Less bang for your buck

The SIM has a number of outstanding stallions with unreal statistics; from turf router Black Condor to main track sprinter Pincay. But just like the real world, the SIM has also seen its share of disappointments at stud; stallions who failed to emulate their sterling race records and royal pedigrees.

Hemi Cuda: Originally standing on the reputable Dave Shields stallion roster for his breeder, Hemi Cuda is now owned by Mike Prevost. A son of Lost Soldier and a half-brother to three millionaires in Nitro, Chevelle and White Lightening, Hemi Cuda was bred to be a star and ran like it when winning ten of fourteen starts. His career was highlighted by his four-year-old season in which he went undefeated in five starts, landing races like the Desert Golden Sprint (UAE-I) and Steward’s Cup Sprint (gr. I) on his way to North American Champion Sprinter honors. He went to stud with high expectations but has thus far failed to deliver on his earlier promise. Hemi Cuda has a strike rate of 7.4% stakes winners from runners, but his highest earner tops out at a surprisingly low $186,000. In fact, just two of his 148 runners to date have surpassed the $100,000 mark, despite being sent above-average mares. Hemi Cuda stands for $40,000 at Who Dat Farm in Louisiana.

Prefamageps: Bred and owned by the influential Eric Nalbone, Prefamageps himself had much expected of him in the shed. A son of the remarkable stallion Fighting With Wit –the sire of leading sires Saga, Chinese Bandit, and Worth Fighting For—out of a Sunday Silence mare, Prefamageps was precocious enough to win the first four starts of his career. He captured the Wood Memorial (gr. I) and Travers Stakes (gr. I) at three and the following season took the Whitney Handicap (gr. I), Laurel Handicap Championship (gr. I), and Steward’s Cup Classic (gr. I) over a star field that included Accolade and Triple Crown hero Jet Ski. But at stud Prefamageps sired one horse of note, millionaire and grade I winner Prince, while his next highest earner topped out at $259,000. Before being pensioned at his owner’s Dare to Dream Stud in New York, he sired just four other stakes winners from his other 73 foals.

Supreme: Another beautifully bred horse, Supreme had the pedigree to be a star both on the track and in the shed. It is a shame, then, that he is not in either area. A $2.5 million purchase for owner Brianna McKenzie, Supreme is a son of the infamous Loki Dynasty, himself the sire of stars Awake As I Am, Notorious, Boise State Boy, Ramses II and High Flyer. He is out of the once-defeated champion Tiara, who herself landed seven grade I’s and has produced millionaires King and Majesty. Supreme won six times in eighteen starts with his biggest tally coming in the Cigar Mile (gr. I). He would appear then to be a bargain at $5,000, but look again – his strike rate of stakes winners from runners is a tragic 3.9%, with just over 45% winners. His leading earner has amassed over $700,000, though his next highest earner sits at $72,180. Supreme stands for $5,000 at his owner’s Vishtaspa Stables in Florida.

Left Behind: Like Supreme, Left Behind was bred by the Steward though unlike the former he sold for just $4,000 as a yearling. Despite his purchase price, the handsome bay did come from good stock: His sire, Loki Brilliance, was a champion who won ten of fifteen starts and sired another millionaire in Voyeur. The dam, Leaveminthedust, has also produced champion and grade I winner Alone in My Dreams. Left Behind was a classy racehorse, winning the Haskell Invitational (gr. I), Metropolitan Handicap (gr. I) and Steward’s Cup Dirt Mile (gr. I). He was a popular first choice as a miler stallion upon retirement, but at age nine has not much to show for it. Left Behind has less than 37% winners from runners, and average earnings of $7,967 per runner. To date, he has not sired a single stakes winner from 80 runners. Left Behind stands for $10,000 at Rivendell Acres in Kentucky.

Royal Moment: As far as disappointments at stud go, few have been bigger than Royal Moment, who is as royally bred as his name would suggest. Bred and owned by longstanding SIM trainer Susie Raisher, he is a son of Horse of the Year Silver Charm who sired nine other millionaires. Royal Moment is out of champion Flanders, who produced six stakes winners. Royal Moment was easily the best of them, winning all thirteen of his starts including the Prince of Peace Stakes (CAN-I), UAE Derby (UAE-I) and Inglewood Futurity (gr. I). As a stallion he left something to be desired, siring just one stakes winner from 62 starters. That lone stakes winner was the only horse to cross the $100,000 mark in earnings, while his second highest earner never even succeeded in breaking his maiden. Today Royal Moment is a pensioner at his owner’s Fox Lair Farm in New York.

Shield: The expectations for Shield, an $8 million yearling auction purchase, were always high. His sire Satelite was undefeated and his blood dominates the sprint breeding industry with several leading, fecund sons including Pincay, Saturn, Villain, Best and Comet. The dam of Shield, the late Brilliancenevafades, produced five other stakes winners. Her grey son by Satelite lived up to his bloodlines by winning seven of ten starts on the track including the Vernon O. Underwood Stakes (gr. I) and Pat O’Brien Handicap (gr. I). But off the track Shield struggled, getting three stakes winners from 58 runners with a winners from starters percentage of 34.5%. His highest earner sits at $140,600 in career earnings, with two others with earnings over $50,000. Now pensioned, Shield lives at owner Sara Kendall’s farm Haras Villa Del Sur in Columbia.

Konstantine: Here is another blue-blooded horse; this one bred by the reputable Robin Tan. Konstantine is a son of the undefeated legend Conduit, himself the sire of leading stallions Loki Dynasty, Feature Attraction, Atlas, Le Dauphin Noir, Tejano Tribute and Tot Ziens. His dam is a legend herself, a member of the Hall of the Fame and a Horse of the Year with five grade I’s to her credit, including a victory over the boys in the Baltimore Crown (gr. I). As a broodmare she produced six other millionaires, including successful stallion Heir to the Throne. Her son Konstantine was a force on the racetrack, winning nine of twelve starts including the Twin Spires Stakes (gr. I) at two and the Donn Handicap (gr. I) at four. But as a stallion he has been far less prominent, siring just five stakes winners from 220 runners. Those five horses are the only ones to breach the $100,000 mark in earnings, and such unimpressive numbers have led to Konstantine’s fee to dwindle to $3,500 at age twelve. Now owned by Bob Allensworth, he stands at Whispering Oaks in Kentucky.

Icon: This son of the once-beaten pair of Priceless Forever and the blue hen Mirror also possesses a storied pedigree. His sire produced twenty –yes, twenty—millionaires at stud and the dam has the remarkable notation of all eight foals becoming millionaires, including popular stallions and Louisville Derby (gr. I) heroes Saga and Braveheart. Icon himself was no slouch, capturing eight of ten outings while landing five grade I’s on both dirt and turf including the Metropolitan Handicap and Maker’s Mark Mile (gr. IT). However unlike his siblings he has failed to leave a mark on the breed. In fact, Icon was surprisingly non-potent, siring just two stakes winners from 103 starters with less than 37% winners. Even his leading earner, five-for-nine Pretty Baby of $336,640, has produced four runners with just one win between them to date. Icon has since been pensioned alongside fellow Dare to Dream Stud pensioner Prefamageps.

Viper: LaDonna King’s homebred colt was a gem of consistency, finishing first or second in ten of twelve lifetime starts. He counted among his victories the Midsummer Classic (gr. I), Arcadia Handicap (gr. I) and Lexington Stakes (gr. II), while running against such household names as Loki Dynasty, Prefamageps, Atlas and Saga. Like Prefamageps, Viper’s sire was the premier stallion Fighting With Wit, who sired a trio of leading sires in Saga, Worth Fighting For and Chinese Bandit. Viper’s dam is Really Excellent, a four-time grade I-winning Real Quiet mare who has produced five other millionaires in Marked Improvement, Vampire, Stealth, Lighting A Candle and Loki Angel. But despite such fertile bloodlines Viper himself has been a disappointment at stud, getting 32% winners from runners and two stakes winners from 50 runners, with one of those stakes wins coming at restricted Trial Park. He currently stands at his owner’s The Finish Line Farm in Kentucky for $1.

A slew of disappointments; a few glimmers of hope

I worked all 87 yearlings today for the first time. Most, as expected, were mediocre. A few worked terribly and a few worked promisingly. What never does cease to amaze me is how wrong I've been when I pegged them as foals. Some I think could set the track afire turn out to be not much faster than a fat man, and some I have very modest expectations for work very quickly. (The former, in case you were wondering, occurs far more frequently.)

Despite my best efforts to branch out from turf sprinters my best workers and runners seem to always fall into that subtype. Don't get me wrong; I will take a good horse of any kind, but it would be nice for a change of pace to have a nice productive dirt or turf router. Perhaps with the retirement of Phoenix Rise --whose oldest crop, now two-year-olds, includes some quick workers who are still waiting for the racing secretaries to card those juvenile mile races-- I can develop some good dirt horses. But I digress.

Top workers from this morning are:
Balalaika (F) (Chernobyl -- Dance Biscuit, Blaze The Green); 3F(T) in 0:36.75
Riedell (Automobile -- Frost, Dubawi); 3F(T) in 0:36.75
Eminence Rouge (F) (Throne -- Grey Eminence, Fighter Jet); 5F in 0:58.47*
Pharfignewton (F) (Adjust the Lens -- Birdie Num Num, Snuggle) 3F(T) in 0:36.70
Picatso (Automobile -- Green Whiskers, Sakura Bakushin O); 3F(T) in 0:36.65
Scent of Freesia (F) (Del Mar, Bandiagara, Bernardini); 5F in 0:58.85

*Particularly excited am I about Eminence Rouge. A daughter of Throne --whose stud fee was recently hiked from $100,000 to $150,000-- and out of a graded stakes-winning homebred, she could very well be the best horse I have bred since Phoenix Rise. I'm hesitant to write that off of just one work, but my broodmare band is sorely lacking and as a result I really only get a handful of decent horses with stakes potential. The dam, Grey Eminence, has not been bred yet this year though at the moment I am looking heavily at Indian (Chinese Bandit).

The other worker who caught my eye is Picatso, who is out of the Steward-bred Green Whiskers. The dam, though a $200,000 purchase as an unraced four-year-old, appears to have been money well-spent. She was a grade III winner (grade II-placed versus males) for me and has been quite fecund in the shed thus far with two winners from starters, including a debut winner this season by Stratocaster. By Sakura Bakushin O and out of a Green Dash mare she really has a fantastic outcross going to just about every turf sprinter stallion out there. I'd really like to see what she'd produce when bred to more uncommon sprint lines like superstar Silent Partner (Courageous Witness), Auto Brake (Testa Rossa), Irish Heights (Dalakhani) or Chernobyl (Fastnet Rock). My stallion Berlioz has had a very warm reception at stud largely due to his unusual breeding (as well as his race record), and getting a good colt by any of the above stallions out of a mare like Green Whiskers would be invaluable to my stallion roster.

On the racing end of things, it's been a dry year for the stable thus far. A very dry year. Only a handful of wins; about half of them from maiden specials. A lot of my stakes winners from last year just have seemed to not "trained on." Things could improve with the debut of some two-year-olds a few weeks down the road but already by week four it appears it will be a very long season.

Crybaby dutrow

Trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. talked the talk all week before the Belmont and continued to boast about how Big Brown was continuing to flourish. He even was so bold as to tell reporters the Belmont was "a foregone conclusion."

The Belmont should be a lesson in humility for Dutrow, who continues be a poor ambassador for the sport with his brash conceitedness, frequent doping-related offenses, irresponsible remarks about the medications his horses run on ("You'd have to ask the vet what the purpose of that is," he told a reporter about the drug Winstrol. "I don't know what it does. I just like using it."), and his poor sportsmanship.

Dutrow also questioned the training regimen John Servis put his Smarty Jones through en route to the Belmont saying, "I think that the connections of Smarty Jones just were not smart in order to get their job done for the Belmont. They should have played it a lot safer, a lot better." How interesting it is to note than Smarty Jones lost the Belmont by only a length, while Big Brown finished dead last in his edition, beaten double-digit lengths by the victorious Da'Tara.

He had plenty of bravado earlier in the week but when his horse ran up the track on the big day Dutrow sulked and refused to speak with reporters, which makes the Patriots' Bill Belichick look like a true sportsman by comparison (after the latter's walk-off in February when he refused to watch his team go down at the hands of the Giants).

Well, the racing gods have spoken and they don't seem like cheaters, especially arrogant ones with 33-page rap sheets.

Tenacious emblem

Two of the eighteen starters this year’s Oka Sho (JPN-IT; Japanese 1,000 Guineas) were sired by Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winner War Emblem. It’s an impressive feat for any stallion, but can only be considered particularly remarkable when one learns that War Emblem sired just fifteen fillies in 2005.

War Emblem, a nine-year-old son of Our Emblem, has been at stud in Japan at the renowned Shadai Stallion Station since he retired back in the fall of 2002. Though he closed out his career with a disappointing sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I), he was still named Champion Three-Year-Old Colt by virtue of his earlier victories in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes (gr. I), Haskell Invitational (gr. I), and Illinois Derby (gr. II).

It is no coincidence that War Emblem arrived in Japan only months after the death of Sunday Silence, the 1989 Kentucky Derby winner who clinched Horse of the Year and Champion Three-Year-Old Colt honors following a stirring victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic that same year.

Despite his lofty race record, American breeders showed little interest in Sunday Silence, who was eventually bought by Shadai Stallion Station owner Zenya Yoshida. The colt went on to legendary status as a sire in Japan, leading the sire list yearly from 1995 to 2007. The horse even had his own magazine, and pundits estimate that the winnings of his descendants at the exorbitant sum of $500,000,000.

The similarities between Sunday Silence and War Emblem are striking – both were slight-bodied, near-black colts who annexed both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness before stumbling the final block in the Belmont. They were both willful creatures with little appeal to American breeders despite their race records.

If it weren’t for War Emblem’s reputation as a shy breeder, he might be dominating the sire lists much like his predecessor had.

War Emblem produced just four foals in his first crop, all of whom are winners. From that small crop are Clan Emblem and Admire Million, both allowance winners who have scored victories on dirt and turf.

War Emblem’s second crop was a slight improvement at 33 foals, and while the start of their careers were promising it has been only recently that they have begun to set the Japanese racing scene on fire. The jet-black colt King’s Emblem, a flashy debut winner on the turf last fall, recently captured his first stakes when taking the Surmire Stakes, also on the grass, though a start on the main track is likely in his future – King’s Emblem is a half-brother to Vermilion, a horse who won four consecutive grade I’s on dirt including the Japan Cup Dirt (JPN-I).

War Emblem’s two Oka Sho entrants, Air Pascale and Black Emblem, both of whom are expected to go off at odds of around 9-1, are also members of that 2005 crop. Air Pascale earned a birth in the Oka Sho by virtue of her victory in last month’s Tulip Sho (JPN-IIIT), a one-mile turf race and major prep for three-year-old fillies. Less than two weeks later, Black Emblem drew comparisons to her sire when wiring the Flower Cup (JPN-IIIT), the last major prep for the Oka Sho.

But the headliner of this talented bunch is surely Shonan Alba, who became his sire’s first graded stakes winner when capturing the Kyodo News Service Hai (JPN-IIIT) going about nine furlongs on the grass in February. Shonan Alba is a colt known for his virulent personality as much as his distinctive 5 x 3 inbreeding to the venerable Brigadier Gerard. In the Service Hai, he determinedly held off all challengers despite having fought jockey Masayoshi Ebina through much of the early going.

“His fiery temper goes along on the right track so far in the races. But it is evident that we will have to find some effective measures to make him relax,” said the colt’s conditioner Yoshitaka Ninomiya. “He chooses his rider. I have never seen a horse like him [with such a great deal of personality].”

War Emblem’s progeny are not the prettiest sort, but they are racy-looking and appealing in their own way and have proven popular with Japanese buyers. Air Pascale’s trainer, Yatsutoshi Ikee, had this to say of the stallion’s offspring:

“I think that War Emblem is a stallion whose [influence] runs strongly in his descendents. His sons and daughters inherit their sire's character and body a lot…If the horse can [be taught to] go comfortably on the bit, he/she can draw away as War Emblem did in the Kentucky Derby.”

Despite his having just twenty-one starters so far this year, War Emblem reached another milestone last month when he made the Top 20 in the Japan Racing Association’s sire rankings, which are based on the number of starters per stallion and average earnings per starter. War Emblem’s Earning Index is listed at an unheard of 3.74 – and it is worth noting that his closest pursuer on the list is the late El Condor Pasa at 2.71, and the sire with the third-highest earnings index is none other than the late Sunday Silence with an index of 2.06. No other stallions ranked in the top twenty with War Emblem breached the 2.00 mark.

Trainers and breeders aren’t the only ones taking note of War Emblem’s success. In late March the stallion was featured in GALLOP, Japan’s premier horse racing publication in Japan under the heading, “Miracle Blood” in Full Bloom.

For a stallion whose stud career was once labeled as a failure, War Emblem is proving that the flower that blooms despite vicissitude is perhaps the most valuable of all.

Looking for love in all the wrong places

This is Raneem.

Raneem is a blue-blooded product of Darley Stud, a son of successful stallion Gone West out of a mare by The Minstrel, who won both the Epsom and Irish Derbies. He had started out racing at the most premier tracks and with the best of care before slipping down the claiming ranks like so many other Thoroughbreds and disappearing into obscurity. At one point he ended up at the ill-reputed New Holland Sales Stables in Pennsylvania, which has been convicted on numerous animal cruelty charges and remains a magnet for the so called 'kill-buyers' who purchase unwanted horses to send to slaughter.

At New Holland Raneem was purchased by some men from Philadelphia and returned to the races at Fonner Park in Nebraska. After twenty-seven starts with five victories and earnings of just under $100,000, Raneem could run no more. He was promptly retired and shipped back east to New Holland where his fate seemed sealed when he was picked up by a kill-buyer for a nominal sum.

But fate smiled on Raneem that day, as MidAtlantic Horse Rescue workers were also present and quickly stepped in to intervene on his behalf. They negotiated a price for the gelding, and soon Raneem was in Maryland where he put on needed weight and began to learn how to be a riding horse.

He took to this new career readily and it wasn't long before the gelding, described as "handsome and sweet," found a home with a nice woman from New Jersey. But just as quickly, it seemed, his past caught up with him.

Raneem's ankles became swollen and sore with even light riding, and eventually he was retired from riding for good. He was taken back in by the MidAtlantic Horse Rescue where he remains to this day, waiting to be adopted into a loving 'forever' home.

I could write a lot of negative things about Darley (and I probably will someday). I could criticize them for ruining the sport of horse racing by buying accomplished, notables horses and retiring them before their prime -- heck, last year alone they bought and retired Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, Haskell winner Any Given Saturday, and Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic runner-up Hard Spun. (One forum poster summed it quite nicely: "See it. Buy it. Retire it. It's the Darley way.")

Less than two weeks ago Darley also bought out Woodland Stud, Australia's largest and most successful owner-breeder operation for a price tag estimated somewhere between $400,000,000-500,000,000. Now you would think, with all those millions to throw around, the people at Darley could at least take back an unsound horse they were directly responsible for bringing into the world and let him live out his days grazing in a field on one of Darley's many equine properties or at least assist in finding him a permanent home. Large, prominent racing and breeding operations like Adena Springs and Padua have already have had successful retirement programs in place for several years now where horses bred and raced by their establishments are retrained and matched with owners who will provide a dedicated and lifelong home.

It seems like something any decent breeder would do. If you think so too, write to Darley and tell them so.

Making things right

We moved five more times in the following eight years, sampling various states in the Midwestern and Heartland regions; for two years I even lived by the marshy coasts of Georgia. Curiously each time we landed in a locale that was distant from any racetrack so my enthusiasm for the sport had to be sustained by weekly publications and the budding world of the Internet.

As a teenager of the ‘90s, the era of racing’s elite heroes –the weight-bearers, the heavy campaigners, the frequent shippers—ended long before it could be appreciated by my generation of fans. Gone are the Kelsos, the Foregos, the Tom Fools, and Spectacular Bids of yesteryear. I was just over three months old when dual-surface wonder John Henry retired as the world’s richest racehorse in July of 1985.

Things looked up towards the end of the decade when Pennsylvania-bred Smarty Jones burst onto the racing scene in 2004 as an undefeated three-year-old. Triple Crown hopes were high after the colt annexed the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, but his bid to become the first Triple Crown winner since 1978 fell short by a length when Birdstone pulled a sizeable upset in the Belmont. Smarty Jones came out of the race with bruising to his fetlocks joints but owner Roy Chapman remained adamant that fans would see the chestnut colt race again, citing races like the Dubai World Cup as goals.

"We don't want him to go out that way. We want him to go out the hero that he is. And if it takes racing when he's a four-year-old, I hope he will be able to do it,” Chapman declared just days after the race.

But less than two months later came the news that Smarty Jones had been retired, syndicated weeks earlier as a stallion for nearly $40 million.

“I don't see anyway he can earn on the racetrack in a year what he can earn next spring in the breeding shed,” added trainer John Servis. “If it were any other horse, you'd turn him out and bring him back to the track in late October and start building back up his conditioning but…you have the emotional trauma if anything should happen to him.”

But noted and highly esteemed equine veterinarian Larry Bramlage, who examined the cold firsthand had this to say:

“The risks are minor…we bring horses back from this type of injury [to race again] all the time. The prognosis for full recovery is excellent. There's really nothing to worry about.”

Apparently hypocrisy also runs deep in the sport as well – take for example Cash Is King Stable, who a year later ran Afleet Alex to pulsating victories in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes before the colt was stricken with a career-ending injury. Regarding the colt’s fans, Cash Is King managing partner Chuck Zacney said matter of factly, “I don’t want it to be like Smarty Jones,” before promptly selling the recently retired colt a few days later to Gainesway Farm, a notoriously un-fan-friendly operation that does not allow visitors.

The sales industry wields some influential power over racing, as it far more lucrative for owners to sell a hot young three-year-old to a stud farm than race him as an older horse. But do you breed to breed or breed to race? The sport of kings died long ago, now replaced with the sport of greed.

Is it possible to have too much emphasis placed on the Triple Crown? Successful sires Storm Cat, Broad Brush, Gone West, Kingmambo, and Elusive Quality, to name a few, did not win or even place in any of the three-year-old spring classics. The numbers would indicate that the series itself is not the most precise gauge of sire ability.

Prominent owner Barry Irwin, also stricken with this folie a deux, stated that, “To many people, and I happen to be one of them, the point of racing is to prove which one is best so that he can go to stud and attempt to better the breed. Once they have proven who is best, there is no further point to racing a horse. It is more important to the breed to get them to stud.”

Irwin, who heads the Team Valor syndicate racing, attracts newcomers to racing by offering shares in racehorses purchased from various owners and breeders or from auction. Yet one has to wonder how many clients he has lured into the sport with his “race to breed” angle.

Those who stand by Irwin’s viewpoint only see the financial gain. Forget accolades and prestige; the greater glory is retiring good horses early. And who really gets shut out? The fans, and the entire industry suffers for it. I wonder if Irwin was singing the same praises of premature retirements when his beloved Swaps was pillaging California stakes during the summer of 1956, more than –get this!—a year after his victory in racing's most coveted jewel, the Kentucky Derby.

No other sport quite looks down on its fans like racing does. Because they are not employed by the industry, many involved in racing feel they have no right to voice their opinions. Instead, racing shoots itself in the foot by chastising and ultimately driving away its few remaining fans. There is a generation of young people who enthusiastically follow the sport, many of whom wager regularly, and they should be welcomed into the industry – all, they are the future of racing, a fact that most of the crotchety old fogies running the sport today seem oblivious to.

The prince and the king

It's a great time to be a racing fan. For the first time in five years, the leading three-year-old was not retired to the breeding shed at the end of the season -- last year's Champion Three-Year-Old Male, Curlin, has remained in training for 2008.

Curlin had an unorthodox but impressive prep race for the Dubai World Cup (gr. I) last month in the Jaguar Trophy Handicap in Dubai, which he won under a hand ride while shouldering 132 pounds, clocking the 1-1/4 miles in a laudable time of 2:00.6. But the colt still had his work cut out for him Saturday. He would meet rivals from all over the globe, including Japan's Vermilion (a winner of four consecutive grade I's), Godolphin's up-and-coming Jalil who had strung together three straight victories since coming to Dubai, former American grade I winner and last year's World Cup runner-up Premium Tap, and horse-for-course Asiatic Boy who had won the UAE Derby (UAE-II) over the same oval.

But Curlin made mincemeat of his World Cup rivals, attending an active pace while three-wide before drawing off down the stretch to score by a record 7-3/4 lengths. Winning with his ears pricked, he sped the distance in 2:00.15, the third-fastest running of the race.

"What a horse," said his jubilant rider Robby Albarado. "Curlin is like a limousine, and I am just along for the ride."

And yet, the effort that should have had people talking for weeks played second fiddle when, some four hours later, three-year-old Big Brown remained undefeated in taking the Florida Derby (gr. I) in just his third lifetime start. Big Brown had first made headlines last summer at Saratoga, when he won a maiden special on the turf by 11-3/4 lengths. Setbacks caused the colt to miss the rest of the season, but he turned heads in his sophomore debut earlier this month when he cruised in an off-the-turf allowance contest by more than a dozen lengths, getting the mile distance in an eye-catching 1:35 3/5 despite having only a two-work foundation going in.

Then came last Saturday's Florida Derby, which turned skeptics into believers (myself included). Breaking from the twelve-hole --and becoming the first horse to win doing so since Gulfstream's inane reconfiguration four years ago-- Big Brown set daring fractions of 22 and 45 and change for the opening quarter and half-mile. Despite the quick pace, Big Brown left his rivals reeling and drew off down the stretch to win by five lengths while getting the 1-1/8 miles in a snappy 1:48 1/5.

"He's a major talent, possibly the best horse I've ever ridden," enthused winning rider Kent Desormeaux, who rode both Fusaichi Pegasus and Real Quiet to victories in the Kentucky Derby. Desormeaux has also won grade I's on a variety of mounts, including Desert Stormer (a dirt sprinter), Kotashaan (a turf router), and Corinthian (a dirt miler).

"He's a freak," says Hall of Fame trainer John Nerud simply.

Despite the one-year age difference, the similarities are startling: It was at this time last year the then-undefeated Curlin was a favorite for the Kentucky Derby, having gone from a dazzling maiden winner to the commanding ten-length victor of the Arkansas Derby (gr. II) in the span of two months. He even had similar superlatives thrown at him last year after going from maiden winner to Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) hero in the span of a season. But even the eventual Horse of the Year was unable to win the Derby off of three lifetime starts, though he did finish an admirable third behind Street Sense and Hard Spun after encountering traffic trouble down the lane.

Big Brown will now likely go off favored in the Run for the Roses, having outdazzled fellow three-year-old and Louisiana Derby (gr. II) and Risen Star (gr. III) winner Pyro from the top spot of Derby contenders. Curlin, meanwhile, will remain in light training in Kentucky until a future start can be determined, his hold on the title Horse of the World secure. The two will follow different paths, but it is never too early to start dreaming of the collision course that may come to fruition this fall.