Friday, September 05, 2008

Top Ranked CURLIN to Make Next Start at Belmont Park

Considered the top thoroughbred in the United States and ranked number one in the world by the British racing authority Timeform, 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin is scheduled to make his next start in the 90th running of the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational (Grade 1) at Belmont Park on Sept. 27, according to Curlin’s majority owner Stonestreet Farms.

Curlin won last year’s Jockey Club Gold Cup as a three year old and would go on to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic and Horse-of-the-Year honors. His 2008 campaign highlights include wins in the Dubai World Cup (G1) and Stephen Foster Handicap (G1), a solid second in the Man o’ War (G1) on the turf at Belmont Park to former Breeders’ Cup Turf champion Red Rocks, and, most recently, last Saturday’s Woodward (G1) win at Saratoga.


“We are thrilled our fans will get their third consecutive chance to this champion in action in a historic stake at a NYRA track. The fans, as well as all of us at NYRA, appreciate the recognition that Mr. Jackson has for the great history and tradition of world class racing in New York,” NYRA president and CEO Charles Hayward said. “The centerpiece of Belmont Park’s Fall Championship Season, the Jockey Club Gold Cup figures prominently in the credentials of so many great horses, among them Curlin, who stamped himself as a champion in last year’s running.”

The honor roll of Jockey Club Gold Cup winners includes the likes of Gallant Fox (1930), War Admiral (1938), Whirlaway (1942), Citation (1948), Nashua (1955-‘56), Sword Dancer (1959), Kelso (1960, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64), Buckpasser (1966), Damascus (1967), Shuvee (1970, ’71), Forego (1974), Affirmed (1979), John Henry (1981), Cigar (1995), Skip Away (1996, ’97), Mineshaft (2003), Funny Cide (2004) and Bernardini (2006).

Jockey Club Gold Cup Day is the Belmont Park Fall Championship Season’s most significant day of racing with five Grade 1 stakes on tap worth more than $2.4 million. In addition to the Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational, fans will see the $600,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational at a mile and a half on the grass, the $600,000 Flower Bowl Invitational for fillies and mares at 10 furlongs on the turf, the $400,000 Vosburgh at six furlongs and the $600,000 Beldame for fillies and mares at nine furlongs.

Comments (0)