Nothing like the pressure of the last workout before racing for $6 million.
But for Horse of the Year Curlin, Monday's half-mile breeze for the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) was just another day that he had to abide by rider Carlos Rosas's polite but persistent request for patience. "Wait. Wait. Not yet," Rosas said through his motionless body language.
With the brute power of a linebacker yet the soft fluidity of a ballet dancer, Curlin drew his body up into a mass of red muscles before flowing easily, mane and tail gilded by the desert sun, down the stretch of Nad Al Sheba Racecourse. He wanted to do more than an extended gallop, but he listened to Rosas.
Even before they were told Curlin's official time of :50.16 was almost exactly what had been ordered by trainer Steve Asmussen from 8,000 miles away in America, assistant Scott Blasi and Rosas knew it. "Perfect," Blasi said. "Excellent," Rosas declared.
Yet those words weren't necessary. The look on Curlin's face told the story.
Ears pricked, eyes bright, he bounced out of the turn with an expression that seemed to exude an attitude that he owns this racetrack just five days before he will take on the world's best over 2,000 meters.
That look is quintessential Curlin, defining this four-year-old flame of a chestnut colt by Smart Strike as much as his seven wins from ten starts or his earnings of $5,207,800.
"It's hard to explain," said Blasi, who has worked as closely with Curlin as anyone in his rise to champion status. "It's a generic thing to say he has that look in his eye - but he certainly does - and it's not the same as anything else I've seen."
Even those who don't know Curlin well have noticed it.
Toni Hodge, quarantine manager for the Dubai Racing Club, visited Curlin one day at the barn he is occupying at Nad Al Sheba like royalty, accompanied only by his pony companion Pancho.
"She said, ‘He looks at you like he's smarter than you are,' " Blasi recalled with a laugh. "I've heard Steve say the same thing about him, too.
"Most people who have been around Curlin see it," he added.
That spark of intelligence has been a key factor in Curlin's emergence as the horse rated the best anywhere in the world.
"He knows what he is here for, and he knows it's getting closer," observed Rosas.
The bar of his task is actually far higher than just winning another race, however. Asmussen and principal owner Jess Jackson have made it clear that the Dubai World Cup marks the beginning of a campaign to establish Curlin's legacy - and to break inaugural Dubai World Cup winner Cigar's 12-year-old career earnings record of $9,999,815.
