By John Clay, Lexington Herald Leader

Unlike last Saturday, this time the superstar delivered.

Big time.

There is only one true superstar on the Thoroughbred racing planet right now, and it isn't that worn-out 3-year-old who dissolved into a Big Brown meltdown in the Long Island heat during last Saturday's Belmont Stakes.

Curlin is king of the Sport of Kings, as the reigning Horse of the Year proved again Saturday, carrying 128 pounds in comfortable fashion, assuming control at the head of the stretch and cruising to a 4¼-length win in the Grade I Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs.

Remember that pre-Belmont chatter of a possible matchup, if not match race, between Big Brown and Curlin somewhere down the line?

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By Alfred G. Vanderbilt, courtesy of NYTimes.com

These are the delicious days, the days of debate and doubt as we wait for the Belmont Stakes, the toughest race to win in the United States and the last leg of the Triple Crown. There is no better time to be a horse racing fan.

Now the questions begin. How many horses will have enough sand to face Big Brown’s power and the Belmont’s grueling distance? Optimists are what stuff the gate in the Derby. The Preakness is for those still clinging to hope. The beautiful racetrack on Long Island is a place for cynics and realists. Cynics assume Big Brown can’t be as good as he looks. Realists believe they’ve got a shot at taking second-, third- or fourth-place money.

The Belmont is a mile and a half in front of everybody who matters, and as the horses come through the tunnel and step onto the track, the roar of the crowd can knock off your glasses, cap and shoes. It’s not the sound of tourists from the Midwest calling out the names of their favorites. It’s the Animal, the Apple, whose voice is like the lion.

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There is one reason to believe that this colt, unscathed through five races in which he demolished the opposition by a combined 39 lengths, can succeed where Silver Charm, Real Quiet, Charismatic, War Emblem, Funny Cide and Smarty Jones all fell short.

They are not Big Brown.

Trainer Kenneth McPeek thought of the recent failures and why some of them occurred — Real Quiet was nosed at the wire, War Emblem stumbled at the start, Charismatic broke down at the end — and then pondered Big Brown's oh-so-easy 4 3/4-length rout in the 133rd Preakness Stakes on Saturday.

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