The Breeder's Cup Classic track was sloppy, and many did not seem to think that Curlin could handle the track with its' tight turns, and beat Street Sense at the same time. But he did, and amazingly, Street Sense came in second.
Curlin broke from the gate behind most of the field, and right beside Street Sense. They ran stride for stride for quite a while, and in the late backstretch began to move up. They caught up, together, with Awesome Gem in second place, and then it was all Curlin as he moved ahead, caught a hard-fighting Hard Spun, and beat him by about 3 lengths. The race was sweet revenge for Curlin, as Street Sense did not even come to challenge. Sadly, George Washington, who was pulled out of retirement just for this race, was euthanized because of a fracture in the race.
Curlin will now be named Horse-of-the-Year. He has done better since his Belmont race, and his trainer says that it was because of the heat that he did not do well before. The heat seems to take a lot out of him, whereas in the colder weather, he is quite aggressive in a race, ready to fight off and beat any competition he is given.
Congratulations, Curlin!!!!
