Curlin/Jess Jackson throw down

[steward]

This was a non-serious attempt by the Curlin camp to curry favor with the fans. It has no impact whatsoever, other than making them look like fellow mudwrestlers.

It was a transparently phony maneuver. The amount offered to be ponied up was something from 80 years ago. In addition, they know what the plans of the Big Brown team are.

Maybe it's Jackson's way of taking additional frustration or revenge out on the Breeders' Cup officials. Maybe, hoping against hope, they dream of sending Big Brown into the BCT with a defeat, and making the BC a complete seasonal afterthought.

Here's what is going through JJ's mind: he's not going to be the center of attention on BC day. Any attention he gets will be less than wholesome. He was the hero earlier this year, now a few people will be saying something negative about him. It's eating him already.

[Tucumcari]

Since they had not been planning to run at SA since early in the year I'd say it's not eating at him right now. I don't think this made him look bad he's trying to set up a race that Dutrow loudly proclaims that BB would win, and I think it looks worse for BB that his people are backing out of it. Boisterous and big mouthed, and full of hot air, cause his horse isn't good enough to meet Curlin on a surface that they both are more than capable of winning Grade 1 races on. Makes BB look weak.

[bdw0617]

the world is coming to an end.. tuc and I are on the same page

[Tucumcari]

BS... we've agreed once or twice I think....

[bdw0617]

yeah we both think the sky is blue.. that's about it.

[Tucumcari]

HMM no... I think we both also like horse racing "B."
Welcome to a kinder gentler Tuc

[Tiz]

You know, I thought I'd noticed a change, Tuc. Good for you.

Too bad this Curlin/Brown conversation is probably a bunch of spitting and dust kicking, because seeing those two duke it out would be so much fun. By the way, where is Casino Drive?

No match race, especially not at Belmont.

[Tucumcari]

Thanks Tiz.
It is a shame that the reality is Dutrow is a blowhard that won't step up to the plate on this, and Curlin's people want conventional dirt. Who can blame them? It's not like they would be running for chump change in Japan.

It's a shame though that they won't meet up

Casino Drive I assume is in his homeland. Has he resurfaced since the Belmont?

[steward]

Since they had not been planning to run at SA since early in the year I'd say it's not eating at him right now. I don't think this made him look bad he's trying to set up a race that Dutrow loudly proclaims that BB would win, and I think it looks worse for BB that his people are backing out of it. Boisterous and big mouthed, and full of hot air, cause his horse isn't good enough to meet Curlin on a surface that they both are more than capable of winning Grade 1 races on. Makes BB look weak.

I'll take your sentences one at a time. At the beginning of the year, JJ didn't know that he would have no meaningful place to go at the end of the year. In the middle of the year, he was fantasizing about the Arc. Now, he's got a horse that doesn't fit into any of the big races left.

JJ's offer was a big nothing - for two reasons. There was no cash to speak of, and he knew that BB was going onto another surface (for legit reasons). Only gasbags make those kind of empty gestures.

So you hate BB and Dutrow. What else is new? Big Brown has a chance to run on America's biggest racing day and Curlin won't be there. That's the breaks. Tough beans. It's not anybody's fault but the BC that Curlin is staying in the barn.

[Tucumcari]

I'll take your sentences one at a time. At the beginning of the year, JJ didn't know that he would have no meaningful place to go at the end of the year. In the middle of the year, he was fantasizing about the Arc. Now, he's got a horse that doesn't fit into any of the big races left.

JJ's offer was a big nothing - for two reasons. There was no cash to speak of, and he knew that BB was going onto another surface (for legit reasons). Only gasbags make those kind of empty gestures.

So you hate BB and Dutrow. What else is new? Big Brown has a chance to run on America's biggest racing day and Curlin won't be there. That's the breaks. Tough beans. It's not anybody's fault but the BC that Curlin is staying in the barn.

At the beginning of the year there was a place to go it was a swamp called Santa Anita. And then In July Santa Anita gets
'pro-active" and decides after 7 months of head scratching and horsemen being left in the dark as to even which surface was to be put in. So now we are in a similar situation as we were this time last year. But the difference is America's biggest day of racing is going to held on ??? Pro ride??? And what do expect of pro ride? head scratching. How will it play? will it have a significant bias like the original Cushion did? In the event of rain (now this is the third time headed down to the base and it was hole filled when we left, from the 3/8- the wire. Ranging from the rail to about the 5 path) will it drain or will the cotton like pro ride fill the newly opened drain system like the fibre of Cushion did? Where in the event of rain even horses were donning a pair of hip waders.
Why on God's green earth should people be expected to sacrifice any horse let alone a horse of significant value on yet another mystery surface?
We are literally exactly where we were one year ago. Don't know that we are really that smarter about maintenance. Del Mar is still trying to decide to water or not to water on this their second year with Poly track. And let me tell ya, it aint that soft. So now onto the third-ish surface in the satire that is synthetic racetracks at the base of the Sierra Madre's in well over 100 degree weather. Are they really sure they have a binding agent or wax or whatever scientifically designed mix that will withstand degrees of temperature that were significantly higher on the actual surface than anyone had prepared for. Significantly. I believe it was well over 150 degrees on the track during the big meet at SA. And the weather was barely warming up. And Oak Tree does come along at one of the hotter times of the year.
Will it "settle" by the time BC comes along? Sweet Lord we hope so, but who really knows? do you? Would you yourself really be willing to send a multimillion dollar earning, worth so much more than he's earned on mystery "meat?"
So I have to say to me IMO, in Jess's mind there isn't somewhere they want to run in north America at the end of the year. Why not conquer the world? They've got the horse to do it!

Jackson likely genuinely would love to go to the JCGC and meet with BB. Why not Dutrow's been blowing hot air since the beginning of the year and now backs down like a dog that's been kicked. And likely because his horse is at the end of his rapidly fraying feet. No foot, no horse. It's been one of the wiser things said about horses in general since man threw a leg over one for a big reason. It's true.
JCGC does have money up to offer it's called a purse and the prestige should BBB decide to run and wins of going to the BC as a cinch for horse of the year and Curlin goes to another continent or to the breeding shed to lick his wounds. I'd say there are some significant up's to meeting with Curlin at this stage of the year. If he's sound enough.
Curlin shouldn't have to be looking for BBB. They should be looking to knock the King off his throne and head to BC as King Kong. But again hard to dethrone an optional claimer let alone Curlin when your dog's are barking something fierce, wouldn't you say?

And no I'm not a Dutrow hater, I am a big fan of Kip Deville. Hope he wins on BC day. But I'm not a fan of people puffing up their chest like a pitbull looking after it's owner and then backing down like a poodle, when looked in the eye.

Sorry I know I didn't respond sentence by sentence, but I'm sure you get the gist, no?

[Strategic Maneuver]

Tres bien, Tuc!

[Tucumcari]

merci beaucoup mon ami

[steward]

I'll take your sentences one at a time. At the beginning of the year, JJ didn't know that he would have no meaningful place to go at the end of the year. In the middle of the year, he was fantasizing about the Arc. Now, he's got a horse that doesn't fit into any of the big races left.

JJ's offer was a big nothing - for two reasons. There was no cash to speak of, and he knew that BB was going onto another surface (for legit reasons). Only gasbags make those kind of empty gestures.

So you hate BB and Dutrow. What else is new? Big Brown has a chance to run on America's biggest racing day and Curlin won't be there. That's the breaks. Tough beans. It's not anybody's fault but the BC that Curlin is staying in the barn.

Jackson likely genuinely would love to go to the JCGC and meet with BB. Why not Dutrow's been blowing hot air since the beginning of the year and now backs down like a dog that's been kicked.

Get real. The Big Brown team didn't back down from Jackson's limp offer. It wasn't any serious offer to begin with. It was a race with a puny purse and a 50k charity sweetener. $50k?? That was big money in 1907. Now, somehow, it has morphed into the JCGC with a $1m purse. Not exactly top dollar these days. As others have noted, Iavarone mocked the old coot in return:

http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/tr ... s-see.html

But those remarks motivated Jackson to issue the challenge that he would donate $50,000 to Belmont Park's Anna House child-care facility if Big Brown ran in Saratoga's $500,000 Woodward in what he clearly viewed as a sporting gesture. It didn't come across that way in some quarters.

"This is foolish," the Daily News quotes Iavarone as saying. "I don't understand the point of it. Charity is from the heart, not to make a horse race out of it."

Then there was the irreverent backside sheet known as "Indian Charlie," with author Eddie Musselman opining: "$50,000 -- from a Stone Cold Billionaire?"

Iavarone offered a counter-proposal, telling bloodhorse.com: "We'll donate $250,000 to various charities if Curlin meets us in the Breeders' Cup. These are the things we do anyway. We strongly feel that championships should be decided at the Breeders' Cup, and that in order to give both horses the proper time to prepare for each other, we believe the race we meet in should be on racing's biggest stage. It also would allow horses from Europe an opportunity to race against us and prove who the best horse in the world is. You're not going to prove it in a four-horse field in the Woodward."


Jackson is getting to the point where he needs a full time babysitter to protect him and his image from himself, to remind him that this is 2008, and that things aren't always going to go his way. I like the fact that he's boycotting the BC, and is sticking a fork in the eyes of the dogooders who foisted this mess on horse racing. But that being said, he has to realize that others have horses who are able to compete and don't exactly consider NYC racing to be as prestigious as it once was. Besides, if Secretariat could duck the JCGC and the DC Intl without complaint, didn't that open the doors for others?

[steward]

I'll add one more thing: Jackson is ducking superior competition in the Arc. I don't blame him, and he can go anywhere he feels his horse has the advantage. That's how it works.

[Tucumcari]

Wow, Stew. Three sentences? I'm shocked!
They aren't ducking anyone.
Curlin has been impeccably handled throughout his career. It is a rare occasion that we hear that he needs a break due to injury or even a scrape or a sniffle. He's travelled to Dubai and won two races there the second of which is one of the more prestigious races the world has to offer. He was Horse of the Year at 3, and is liable to repeat as a 4 year old if BBB's connections fail to pull up their socks and trudge through the river of garbage that Dick has spewed for a better part of this year. Which likely will not bode well with the voters.
As Dutrow's,
"I'm the king of the World," speeches fall on deaf ears if they duck this invitation to have a "clash of champions."
Curlin Will continue on his merry way as the undisputed King of North America and the world.
I don't see Curlin's not going to the Arc as as a bad decision. It's a great decision. He ran on turf against some decent horses. He is a better horse on dirt. Why would you take a horse off of his best surface just to beat up on BBB? He won't win BCC, whether or not Curlin shows up.
I hope Curlin goes to to the Orient. Sets the standard as high as he can.
You know why Secretariat stands out in people's minds? Because he was a freak that set the bar so high that no one can can equal it.
Curlin is not Secretariat. BBB is not Curlin.
BBB has been plagued with problem after problem with his well documented feet.

It's interesting to me that all through the TC, you did not hear one peep out of the Asmussen barn. Not a single solitary peep. And now the offer a reasonable, "let's mix it up" invite there is a resounding silence from Dutrow, as (thank God) Ivarone shortened the leash. And put a muzzle on. Good move! The difference in this silence is that it's not the classy "let the horse do the talking" from Asmussen, it that their horse's feet have fallen apart more and more with every single race.
Racing takes it's toll on things like feet as they have 10,000lbs psi on one foot at a time when at a run. I don't care how much equilox you slap on a foot. It will take it's toll.

BBB was hard pressed, and lugged to win the Haskell. Get ready for more performances of a decreasing nature against older. And I say older, and that includes the glorified claimers that are stake winners in Southern California.
Curlin will find stiffer company in Japan, ong Kong... heck even Macau than he is going to find here.

Curlin and Zenyatta for King and Queen!