Under the supervision of majority owner Jess Jackson and trainer Steve Asmussen, reigning Horse of the Year Curlin worked five furlongs in 59.12 breezing, between races four and five Monday at Santa Anita in preparation for a defense of his
title in the $5-million Breeders' Cup Classic here on October 25.
Curlin works between races at Santa Anita.
The work was performed in company, as Curlin and stablemate Hawaii Calls came onto Santa Anita's Pro-Ride synthetic main track at the top of the stretch in the quarter-mile chute. Curlin, with exercise rider Carlos Rosas up, and Hawaii Calls, with top jockey Shaun Bridgmohan aboard, jogged under the wire and then galloped to the 5/8 pole, where Hawaii Calls broke off from the rail two lengths in front of Curlin. Curlin tracked Hawaii Calls to the far turn and easily assumed command through fractions of 23.56 and 47.09, striding out well at the wire and galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.14.
Trainer Steve Asmussen said, "I'm extremely pleased with the way he worked and galloped out. Carlos let him gallop out a quarter mile and let him pull up. He was strong at every pole."
Tuesday afternoon, which was also the deadline for pre-entries into the Breeders' Cup World Championships, in a National Thoroughbred Racing Association teleconference Jackson said, "Everything is a go. Curlin showed yesterday that he can handle the (surface). It's a bit faster than any surface we've run on and that worries me a bit. It gives horses with less durability a chance to compete against him. This would add just one more dimension to the horse."
Curlin with exercise rider Carlos Rosas up and assistant trainer Scott Blasi aboard the pony horse Pancho.
Curlin, who has never finished worse than third in 15 career starts, has 11 wins and earnings of $10,246,800 making him the richest North American-based Thoroughbred of all-time.
Thanks to Marcie Heacox for the photos!
Breeders' Cup quick links:
2015 Breeders' Cup Contender - top contenders for the 13 Breeders' Cup World Championship races to be held at Keeneland on October 30 and 31. .
Breeders' Cup Weather - What will the weather be like at Keeneland on October 30 and 31? Here are lots of places to find out!
Review: Crushing the Cup 2015 - by Jim Mazur and Peter Mallett. An invaluable tool for trying to unlock the mysteries of handicapping the Breeders' Cup races at Keeneland updated for 2015.
2014 Breeders' Cup Saturday Results - The feature race was the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic won by Bayern. Get the results, charts, and photos for all 9 races here.
2014 Breeders' Cup Friday Results - Friday was headlined by the $2 million Ladies Classic won by Untapable. Get the results, charts, and photos for all 4 races here.
Breeders' Cup History - Historical info, past results, and photos from previous runnings
The Breeders' Cup Championship Day - The official page for the Breeders' Cup championship races. Just about anything you need to know about it: results, video clips, and race calls for past years, and eventually nominations, entries, and results.
Free Prep Replays - for major prep races in the Breeders' Cup Challenge. The ones with camera logos have video available.
Blazing Silks, Breeders' Cup Edition- an interactive social network game that allows horse racing fans and social gamers to train and care for Thoroughbred horses.
TV Schedule - for all the preps and other programming leading up to the big day
Breeders' Cup Postcards - Breeders' Cup theme virtual postcards to send your friends including many past winners
Breeders' Cup Supplemental Entries - The old official policy on supplemental entries plus all the supplemental entries and how they fared, mostly it was a losing proposition. There are no more supplements now, only late nominations making it impossible to track now.
