Friday, October 05, 2007

Breeders' Cup Classic Contenders

After a thrilling round of preliminaries, the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Monmouth Park on Oct. 27 is shaping up to be some horse race. Curlin became the latest horse who will head into the race on a winning note. After a disappointing summer, he sprung back to life with a narrow win over the favorite, Lawyer Ron, in yesterday’s Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont, which put him in position to claim the 3-year-old championship and the Horse of the Year title in the Classic.

But his next assignment will not be easy. The field for the $5 million Classic will be loaded with talented horses like Street Sense, Hard Spun, Tiago, Any Given Saturday and Lawyer Ron. “We’ll all meet again in a month’s time, probably to decide a lot of honors,” the winning trainer, Steve Asmussen, said after the Gold Cup.

Some 24 hours before Curlin’s win, Hard Spun won a rematch of the one-two finishers from the Kentucky Derby when he edged Street Sense in the Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway Park. But Street Sense, the Derby winner, ran well in defeat. Then there is Tiago, who jumped into the Classic picture Saturday when defeating older horses in the Goodwood at Santa Anita. It may turn out that Any Given Saturday is the best of the bunch. He has won three in a row, including the Brooklyn on Sept. 22. Lawyer Ron is his stablemate, and still another Classic contender.

In the Gold Cup, Lawyer Ron, ridden by John Velazquez, took over from the pace-setter Brother Bobby near the top of the stretch and had a half-length lead with a furlong left. Curlin, fourth down the backstretch, wore down Lawyer Ron to win by a neck. He paid $6.20 on a $2 bet to win.

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