Hangin' With Haskin : Woodward

Welcome Home, Alysheba

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:53:00 GMT

The day after the 1987 Preakness Stakes, I stopped at a service area on I-95 in Maryland on my way back home from the Preakness and called Jack Van Berg, asking if I could do a feature on him for the Thoroughbred Times, which had only been in existence for about a year. I had never met Van Berg, who was on top of the world at the time and who looked like a sure bet to saddle racing’s next Triple Crown winner following Alysheba’s impressive victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. The horse had the right pedigree, the right running style, the right jockey, and the right trainer.

Despite obviously being in high demand for interviews, Van Berg agreed to meet me in the diner across the street from the Belmont backstretch for breakfast. It took about 10 seconds for me to feel as if I’d known him for years. He proceeded to express his innermost feelings about his life and his relationship with his father, legendary Midwest trainer Marion Van Berg. He finished by saying, “Steve, if you misquote me I’ll never talk to you again.” That bluntness impressed me. I actually was flattered that he had entrusted me to tell his story correctly and that the article was important enough to him to add that comment. Most trainers would never be that direct.

We then went back to his barn to see Alysheba. I, like most everyone, had become smitten with the son of Alydar – his personality, his intelligence, and his regal way of moving. Whether he was walking, jogging or galloping, he would arch his neck as if showing off his noble bearing. The faster he galloped the farther down he would lower his head. He was sheer poetry in motion.

There were few Belmont Stakes with a Triple Crown on the line that came as much of a shock as Alysheba’s distant fourth-place finish to his Derby and Preakness victim Bet Twice, who would become his arch rival over the next two years. Not only did the defeat cost Alysheba’s connections a $5-million bonus, but by getting nipped by a neck at the wire for third by Gulch, it cost them a $1-million bonus, which went to Bet Twice. Jockey Chris McCarron knew it was not his finest moment and that his ride likely cost the owners, Clarence, Dorothy, and Pamela Scharbauer the bonus money and Van Berg his 10-percent share of a million dollars. After the race, McCarron drove up to the barn and sheepishly walked toward Van Berg, not knowing what to expect.

“There’s my boy,” Van Berg said in a warm, welcoming manner. All McCarron could say was, “Am I still your boy?” Van Berg went over and put his arm around McCarron’s shoulder as if to assure him all was fine. That was class, and that’s what Alysheba was all about – class.

Alysheba Slide Show
View our pictorial retropspective of Alysheba's life on and off the racetrack

McCarron would go on to ride Alysheba 13 more times, winning eight -- seven of them grade I stakes. When he crossed the finish line for the final time, in the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Classic, Alysheba was “America’s Horse,” as proclaimed by race caller Tom Durkin, with career earnings of nearly $6.7 million.

Alysheba’s 4-year-old campaign was perhaps the most underrated ever, as it should have launched him into the pantheon of greats. After winning the Charles H. Strub Stakes by three lengths in 2:00 flat for the 1 1/4 miles, he hooked up in two memorable stretch duels with defending Horse of the Year Ferdinand, who had nipped him by a nose in the previous year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic in an epic showdown between Kentucky Derby winners. This time, a more mature Alysheba got the better of Ferdinand both times, narrowly beating him the Santa Anita Handicap and San Bernardino Handicap.

Those two grueling efforts took their toll in the Pimlico Special and Hollywood Gold Cup, in which Alysheba finished fourth and second, respectively. During the early summer, his coat lacked its usual luster and he had lost some weight. In the Pimlico Special, he was beaten by his nemesis, Bet Twice, whom he was meeting for the seventh time, with each finishing ahead of the other three times.

It was Bet Twice who had drifted out in front of Alysheba in the Kentucky Derby, causing the colt to stumble badly, nearly going down. He quickly picked himself up and closed in on Bet Twice for the second time. Bet Twice again cut right in front of him, but Alysheba, after altering his path, kept coming, collaring his rival with relentless determination to win by three-quarters of a length. Then in the Preakness, he ran down Bet Twice again to win by a half-length.

Following Bet Twice’s stunning 14-length romp in the Belmont, the Monmouth Park-based colt defeated Alysheba and Lost Code in a three-horse photo in the Haskell Invitational at his home track, a race that helped establish the Haskell as one of the nation’s premier races for 3-year-olds. The “Duel at the Shore” still remains one of Monmouth Park’s greatest moments. Alysheba actually got trapped down on the rail leaving the quarter pole when pace-setting Lost Code drifted back to the inside. McCarron had to yank Alysheba to the outside, losing valuable momentum. He came flying late but fell a neck short. The time of 1:47 flat was a fifth of a second off the track record.

Returning to Alysheba’s 4-year-old campaign, because it was obvious he was not at his best in the Pimlico Special and Hollywood Gold Cup, Van Berg gave him two months off and decided to remove his blinkers, which he had worn in his previous 20 starts. When the colt arrived at Monmouth for the Philip H. Iselin Handicap and another shot at Bet Twice on his home track, his burnished bay coat glistened and he appeared to have his old swagger back. He was so on the muscle that Van Berg had his hands full walking him in the morning. “I let you out to get some fresh air, you can at least act like a gentlemen,” he said to the horse.

Getting on Alysheba each day was apprentice rider Kelly O’Hara, who admitted to being extremely nervous, hoping nothing would go wrong in front of so many onlookers.

“This horse is so smart it’s scary,” she said one morning. “Jack told me not to move on him. He said if I had a horse in front of me, to just say to him, ‘Go get him, papa,’ just those words. Sure enough, there was a horse way out in front of me. I said those exact words and this sonofagun just opened up and ran that horse down. Jack also told me not to pull him up, just say, ‘Easy papa, we’re done.’ I did just that and he came right back to me. He has so much class and moves like a cat. It doesn’t even feel like he’s hitting the ground.”

A rejuvenated, blinkerless Alysheba, his handsome head now in full view of everyone, proceeded to turn in four performances that would put a final stamp on a great career. He gained his revenge on Bet twice in the Iselin, winning by three-quarters of a length in 1:47 4/5 for the 1 1/8 miles. After the race, Clarence Scharbauer was so choked up he had trouble speaking. When he saw Alysheba return, he said in a quavering voice, “He’s got more guts and heart than anything I ever saw. He gives you everything he’s…” That was all he could get out.

In Alysheba’s next two starts, the Woodward Handicap and Meadowlands Cup, he became the only horse in memory (possibly in history) to set back-to-back track records at a mile and a quarter, winning the Woodward in 1:59 2/5, defeating a tenacious Forty Niner, coming off gutsy wins over Seeking the Gold in the Haskell and Travers, and then coming back four weeks later and winning the Meadowlands Cup in 1:58 4/5.

When Personal Ensign capped off her unbeaten career by winning the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, the pressure was on Alysheba to win the Classic over a deep, sloppy surface he was not particularly fond of. But he dug down deep to win by a half-length over Seeking the Gold to snatch Horse of the Year away from Personal Ensign. Finishing five lengths back in third was Waquoit, 15-length winner of the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

In those final four races, Alysheba defeated a veritable Who’s Who of The Turf -- Bet Twice, Forty Niner, Seeking the Gold, Gulch, Cryptoclearance, Waquoit, Slew City Slew, Personal Flag, Brian’s Time, and Cutlass Reality, to go along with his two conquests over Ferdinand earlier in the year. By winning the Santa Anita Handicap in 1:59 4/5, he became only the second horse in history, along with Round Table, to break the 2:00 mark for 1 1/4 miles three times in one year. While Round Table ran 1:59 4/5 three times in 1958, Alysheba accomplished the feat in 1:58 4/5, 1:59 2/5, and 1:59 4/5, making him arguably the fastest mile and a quarter horse of all time over a single season. It was one of the greatest campaigns ever, with seven victories in nine starts and one second, but has never received the recognition it deserved.

When it was over, the Alysheba–Bet Twice rivalry stood at 5-4 in favor of Alysheba. Everyone around the two horses, including Van Berg and Bet Twice’s trainer Jimmy Croll, swore the two horses knew each other. When they were at Pimlico for the Pimlico Special, Alysheba was stabled on the backside of Bet Twice. One morning, Alysheba was being walked around the shed by Van Berg and when he passed by Bet Twice’s stall both horses started whinnying and nickering at each other. It happened every time Alysheba went by, and they didn’t do it to any other horse. This went on every morning they were at Pimlico.

Even Alysheba’s groom, John Cherry, was amazed. “I know it sounds weird, but it sure looked like looked they recognized each other,” he said.

Both horses were completely different from each other. Alysheba was pure artistry. In the morning, he would stand motionless on the track with his head cocked to the side and ears pricked for some 10 minutes. When he began to walk it was like seeing a Richard Stone Reeves painting come to life. When he broke off into a gallop and began arching that neck in regal splendor he captured the essence of the Thoroughbred in motion in all its beauty and grandeur.

Bet Twice, on the other hand, had shown such a disdain for training when he was young, Croll had to use a buggy whip to get him to train. By the time he hooked up with Alysheba, however, he was working five-eighths in :58 without raising a sweat.

Van Berg said of the two horses and their rivalry, “They’re like two prizefighters when they get together. They just rear up and fight it out.”

Following Alysheba’s retirement, he was given a farewell at Churchill Downs, the scene of his Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic triumphs. On a cold, dreary afternoon, Alysheba was paraded on the track. As soon as he heard the cheers from the crowd he arched his neck one last time and broke off into the most magnificent gallop I think I’ve ever seen.

I visited Alysheba at Lane’s End Farm several times, and couldn’t believe it when I heard he was being sent to Saudi Arabia in 2000 to stand at King Abdullah’s Janadriyah Stud Farm outside Riyadh. Last week, Alysheba arrived at the Kentucky Horse Park, a gift to America from the people of Saudi Arabia.

That is the second time America has been given the gift of Alysheba. The first was 21 years ago. Alysheba was a gift to anyone fortunate enough to have seen him in action. I’m already looking forward to visiting him and likely will schedule a visit to Kentucky in the near future just for that purpose. The oldest living Kentucky Derby winner will turn 25 at the end of the year. Even if he no longer gallops with that regally arched neck, just one look at him up close and I’ll be able to envision it as if it were yesterday.

The Unbeatable Horse

Blood-Horse Staff — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:41:00 GMT

How many times have you heard the expression, “No one would have beaten him today?” Throughout history, there have been numerous horses who, for one or two races, turned in performances so extraordinary, you can’t imagine anyone beating them. Often, these horses were meant for great things, but were hampered by a variety of problems, such as unsoundness, breathing problems, mental issues etc. When everything came together perfectly, however, that potential greatness surfaced, and pity anyone who happened to cross paths with them on that day.

To continue our celebration of Secretariat’s 35th anniversary, I am going to relay the story (long again, sorry) of one of those horses, and perhaps it will explain why even Big Red couldn’t beat him.

That horse is Prove Out, and the perfect storm that developed on Sept. 29, 1973 was made up of two elements that came together at the exact same time. One of those elements was Prove Out’s greatness that surfaced on that day, thanks to the remarkable training of Allen Jerkens, who had already brought down the mighty Secretariat with Onion, a hard-knocking, fast horse who did not come close to possessing the raw talent and brilliance of Prove Out. The second element was the poor decision by trainer Lucien Laurin and owner Penny Tweedy to run Secretariat in the Woodward, a race in which he was not intended to run and was totally unprepared for.

First, let’s look at Secretariat. As everyone is well aware, Big Red was incubating a virus when he was defeated by Onion in the Whitney. The stress of competition brought it to a head and the colt came out of the race with a fever. His appetite declined and he acted sluggish for several days, and there was no choice but to skip the Travers. You have to remember, this is a horse who worked a mile for the Whitney in the mud in 1:34 4/5 after splits of :57 2/5, 1:09 1/5, and 1:21 3/5. His mile time was a track record at Saratoga, as was his 1 1/8-mile gallop-out in 1:47 4/5. The gallop-out time was a full second and two-fifths faster than the final time of the Whitney.

Prior to the Whitney, the Philip Morris Corporation proposed a $250,000 match race between Secretariat and his stablemate Riva Ridge, winner of the previous year’s Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes who had set a world record for 1 3/16 miles in the Brooklyn Handicap on July 4. The race, which was the brainchild of Philip Morris marketing director Jack Landry, would be called the Marlboro Cup and was scheduled for Sept. 15.

But some took exception to the race, which would be nothing more than major payday for Meadow Stable. Most people, however, were thrilled at the prospect of seeing the two Kentucky Derby winners meet. This would be Riva Ridge’s chance to knock off the horse in whose shadow he had existed for almost a year. But when Riva Ridge was upset by a 56-1 shot named Wichita Oil in an allowance race on the grass on Aug. 1, it took a good deal of interest out of the match race. No one could understand why he had been put on the grass at that point. Then, when Secretariat was defeated in the Whitney three days later, the race had pretty much lost its luster. Philip Morris had to change tactics and made the race an open invitation.

Riva Ridge rebounded from his defeat to win an allowance race on Aug. 21, just barely holding on to defeat Halo by a half-length. But the entire Marlboro Cup hinged on whether Secretariat could make it back in time. And no one knew how sharp he’d be coming off an illness and a six-week layoff. Secretariat worked well, but needed a stiff drill three days before the race to indicate he was ready to tackle the likes of Riva Ridge, Key to the Mint, Cougar II, Kennedy Road, Travers winner Annihilate “Em, and his Whitney nemesis Onion.

Big Red carried so much muscle he needed to work fast before a race to get sharp, both mentally and physically. Even as a youngster, he was a big, fat baby who had a tendency to get lazy. When Secretariat worked five furlongs in :57 flat, going out six furlongs in 1:08 4/5, Laurin knew he was ready.

History shows that Secretariat defeated Riva Ridge by 3 1/2 lengths, and his time of 1:45 2/5 established a new world record. He now looked invincible again.

Meanwhile, far beyond all the hoopla, Allen Jerkens was quietly working on his new acquisition, Prove Out, a regally bred colt whom he had purchased privately from King Ranch for Jack Dreyfus’ Hobeau Farm. Prove Out was born for greatness, being by the classic sire Graustark, out of Equal Venture, a granddaughter of Equipoise who had already produced major stakes winners Heartland and Saidam.

But Prove Out had bad ankles and other problems, and his trainer William J. “Buddy” Hirsch could do little with him. By August of his 4-year-old year, he had won only four races (a maiden and three allowance races) in 27 career starts. The longest distance he’d ever won at was 1 1/16 miles, and that came in his maiden victory.

But Jerkens had his eye on Prove Out for a while, recalling the promise he had shown at Santa Anita at the end of his 3-year-old campaign. Jerkens and Hirsch were good friends, and one day Hirsch approached Jerkens and said, “I don’t want you to think I’m hustling you or anything, but that horse I saw you looking at is coming up for sale. He’s a little raunchy and Mr. Kleberg (King Ranch owner Robert Kleberg) is mad at him and wants to sell him.”

Jerkens knew Prove Out came from families that were trained hard and felt he might respond to hard training, much like Beau Purple, who began Jerkens’ legendary role as “The Giant Killer” by upsetting five-time Horse of the Year Kelso on three occasions.

Jerkens had just sold Dreyfus’ Widener Handicap winner Vertee for a nice profit, and decided to take a chance on Prove Out, buying him for Dreyfus for $65,000. He began by concentrating on the colt’s ankles, tubbing them and poulticing them. He used a eucalyptus vaporizer to clear up his sinuses and applied linament to his shoulders. In short, he did everything he could to build him back up and alleviate any aches and pains that may have been bothering him.

Prove Out also had a bad habit of lugging in, so Jerkens put his best exercise rider, Jimmy Rhoades, on him to try to teach him to keep a straight course. Two weeks after getting him, Jerkens ran him in a seven-furlong allowance race at Saratoga on Aug. 24. To prevent him from lugging in, he equipped the colt with a burr and put an inside cup on his blinker. Prove Out responded by defeating the quick-footed Cutlass and the 3-5 favorite Forego by 6 1/2 lengths in a track-record 1:21 flat.

But when Jerkens dropped Prove Out back to six furlongs in another allowance race on Sept. 1 at Belmont, he was taken too far off the pace and just missed catching Dr. Fager’s full brother Highbinder by a head in 1:09 4/5. Jerkens ran him right back nine days later in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race and Prove Out equaled the track record of 1:40 2/5, beating Halo by 5 1/2 lengths.

The nine-furlong Chesapeake Handicap at Bowie on Sept. 22 looked like an easy spot for the colt’s first stakes victory. He was in with only 111 pounds and was sent off as the 9-5 favorite. But all of Jerkens’ work seemed for naught when Prove Out lugged in again and hit the rail before retreating to a seventh-place finish.

Back in the Secretariat camp, Laurin and Tweedy had decided to point Secretariat to the Man o’ War Stakes on the grass on Oct. 8 and run Riva Ridge in the mile and a half Woodward Stakes. Secretariat had his first work on the turf, breezing a half-mile in :48 around the dogs and then turned in a slow, easy mile in 1:38. The Woodward was only two weeks after the Marlboro Cup, and after being drilled hard to make that race and then setting a new world record, the Woodward was hardly the place for Secretariat to come right back and stretch out from 1 1/8 miles to 1 1/2 miles. If the term “bounce” existed back then, Secretariat was a prime candidate to bounce.

When the weather forecast called for rain on Woodward day, Laurin and Tweedy decided to enter both Riva Ridge and Secretariat. If the track was fast, Riva Ridge would run, but if it came up sloppy, which Riva Ridge detested, they would substitute Secretariat. The track did come up sloppy and Riva Ridge was scratched, leaving Secretariat to go 1 1/2 miles on an off track only two weeks after breaking a world record and having to go into the race off two slow works on the grass. It was a recipe for disaster.

Jerkens, meanwhile, was angry and disappointed over Prove Out’s performance at Bowie. In the morning, he equipped the colt with a severe run-out bit and turned it the opposite way. The bit had prongs that hit the side of the jaw, and Jerkens used it in the hope that during the race the burr would remind the horse of that bit hitting the side of his mouth and he would respond to it.

Jerkens decided to take a shot and run Prove Out in the weight-for-age Woodward, even though he’d have to pick up 15 pounds off the Chesapeake run the week before, concede seven pounds to Secretariat, and stretch out from 1 1/16 miles to 1 1/2 miles. It also would mark Prove Out’s fifth start in five weeks since coming to Jerkens, who felt if the track came up fast and Secretariat should scratch then someone had a shot to get lucky.

But it didn’t come up fast and Secretariat didn’t scratch. The day of the race, Jerkens and Dreyfus were hanging out in the picnic area behind the grandstand when they showed a replay of Secretariat’s Marlboro Cup on the closed circuit TV monitors. After watching Big Red draw off from the field, Jerkens turned to Dreyfus and said, “What the hell are we doing in this race?”

Jerkens had given Prove Out several three-mile gallops to build up his stamina and removed the blinkers for the race, feeling he didn’t need them going a mile and a half.

Because of space I won’t go into the running of the race other than to say the 1-5 Secretariat took over the lead from the 16-1 Prove Out shortly after heading into the backstretch and was able to slow the pace down. Around the far turn, with Big Red winging out there by two lengths, the crowd waited for the explosion that was sure to come. Secretariat had picked up the pace with a :24 flat quarter, with Prove Out and Cougar II lapped on each other. After another testing quarter in :24 2/5, Cougar II was done, but Prove Out wouldn’t go away. To the amazement of everyone, he came charging back along the inside and just blew right on by Secretariat.

Despite never even coming close to running this far, Prove Out came home his final quarter in a spectacular :24 flat, drawing off to a 4 1/2-length victory. Over a sloppy track that was not playing fast at all, Prove Out stopped the teletimer in 2:25 4/5, which still to this day is the second-fastest mile and a half ever run at Belmont. Only Secretariat’s out-of-this world Belmont performance was faster. Another unbelievable aspect of Prove Out’s performance was his running each of his last three quarters in :24 flat, a feat unheard of at that distance.

Regardless of what cynics may say, Secretariat did not lose the Woodward. Prove Out won the Woodward, and I can’t think of any horse who would have beaten him that day. Although everything was against Secretariat, he still ran the mile and a half in 2:26 3/5, which would have equaled Gallant Man’s previous track record before Big Red shattered it in the Belmont Stakes.

Remarkably, Secretariat would come back only nine days later and set a new course record of 2:24 4/5 in winning the Man o’War Stakes by five lengths in his grass debut, defeating the top-class Tentam and Big Sprice.

Prove Out wasn’t done with his assault on Meadow Stable superstars. For the two-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup, Jerkens breezed Prove Out a pair of slow miles, then breezed him three furlongs in :39 the Sunday before the race. The following morning, Prove Out worked a mile and a half in 2:39 3/5 with a final half in :49 1/5. Three days later, on the Thursday before the race, he galloped a mile and a half, after which he broke off into a dead run for a half-mile, which was timed in :47 2/5. He then galloped out an additional furlong in :12 3/5. There certainly was never anything conventional about Allen Jerkens.

With all this bottom and sharpness in him, Prove Out went head and head with Riva Ridge in the Gold Cup through a seemingly suicidal half in :47 2/5. After six furlongs, Riva Ridge was spent, but Prove Out kept right on going. He covered the mile in a brutal 1:37 1/5 with half of the race still to be run. By comparison, Damascus ran his mile in the 1967 Gold Cup in 1:40 1/5. Arts and Letters went his mile in 1:40 4/5 in 1969. When Kelso set his track and American record in the 1964 Gold Cup, he went his mile in 1:38 2/5.

So brutal was the pace that Riva Ridge would be beaten more than 33 lengths. When the distance-loving Loud came charging up to challenge nearing the quarter pole, Prove Out looked like he was cooked, especially when he veered in and bounced off the rail. But, again, to the shock of everyone, he shifted to another gear and spurted away from Loud. Somehow he managed to close his final quarter in an incredible :24 4/5, winning by 4 3/4 lengths. His time was 3:20 flat, and to this day only Kelso has run a faster two miles in this country (3:19 1/5 and 3:19 4/5).

In two races, Prove Out had demonstrated every aspect of greatness – speed, stamina, courage, fast-closing fractions, and class, defeating three future Hall of Famers – Secretariat, Riva Ridge, and Cougar II. By destroying Forego earlier, it means he defeated four Hall of Famers in three different races at three different distances in the span of two months.

Prove Out showed his brilliance again the following spring, winning the 1 1/4-mile Grey Lag Handicap by six lengths in a swift 2:00 1/5. But physical problems again caught up with him and he was retired to Gainesway Farm after three straight defeats.

Prove Out will not be remembered as a great horse, and in fact is only remembered at all because of his upset of Secretariat. But he should serve as a reminder that greatness can emerge anytime, anywhere, and from anyone. Make no mistake about it, Secretariat was beaten in the Woodward by a great horse who, on that day, may very well have been unbeatable.

Curlin Revisited

Blood-Horse Staff — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:55:00 GMT

Yes, we’re back to Curlin again. Having watched grass racing and European racing for the past 40 years, here are my observations and conclusions, for whatever they’re worth, regarding Curlin’s Man o’War and his still-possible trip to Europe.

Curlin’s stride is not suited to the type of grass race we saw Saturday in the the Man o’War. His stride simply is too long for him to be able to quicken effectively from that far back, and similar tactics would prove to be fruitless in Europe against horses with a superior turn of foot. Take another son of Smart Strike, the diminutive English Channel. His stride was much shorter and quicker than Curlin’s and as a result he was able to demolish his field in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf by using a quick burst of speed to blow the race wide open.

Although Curlin doesn’t have that quickness and doesn’t seem to get hold of the grass quite like he does the dirt, that does not mean he is not capable of winning major races on the turf. For him to be effective, he has to be fairly close to the pace, where his stride and his ability to sustain a long run can be used to run his opponents into the ground the way another long-striding dirt horse did who was trying the grass late in his career. I’m referring to Secretariat, who closed out his career by winning the Man o’War and Canadian International. He won the Man o’War on the front end, running the smaller and quicker Tentam off his feet in course-record time, and then sat just off the pace in the Canadian International before opening up a 12-length lead in the stretch and coasting home from there. Once again, he simply ran his foes into submission in much the same manner he won the Belmont Stakes.

Both Curlin and Secretariat could win from far back, but they did it with that long, sustained run, which is not as easy to do on turf, where the best horses, especially in Europe, generally sit (preferably with cover), and then quickly accelerate when they see daylight. Those are the horses you have to get the jump on, and if you’re good enough you can separate yourself from them before they kick on the afterburners.

Curlin has those long strides that cover a ton of ground with little effort. But it has also resulted in late lead changes on occasion. Having to use those strides to quicken from far off the pace is not going to prove successful on the grass where his footing is a bit more tenuous. For him to beat the Europeans, he must take away their closing punch, and in order to do that he has to make them run faster early. He then can kick for home, while their powerful late punch will be compromised. That, of course, will work only if he possesses the necessary staying power to get away with those tactics.

Whether Curlin has that staying power is up to his connections to decide. He’s been defeated in his only two races beyond 1 1/4 miles, so that has to be taken into consideration, which is why I still feel the 10-furlong Irish Champion Stakes is a better fit. A big win there would give Curlin the international superstar status Jess Jackson and Steve Asmussen are looking for, and still give them the option of trying the Arc if they so desire. If he travels all the way to France just for an experimental race like the Prix Foy, which is usually not a truly run race, and fails again, then they wasted a lot of time for nothing.

If you’re going to go down, go down in a race like the Irish Champion, which suits his style better and where there is a much better chance for fast ground than in the Arc. And if you’re going to win, win a race like the Irish Champion, not the group II Foy, which usually attracts several red-hot Arc contenders anyway. So, he’d have to beat top-class French colts who have had the entire summer off and then come back in three weeks and beat them again, as well as the 3-year-olds prepping in the Prix Niel the same day and the best from England, Ireland, and Germany. He won’t be remembered for winning only the Prix Foy. If you climb Mt. Hood in Oregon to prepare for an assault on Mt. Everest, it’s an accomplishment, but it means little if you can’t make it up Everest. Can Curlin scale a mountain like the Arc? It’s possible if he can run the way Alleged did in his two Arc victories in 1977 and ‘78, which is to be right up with the leaders and kick on from there and separate yourself from the field.

Wherever he runs in Europe, there is always the distinct possibility he’ll have to go up against an Aidan O’Brien rabbit. But there is a way to get around that. You just ignore the rabbit and lock horns with the horse or horses you have to beat, just as Fantastic Light did with Galileo in the 2001 Irish Champion Stakes when both horses had pacesetters. In their previous meeting in the King George, Fantastic Light sat back in ninth, just behind Galileo, but didn’t have the closing kick to catch Galileo in the stretch. In the Irish Champion, he was always just ahead of Galileo and was able to maintain that short lead to the wire in a furious stretch battle. Had Curlin matched strides with Red Rocks behind the two runaway leaders in the Man o’War instead of spotting him four lengths, he could have gotten the jump on him and wouldn’t have needed a turn of foot to catch him.

Now, let’s go in another direction and assume Jackson decides the grass is not for Curlin. Then what? Then how about circling Aug. 30 on their calendar. That’s the date of the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga. It gives Curlin a bit of rest following two post-Dubai races. It’s also four weeks after the Haskell Invitational, giving Big Brown an extra week if his connections feel the Travers is coming back a bit too quick. There it is, your Horse of the Year showdown, just like in the Woodwards of old. OK, it’s only a mile and an eighth, but a good distance for both horses, and it’s Saratoga, where 70,000 people could show up for a match-up of that magnitude. If that’s not enough, it’s still early enough for both colts to then go their separate ways – Big Brown to the Breeders’ Cup Classic and Curlin back to the turf if they wish. If Curlin beats Big Brown he would basically sew up Horse of the Year regardless of what happens in the BC Classic. That would give his connections the luxury of sending him to the Arc without any ramifications if he should fail. No one will hold it against him if he loses, and they will be commended for showing unprecedented sportsmanship by going for Horse of the Year and Horse of the World.

As mentioned in my last blog, the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs is also still out there at the end of November in case both parties agree to a grudge match. So, there are numerous possibilities to ponder.

A note must be made about the enthusiastic ovation Curlin received in the paddock before the Man o’War. But even more special were the cheers after the race as he returned to be unsaddled. Now that’s what you call appreciation, especially in New York. Even Better Talk Now’s trainer Graham Motion joined in the applause.

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Harlem Rocker looked good winning the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie Saturday. With Notional running a huge race in the previous week’s Salvator Mile, we could have two talented horses to look forward to the rest of the year. But, unfortunately, you can likely add both of them to the growing list of Breeders’ Cup Classic no-shows, along with Curlin and Pyro and I’m sure others. Forget the pros and cons of synthetic surfaces, and even the safety issues, which have still not been fully resolved. Strictly from a racing standpoint, it’s simply not good for the sport when you have owners and trainers of some of the nation’s top stars boycotting the Breeders’ Cup because of its surface. The Breeders’ Cup had to know something like this was inevitable, but California was one of the few venues available for them, so we’re all just going to have to live with it and make the best of it…this year and next year.

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How amazing a roll is IEAH Stables on? There doesn’t seem to be a weekend that goes by that they don’t win a major stakes race, and they’ve done it with several trainers. It will be interesting to see what happens when it comes time to vote for the Eclipse Awards. Despite all the controversies that have surrounded IEAH and their main trainer Rick Dutrow, they have been able to counterpunch with several positive deeds of their own to benefit the sport, and they just keep winning stakes, so the racing gods (if you believe in the ethereal) certainly have no problem with them. It is hoped that when the Eclipse ballots are distributed, voters will look at only what is in the attached supplement. What they will see are IEAH horses on almost page of the past performances and their name atop the leading owners list.

Oh, by the way, Big Brown breezed five furlongs in 1:01 1/5 this morning.