12 at Belmont Park.
Among those expected are Divine Park, unraced since winning the Metropolitan Handicap (G1) on May 26 at Belmont; A.P. Arrow, winless in four starts since taking the Clark Handicap (G2) last fall; Wanderin Boy, a seven-year-old multiple stakes winner; and Argentinean Group 1 winner Star Plus (Arg).
"We're going to go over there and give it our best shot," said Todd Pletcher, the meet-leading trainer of A.P. Arrow. "We're going to hope for the mystique of Saratoga and the `Graveyard of Champions’ … and all that stuff.
"We need all of those stars to align and all the planets to align and we need everything and then some to go right. He's a better horse at this stage, but we'll see. Things happen sometimes."
Blasi said that Curlin already appears to getting into his competitive mode with the race still five days away.
"He's been in the program for a long time, so he knows when it's game time," he said. "There's no horse I can compare to him."
Phil Janack is a New York–based Thoroughbred Times correspondent
