Kentucky Derby Blog

Here are the 14 starters of 2010 Preakness Stakes. The post position will be drawn this Wednesday.

Curlin became the first horse in North America to top $10 million in career earnings, winning the Grade 1, $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup on Saturday at Belmont Park. The $450,000 winner’s purse pushed Curlin’s career bankroll to $10,246,800. Cigar held the old mark of $9,999,815, which stood for 12 years.

“It was very emotional for me,” trainer Steve Asmussen added. “I was very excited and very proud of everybody involved. “Fifteen races and he’s won more than 10 million. We had two back-to-back five million-dollar years. Robby didn’t turn the stick over on him today, and the horse looked (great).”

About an hour after the race, Barbara Banke, wife of owner Jess Jackson, said Curlin was to ship to Santa Anita on Sunday morning to begin getting acclimated to that track’s new Pro-Ride synthetic surface. The Breeders’ Cup Classic will be held at Santa Anita on Oct. 25.

“We’re thinking about it,” Jackson said by phone, regarding the Breeders’ Cup.

Curlin is running for the 90th Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational this Saturday. The Jockey Club Gold Cup, established in 1919, is a prestigious thoroughbred race open to horses of either gender three-years-old and up. It is typically the main event of the fall meeting at Belmont Park, just as the Belmont Stakes is of the spring meeting and the Travers Stakes is of the summer meeting at Saratoga.

Curlin won the 1¼-mile Jockey Club Gold last year as a three-year-old by a neck over Lawyer Ron. A win on Saturday not only gives him the money title, it also will nail down a second consecutive Horse of the Year title. And it moves him into an elite class in horse racing history, as only Mad Hatter (1921-22), Dark Secret (1933-34), Nashua (1955-56), Kelso (1960-64), the mare Shuvee (1970-71), Slew o’Gold (1983-84), Crème Fraiche (1986-87) and Skip Away (1996-97) have won consecutive runnings of the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Curlin has earned $9,796,800 and trails only Cigar, who earned $9,999,815, as racing’s top money-earner. The winner’s share of the Jockey Club Gold Cup purse is $450,000, and that would vault Curlin to the top of the money pile. Second ($150,000), third ($75,000) or fourth ($37,000) would leave Curlin short of Cigar’s mark.

TVG and HRTV both will televise the big grade I stakes from Belmont Park Sept. 27 – the Gold Cup, Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, Beldame, Flower Bowl, and Vosburgh. The Jockey Club Gold Cup may be shown on ESPN Classic or ESPN News. That, however, has yet to be decided.

Jess Jackson, an owner of Curlin, announced on Thursday that Curlin will make his next start in the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Sept. 27. Curlin won the Gold Cup last year and a win this year would enable him to surpass Cigar and become Thoroughbred racing’s all-time leading money earner. Curlin has earned $9,796,800, just $203,015 behind Cigar’s record of $9,999,815.

As a three-year-old Curlin won the Arkansas Derby, Preakness Stakes, Jockey Club Gold Cup and Breeders’ Cup Classic.

This will be Curlin’s third consecutive race in New York. In July, he finished second in the Man o’ War. his first start on turf. Last Saturday, Curlin won the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes in his Saratoga debut. Curlin has twice run previously on Belmont’s main track, finishing second to Rags to Riches in the Belmont Stakes before knocking off Lawyer Ron in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Jockey Club Gold Cup
Grade: I Purse: $750,000 Distance: 10 Furlongs Age: 3-Year-Olds & Up
Track: Belmont Park TV: Sunday, September 27, 2008 @ 4:00 PM ET