Equine Daily--The Equine World's Top Headline of the Day

CURLIN TO FACE EIGHT ON A MUDDY TRACK
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Horse of the Year Curlin, by Smart Strike, will face ten in this Saturday's Jockey Club Gold Cup (GI).

The forecast for Belmont Park is 1 1/2 inches of rain starting the 25 and could go on into the 27, race day. But this will not bother Curlin. He won the 2007 Breeder's Cup Classic (GI) on a muddy Monmouth track.

"He's had experience over a muddy track," states Scott Blasi, assistant trainer to Steve Asmussen. "It's definitely not an issue for him, according to his bank roll."

Blasi believes Curlin will quite easily be top of the game Saturday. "He's awesome. It seems like he always comes around this time of year; gets stronger. Hopefully, we are getting into the peak at the end of the year."

The Jockey Club Gold Cup is a "Win and You're In" race for the Breeder's Cup Classic (GI); the winner of this race will get a starting berth to the $5 million dollar race October 25 at Santa Anita. Jess Jackson, Curlin's owner, said a decision will be made to enter Curlin in the race or not after the Gold Cup. If the decision is yes, Curlin will not only have a chance to increase his earnings far above that of leading money earner Cigar's, but will also be able to prove that he is better than Big Brown, who will also be in the race--if he is better.

The biggest rivals of Curlin will be Wanderin Boy, who placed third to the chestnut in the Woodward Stakes (GI) after starting on an outside post, a disadvantage, and Mambo in Seattle, who lost the Travers Stakes (GI) by a whisker to Colonel John. However, Mambo in Seattle (by Kingmambo and out of the Seattle Slew mare Weekend in Seattle) is not a very good mud runner. He prefers the "good" or "fast" track surfaces. Wanderin Boy, however, does very well in mud--perhaps even better then on the fast surfaces. Mambo in Seattle also has had a switch of jockeys--Robby Albarado, his jockey in the Travers, is Curlin's regular jockey. This may upset him. He has Edgar S. Prado up.

Timber Reserve, although not as good as the before mentioned horses, is a speedster and may present a little of a threat. He won last year's Pennsylvania Derby (GII).

Angliana is the long shot.

Each horse carries 126 pounds except Mambo in Seattle, who carries 122. The race is for colts and fillies (or mares, stallions, geldings) 3 years old and up.

The entries of the 90th running of the Jockey Club Gold Cup are:
1. Ravel, Rafael Bejarano
2. Merchant Marine, Cornelio H. Velasquez
3. Timber Reserve, Kent J. Desormeaux
4. Wanderin Boy, Alan Garcia
5. Curlin, Robby Albarado
6. Angliana, Rajiv Maragh
7. A. P. Arrow, Ramon A. Dominguez
8. Stones River, Gabriel Saez
9. Mambo in Seattle, Edgar S. Prado
~Equine Lover