photo: Reed Palmer photography/drf.com
Here's 2007 Horse of the Year - CURLIN - winning the grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs this past saturday.
Under jockey Robby Albarado, he really drew away from the field and won like the champion he is. His connections are now thinking of running him in France's Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I), which is considered to be one of Europe's greatest races. We already know he travels well, after his convincing win at the Dubai World Cup in March of this year.
I think his win saturday really helped horseracing fans feel better after the debacle that was the Belmont Stakes Big Brown meltdown. Curlin is 4 years old and obviously not slowing down a bit - really coming into his own.
Under jockey Robby Albarado, he really drew away from the field and won like the champion he is. His connections are now thinking of running him in France's Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I), which is considered to be one of Europe's greatest races. We already know he travels well, after his convincing win at the Dubai World Cup in March of this year.
I think his win saturday really helped horseracing fans feel better after the debacle that was the Belmont Stakes Big Brown meltdown. Curlin is 4 years old and obviously not slowing down a bit - really coming into his own.
Also making my weekend complete was this:
photo: Anne M. Eberhardt/bloodhorse.com
PYRO winning the Northern Dancer Stakes (also at Churchill on saturday). He whooped the field convincingly and is obviously returning to his top form from early this spring. Guided by jockey Shaun Bridgmohan, he beat a quality field of three year olds including fellow Derby-runners Visionaire and Recapturetheglory.
Pyro was my favorite horse coming into the Triple Crown series but flopped in bad traffic at the Derby then took a Preakness/Belmont pass, instead getting a nice break, which truly helped, it seems.
Both Curlin and Pyro are trained by Steve Assmussen.
These two wins, combined with 5 year old Ginger Punch (seen below) winning the presitgious Ogden Phipps Handicap at Belmont the same day made for me hitting 3 out of 4 races in my fantasy horseracing game, so I was pretty stoked.
PYRO winning the Northern Dancer Stakes (also at Churchill on saturday). He whooped the field convincingly and is obviously returning to his top form from early this spring. Guided by jockey Shaun Bridgmohan, he beat a quality field of three year olds including fellow Derby-runners Visionaire and Recapturetheglory.
Pyro was my favorite horse coming into the Triple Crown series but flopped in bad traffic at the Derby then took a Preakness/Belmont pass, instead getting a nice break, which truly helped, it seems.
Both Curlin and Pyro are trained by Steve Assmussen.
These two wins, combined with 5 year old Ginger Punch (seen below) winning the presitgious Ogden Phipps Handicap at Belmont the same day made for me hitting 3 out of 4 races in my fantasy horseracing game, so I was pretty stoked.
photo by Coglianese Photos/bloodhorse.com
Ginger Punch was Champion Older Filly/Mare last year, and to still have her racing is truly a gift in these days of early retirement for most horses. She is trained by Bobby Frankel and ridden here by Rafael Bejarano.
Go Baby Go!
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