Curlin Wins 2008 Dubai World Cup

2008 Breeders' Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park

The 2008 Breeders' Cup, thoroughbred racing's most prestigious event, consisting of 14 Breeders' Cup races and $25.5 million in purses, will be held on October 24-25, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.

But before that, Belmont Stakes winner Da'Tara is going to race in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course while Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown will be racing in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.

Posted on Saturday, March 29th, 2008

Curlin continued to add to his impressive resume Saturday as the 2007 Horse of the Year pulled away to win the $6 million Dubai World Cup, the world’s riches horse race, by 7 3/4 lengths.

An overwhelming 2-5 morning line favorite, Curlin was positioned perfectly throughout by jockey Robby Albarado before powering past Asiatic Boy in the stretch.

“It’s a great privilege for me to be on him,” Curlin’s jockey Robby Albarado said. “What a horse. He does it all on race day. It’s easy when you ride a great horse like Curlin. He’s not even tired.”

Curlin’s eighth career victory in 11 starts was worth $3.6 million and put his career earnings at $8.8 million, which is third all-time behind Cigar ($9.9 million) and Skip Away ($9.6 million).

“To win on the international stage like this is unbelievable,” said Steve Asmussen, the trainer for Curlin. “It’s a great honor to be involved with this horse.”

Making Curlin’s accomplishments even more is impressive is that he broke his maiden just over a year ago. His 3-year-old campaign in 2007 included wins in the Preakness Stakes and $5 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Curlin also joined Cigar and Pleasantly Perfect as the only horses to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic and World Cup the next year.

Asiatic Boy held on for second, followed by Well Armed then A P Arrow, Great Hunter, Lucky Find, Jalil, Gloria De Campeao, Premium Tap, Sway Yed, Kocab, and Vermilion completed the order of finish. Happy Boy was scratched.

“My horse has run a marvelous race and he fought and fought to get his second place,” said John Murtaghi, who rode Asiatic Boy. “The winner is a monster.”

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"Curlin Wins 2008 Dubai World Cup" was posted on Saturday, March 29th, 2008 at 6:13 pm and is filed under Horse Racing Industry, Horses, Middle East Horse Racing, Stakes Races. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.