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Benoit & Associates photo
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by Jeff Lowe and Larry Stewart
Horse of the Year Curlin received the go-ahead on Tuesday to seek a repeat victory in the $5-million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1).
Majority owner Jess Jackson and trainer Steve Asmussen finalized their plan a day after Curlin breezed for the second time on Santa Anita Park’s Pro-Ride surface. Curlin has never raced on a synthetic surface.
“Everything is a go,” Jackson said. “I’m very pleased that he is going to run, and we’ll love to see the competition. I hope that everybody will come and we’ll have a full field.”
Tiznow is the only two-time Classic winner, scoring in 2000 at Churchill Downs and in ’01 at Belmont Park. He also was the last three-year-old to win the Classic until Curlin ran away with last year’s edition on a sloppy track at Monmouth Park.
Curlin finished second in the Man o’ War Stakes (G1) on the turf at Belmont on July 12 in his only start on something other than conventional dirt. Whether he will be at his best on Pro-Ride in the Classic remains a question, Jackson said.
“That’s totally uncertain at this point,” Jackson said. “It’s a bit faster than any surface we have run on, and I worry a bit about that because that shortens the distance, in effect, which gives more horses with less durability a chance to compete well against him.”
Jackson and Asmussen had been reluctant all year to point Curlin to another start in the Classic. Jackson said, “Been there, done that,” at one point, but he also openly voiced his preference for the Classic to be run on a conventional dirt track.
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