There is one thing that might just convince owner Jess Jackson to run 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin next year instead of shipping him off to the breeding shed.

“If Big Brown would [come back], I’d be very tempted to run Curlin as a five-year-old,” Jackson said on Tuesday during a national teleconference.

“It’s all about competition. Curlin might run as a five-year-old even if Big Brown doesn’t run. You have to look at his health and a lot of other factors. But I’d like to see a lot more people step up and race [their horses] as fours and fives.”

Whether or not he returns to the track next year, the four-year-old Smart Strike colt has a chance to make history on Saturday when he tries to score a repeat victory in the 1 1/4-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park.

With a victory, Curlin would vault past two-time Horse of the Year Cigar to become the all-time leading North American-based earner. He currently ranks just behind Cigar ($9,999,815) with $9,796,800 in earnings from his ten career starts.

For Jackson and Team Curlin, however, it is not about the money. Instead, it is about Curlin’s place in history and being mentioned among racing’s greats like Cigar and Secretariat.

“I truly believe he’s a champion, and he’s proven it,” Jackson said. “No horse has done what he’s done. He has already proven he’s one of the best of the past half-century if not the entire century.

“I’m very much a historian and wanted to track what other great horses have done in particular races or at a particular venue. We have fulfilled the legacies of many horses and tried to exceed them by going to Dubai or [running] in the Japan Cup.”

Jackson said he still has not ruled out a trip to the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) on October 25 at Santa Anita Park and a potential showdown with dual classic winner Big Brown but indicated that the Clark Handicap (G2) on November 28 at Churchill Downs and the Japan Cup Dirt (Jpn-G1) on December 7 in Tokyo still are being considered as possible season-ending targets for Curlin.

Jackson, who earlier this year said that Curlin would not be pointed toward the Classic because of concerns about Santa Anita’s newly installed Pro-Ride artificial surface, said he recently spent some time at the Arcadia, Caliifornia, track and plans to make another visit to see the surface up close if he can fit such a trip into his schedule.

“I hate to keep repeating the mantra, but it’s really one race at a time and right now we’re completely focused on the Jockey Club Gold Cup,” he said. “After we get him out of here and he tells us he’s fit and ready, we’ll decide where he may go next—and that includes the Breeders’ Cup.

“I’d really like to see Curlin on the track [at Santa Anita], but we will not make any decisions on whether to ship him out there until we make sure he comes out of the [Jockey Club Gold Cup].

“As a Californian and a fan, I really want to see Curlin race [at Santa Anita]. The horse will tell us if he’s ready and if he can take it after this next race.”

Jackson said the idea of the Classic intrigues him because of the “star-studded” field that could be assembled, which might include Big Brown and Commentator as well as European stars Henrythenavigator and Duke of Marmalade.

He will not, however, enter Curlin in the Classic simply to pacify racing fans or because of the back-and-forth sniping between himself and Big Brown’s ownership group, IEAH Stable, through the media about a possible meeting between the two.

“I’d love to get a repeat win in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, but that doesn’t mean I can be goaded into it,” he said. “A lot of things are going to be determined over the next week or two about Pro-Ride and Santa Anita.

“It honestly has very little to do with Big Brown. I see the challenge as Henrythenavigator and Duke of Marmalade. I see the challenge as a field with the best of Europe and the best of America, and Big Brown is a part of that. I would love to compete against a field like that.”

Jackson said the only discussions he has had with anyone from the Big Brown camp have been “through the media, I guess.” He did say, however, that his gut instinct is that the public will get the Big Brown-Curlin showdown it has been craving.

“I suspect they will,” he said of a meeting between the two horses. “But the point is the [welfare of the] horse. I bet both of us probably, if fit, would love to compete against each other.”

Jackson said he and trainer Steve Asmussen probably would make a decision regarding Curlin’s next start about five or ten days after the Jockey Club Gold Cup provided the horse comes out of the race as strong as he has following each of his starts this season.
(Source: Thoroughbred Times)