Full of Run

I am sure it will never come up. But, just in case it does, I hope somebody reminds me NOT to play poker with Steve Asmussen or Jess Jackson.

Asmussen is the master of understatement. I remember last year during the Triple Crown a reporter asked him if Curlin was the best horse he had ever trained. “That would be an accurate statement,” he replied. And as to what makes Curlin special he said, “He runs faster than they do.” Here’s a guy who I am sure is aware that he may never even see, let alone train, a horse of this caliber again. I’d be jumping out of my skin shouting from the mountain tops, and Asmussen is cool as can be.

As for Jess Jackson; you just don’t buy a potato farm, plant grapes, and become a billionaire by accident. The guy is in obvious awe of Curlin and hopes to cement the horse’s place in history, but he isn’t going to make stupid decisions along the way. Along with Asmussen, he has masterfully guided Curlin through a virtually unheard of carreer. Remember, that maiden victory is still only 20 months in the past. Twenty months and ten million dollars.

Not only have they guided Curlin beautifully, they have been engaging in an ongoing, public dialog with IHEA stables, owner of what most people believe is Curlin’s main rival, Big Brown. Jackson has never spelled out a solid long-term plan for his star, choosing instead to always use the one-race-at-a-time approach while insisting that the horse will “tell us” what is next. For six months he has down-played the idea that Curlin would go to California for the Breeder’s Cup Classic, contested this year on a synthetic surface. “Been there, done that” and “unknown surface” have been terms repeated over and over by the Curlin camp. They’ve even floated ideas that Curlin may go elsewhere, like France or Japan, instead of trying to repeat in the Classic.

Therein lies the clues that these are two men to be avoided at the poker table. While they were nearly coming out and saying that Curlin would not contest in the Classic, Michael Ivarone of IHEA and trainer Rick Dutrow became more and more boisterous. The more it looked like Curlin would not run in the Classic, the bolder they got; stopping just shy of calling Jackson “chicken” and Curlin a “pretender.” At one point Dutrow even said “I don’t know why everone says Curlin is such a good horse. We’re way better than Curlin.”

That is fine trash talk, as long as you think you will never have to back it up.

A couple of weeks ago, Curlin won the Jockey Club Gold Cup for the second year in a row. The very next day, he arrived in California to begin his preparations for the Classic. Of course, Jackson still insists that he is not committed to running Curlin, that the “horse will tell us” what to do. Yeah, right. Jackson and Asmussen have proven over the last 20 months that they do not make rash, from the hip decisions, but they expect us to believe they decided AFTER the JCGC to send Curlin to California? I think the pilots were already doing their pre-flight checklists as Curlin was going to get saddled for the Gold Cup.

I think we all know that Curlin will be in the gate on Breeder’s Cup day. And now, I think Ivarone and Dutrow are starting to see it, too. I don’t know what to call it, but Jackson has done a reverse bluff on them. Instead of trying to convince them that his hand is better than it is, he’s done the opposite. He let them get big-headed and full of themselves, the whole time planning to knock them off. Brilliant.

Culin’s best two races were his ’07 Classic and his ’08 Dubai World Cup. Assmussen executes a training plan that culminates with his horse being at top form on the big days. I hope the cameras are ready on Breeder’s Cup day. We are going to see a horse for the ages.

I can see Jackson and Asmussen now, just a hint of twinkle in their eyes as the horses load. Jackson looks over at Ivarone and says, “Good luck.”