Horse Racing News is the source of thoroughbred racing information with horse racing odds, betting tips, racing picks, race results, and handicapping. Latest news and articles on top horse racing contenders, jockeys, trainers, three-year-olds, race tracks, and major stakes races such as the Triple Crown races: the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes as well as the Breeders' Cup horse races.Reigning Horse of the Year Curlin To Be Paraded at Churchill Downs Closing Day November 29
Posted on Monday, November 24th, 2008
Stonestreet Stables LLC’s Curlin, North America’s reigning Horse of the Year and the richest racehorse in horse racing history with earnings of $10,501,800, will be paraded one final time at Churchill Downs on closing day of the 26-day Fall Meet.
Curlin is scheduled to be paraded on the main track between the fifth (post time 1:28 pm EST) and sixth horse races on the November 29 horse racing program. A special salute in the paddock and/or winner’s circle will follow.
Stonestreet Stables owner Jess Jackson, founder and proprietor of Kendall-Jackson Vineyard Estates, and Curlin’s trainer Steve Asmussen permitted the parade to give area horse racing fans perhaps their final opportunity to see the champion before he is retired to stud duty in 2009.
Curlin will stand for $75,000 at Mr. and Mrs. William S. Farish’s Lane’s End Farm near Versailles, Ky.
“We’re thrilled to have another opportunity to showcase Curlin in front of his many fans in Kentucky,” race horse trainer Steve Asmussen said. “For the past two years, he’s given our entire team numerous thrills and great memories. We’ve always considered Churchill Downs to be his ‘home’ track, and we’ll always remember that standing ovation he received after winning the Stephen Foster.”
The 4-year-old son of Smart Strike out of the Deputy Minister mare Sherriff’s Deputy Curlin won 11 of his 16 starts with 2 seconds and 2 thirds, and is the only horse in North American racing history to earn $5 million in back-to-back seasons. Curlin’s prize money haul included $5,102,800 in 2007 and $5,399,000 this year.
Unraced as a 2-year-old, Curlin captured a trio of Grade I races that led to Horse of the Year and Champion 3-Year-Old Male honors: the Preakness Stakes, the Jockey Club Gold Cup and the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Race horse Curlin suffered a narrow loss to the champion filly Rags to Riches in the Belmont Stakes (G1) and finished third in the Kentucky Derby (G1), which was only the fourth start of his career.
Committed to an aggressive 4-year-old campaign that showcased Curlin to an even greater worldwide audience, Jackson and Asmussen sent the chestnut colt to the United Arab Emirates to win two races, including an emphatic 7 3/4-length score in the Group 1 Dubai World Cup ? the most lucrative race in the world with a $6 million purse.
In addition to the Dubai World Cup, Curlin’s 2008 campaign included victories in the Stephen Foster Handicap (G1), Woodward Stakes (GI1) at Saratoga and a second straight triumph in the prestigious Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park.
Curlin’s only two defeats this year came on surfaces other than dirt: a second to 2006 Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) champ Red Rocks in the Man o’War Stakes (G1) at 1 1/2 miles over the Belmont Park turf course and a fourth-place finish behind European stars Raven’s Pass and Henrythenavigator in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), which was contested over the Pro-Ride synthetic surface at Santa Anita Park.
Despite galloping daily at Churchill Downs, it appears that the Breeders’ Cup Classic was the final start of Curlin’s odds-on first-ballot Hall of Fame career.
Horse racing news edited from www.churchilldowns.com.
Tags: Curlin
"Reigning Horse of the Year Curlin To Be Paraded at Churchill Downs Closing Day November 29" was posted on Monday, November 24th, 2008 at 9:42 pm and is filed under Churchill Downs, Horse Racing Industry, Horses, Race Tracks News, USA Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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