Assmussen’s horses are always braided. How about the “saddling stall” he was in? Unlike the US where horses saddle in 3 sided “stalls” slightly larger than a standing stall, in Dubai they are in “loose boxes” which are about 20 x 20 feet! Assmussen was chasing him around to get the tack fitted!
To Quote Kenike
WOOOOHOOOO! CURLIN!!!
So when did they take half the braids out? Cause I swear he was fully braided when I first saw him.
Jocks usually unbraid the bottom half in the post parade.
It is funny because I realized when I think about Curlin, I don’t just say Curlin. I have to say WOOOOHOOOO! CURLIN!!! bc of this thread 
Color me – finally! – a believer. I adored Street Sense, but now I must bow down before this awesome athlete. What a horse! :yes:
Ah…what a horse, what a horse.
So the BC Classic in late Oct is the obvious goal that he will be pointed towards this year. So what happens in the meantime? Is the next seven months a series of three, four maybe five preps where he beats up on what is realistically a very weak older dirt horse division in North America? God that would get boring fast.
Would love to see them get a bit adventurous with this horse, switch surfaces for a race or two, try the Manhattan, the Man O’ War or the Arlington Million. I think he’d be as big a monster on grass as he is on dirt. His pedigree certainly suggests he could do it.
Hell, even go a step further and point him at one of the big European WFA races. Maybe the Arc is too ambitous, and too close to the BC, but the Prince of Wales, the Eclipse, the Juddmonte or the Irish Champion Stakes would be perfect, all 10 to 10.5f and plenty of time to get back in the US to get ready for the BC Classic.
Is there video?
[QUOTE=DLee;3108961]
So when did they take half the braids out? Cause I swear he was fully braided when I first saw him.[/QUOTE]
The jocks will pull out the lower braids, so that they have something to grab leaving the gate!
I bet we have to wait till late summer early fall for Curlin to come back. Maybe 3 races? My bet is the Goodwood will be his BC prep if you trust their “2nd time running” theory.
I agree it would be neat to see him try grass and even Europe but he has good grass breeding and they probably stand more to lose by trying it than not.
For now we just have to hope he stays healthy. Last year this time we were pretty excited about Invasor and look what happened. This horse has run great races but I don’t think he is great yet. Cigar had to run a lot more races to make that money so passing his mark means nothing to me. I think Invasor whips Curlin
My two cents, and I know for logistical reasons it probably won’t happen–
Instead of just calling it quits with the BC Classic, I’d love to see them head to Japan for the Dirt Cup. It’s a shame the races are placed so closely together. And I guess the $2mil+ Japan Cup Dirt purse would seem like chump change after the World Cup and the BC Classic.
I also just wanted to add, I’m sure poor Poncho is going to be sad to come back to KY next week. Poncho the pony got more press coverage for the World Cup than most of the runners! :lol:
Great race, great horse!!! 
What -A- Horse!
[QUOTE=Texarkana;3110348]
I also just wanted to add, I’m sure poor Poncho is going to be sad to come back to KY next week. Poncho the pony got more press coverage for the World Cup than most of the runners! :lol:[/QUOTE]
I agree–poor Pancho:(-- six weeks of leisure, now it’s back to work, babysittin all the horses that go to the track everyday, instead of just keepin track of one–and poor Carlos too, now he’s back to gettin on a crapload of horses everyday, instead of only having one to get on!!!:no:
I saw the race on TVG, and I swear the close-up shot the camera had was astounding! You could actually see Curlin eye-balling the horses to the inside of him as he tracked in 3rd just behind and to the outside of the leaders going around the final turn.
He really looked amazing all nostrils a-flare and left eye blazing at those horses. You could just tell he was planning to eat them alive in another few strides.
Wow, he was amazing pulling that off somewhat wide all the way! At first I started to freak out thinking he was “frozen” and wouldn’t make a move. What was I thinking? He rolled away like they weren’t there! What a great horse.
It’s nice to see one sticking around - putting in a great performance from the Derby preps last year (even though he was lightly raced), a Triple Crown display, through the summer, obviously the Breeder’s Cup, and STILL going strong…
I guess he’s my new Lawyer Ron, albeit a bit more classy I have to admit.
So, having just watched the replay a bunch of times, what the heck was going on with Premium Tap (observed on those few occasions when I wasn’t watching Curlin :winkgrin:)? He really looked rank in a couple of spots; near the turn it almost looked like he took some bad steps and the jock was really pulling on him, but he continued running. Any ideas?
It sounds as though The Big Horse is going to get some time off before a summer campaign starts. But I agree, he needs some new horses to beat up on. 
Love the idea of him going to Europe, but not sure that would aid Jess Jackson’s stated mission to re-enthuse the American public about racing; unfortunately, I fear Curlin has to race here to get the attention he so richly deserves in the mainstream U.S. media. His amazing win in the World Cup barely rated a mention in notes on the inside pages of the major papers. :no:
