Entries tagged with “Jess Jackson” from Picture This

Jess Jackson’s and Steve Assmussen’s experiment with Curlin, who finished 2nd to 2006 Breeder’s Cup winner Red Rocks, proved inconclusive at best.  Not that Curlin ran a bad race (as if he ever could do that), he just didn’t run a great race.  He didn’t run an effort that would propel Curlin on to France to run in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.  It remains to be seen how he comes out of this race.

Red Rocks wins the Gr. I  Man O' War at Belmont.

“We didn’t see that late kick from him today,” said owner Jesse Jackson, “I don’t know if that was because he is still getting used to the turf or what… My feeling right now is that he needs another turf test.”

Steve Assmussen seems a little less sure, saying,” We’ll just evaluate how he came out of the race.  I don’t want to rush to judgment … We’ll monitor his condition.”

Again Curlin didn’t have a bad race, it was just not a typical Curlin race.  It was a strangely run race as well.  Sudan and Mission Approved decided to get into a speed duel for the 1st mile, running an opening quarter in a ridiculous 22.69 for a 1 3/8 race.  They opened up 10 lengths on Red Rocks, running in 3rd, who had 3 to 5 lengths on Curlin, running fourth, down the backside.  Red Rocks got the jump on Curlin, and Curlin couldn’t get closer than a length to the winner. 2004 BC Turf winner Better Talk Now finished ½ length back in 3rd - the Breeder’s Cup winners finished 1-2-3. 

Curlin chases Red Rocks, Better Talk Now not even in picture yet

The crowd of 8,428 gave Curlin a warm reception in the paddock, and applauded him on his return to be unsaddled. The question remains - did Curlin like the turf, and just needs to adapt? Or did he run second on a surface he hated, and did it on class alone?

It seems Mr. Jackson and Robby Albarado want to give Curlin another shot on the grass.  Assmussen seems less inclined - but he will do what the man who pays the bills wants to do.  Jackson already said if it doesn’t work out they’ll go back to dirt.  What Jackson doesn’t want is to have his star “run on plastic.”  He is not a fan of synthetic surfaces, he feels horses have been running in turf and dirt for hundreds of years.  The Arc idea is his way of avoiding Santa Anita and it’s “plastic” track.

Mr. Jackson is a throw-back to the olden days of horse racing - recalling the days when he saw Seabiscuit running, and of bidding against the same horse as Bing Crosby at the sales.  I was listening to Jess Jackson in the press box, talking about what it is he wants for his horse.  He wants to do more than beat up on the same bunch of horses for the remainder of the year.  He wants to keep running his horse as long as he’s sound, and when he looks into your eyes and speaks to YOU, you come to understand what he wants, and that it’s more than a just line of  bullshit. He really wants to showcase his horse, and to show that horses can be bred to be sound, and have stamina.  That it’s not about the stud deals - some claim he couldn’t get a big deal because Curlin’s pedigree isn’t commercial enough - but as Jackson stated “I don’t need the money.”

 

Jess Jackson, majority owner of Curlin

 

 

Maybe if the turf experiment doesn’t work, maybe there is an alternate path for the Curlin crew.  If they are so opposed to running on Santa Anita’s synthetic surface of this year’s Breeder’s Cup, perhaps there is another race they can aim for, if they want to make their champion an international star.  It’s on the other side of the world - the Japan Dirt Cup.  It is at the end of November, and best of all, it’s run on dirt, a surface on which Curlin dominates. 

 

Kip Deville wins the pot in the Poker Handicap

The 4th Breeder’s Cup winner running this weekend at Belmont was the 2007 Mile winner, Kip Deville.  But as usual, Kip Deville was a true professional, and basically toyed with the field in the Grade III Poker Handicap on Sunday.  The field included Steppenwolfer, 3rd place finisher in the 2006 Kentucky Derby.

 

Kip Deville wins the Poker Handicap easy

Steppenwolfer was the looker in the paddock and the post parade - I loved his neck, and he was a very powerful looking individual - too bad he didn’t run a lick, and he finished last.

But Kip Deville is well on his way to make another run in the Mile, and might become one of the few back-to-back winners of a Breeder’s Cup race.

The star 3-year olds that thrilled us through out 2007 have been shuffled off to stud.  Street Sense, Kentucky Derby and Travers Stakes winner; Hard Spun, the handsome and talented son of Danzig; and Any Given Saturday, winner of the Haskell Invitational.  All have been bought and retired by a sheik who doesn’t need the money, and sent prematurely to the breeding shed.  This denies the fans and the bettors a chance to continue seeing these talented equine athletes, and losing the opportunity to draw new people to the sport, and the sport needs all the help it can get right now. That help comes in the form of Horse of the Year Curlin, and his majority owner Jess Jackson. 

 

Curlin burst on to the scene on February 3rd, where at Gulfstream Park, in a maiden special weight, he won by an impressive 12 ¾ lengths. Unraced at 2, in a matter of 10 months, Curlin compiled quite a resume. He scored victories in the Rebel Stakes and the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.  Going into the Kentucky Derby 3-for-3, the lightly raced colt can a credible third to the Breeder’s Cup Juvenile winner, Street Sense.  He came back in the Preakness Stakes, in a thrilling stretch dual with the Derby winner, prevailed by a head to foil Street Sense’s Triple Crown bid.  Three weeks later at Belmont Park, he again was locked in a stretch dual with the eventual 3-year old filly champion, Rags to Riches, in an historic race that saw Rags to Riches prevail and become the first filly in 102 years to win the Belmont Stakes.

Curlin got a bit of a break before running in the Haskell Invitational, where he finished behind Any Given Saturday.  Curlin finished the fall season in spectacular manner.  He raced against older horses in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, giving yet another exciting stretch drive to beat champion older horse Lawyer Ron.  His emphatic win in the mud of Monmouth in the Breeder’s Cup Classic, against the best in the country, and with having finished on the board in all nine of his starts, stamped him as this year’s logical Horse of the Year.  Most industry people and racing fans assumed that Curlin would follow Street Sense and Hard Spun into the breeding shed.

But then a strange thing happened.  Jess Jackson, owner of 80% of Curlin, announced at the Eclipse Awards, as he accepted the Horse of the Year award, that Curlin would indeed race as a four year old.  This makes Curlin the first 3-year old Horse of the Year since Tiznow to race as a 4-year old.  Jess Jackson decided to do the sporting thing instead of taking the easy money of the breeding shed.  Mr. Jackson said “This is a sport that needs more and more heroes, and since we need them so badly we’ve decided to race Curlin again this year.” 

Amen, Mr. Jackson. Amen.