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THOROUGHBRED BEAT JULY 10, 2008 by James Scully Man o' War -- Saturday's Man o' War S. (G1) will feature three Breeders' Cup race winners, including last year's Classic (G1) hero CURLIN (Smart Strike). His connections are shooting for the moon in a sense, using the 1 3/8-mile event as a predecessor to a bold overseas assault upon arguably the most important race in Europe, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1). If Curlin runs big at Belmont Park, he's headed to France. This hasn't happened before, not with a Horse of the Year who has reached the midway point of his four-year-old season without a turf start to his credit. How do you say, "incroyable?" Problemes -- If Curlin handles turf as well as he does dirt, it spells potential trouble for the Europeans. The French certainly don't want an American horse shipping over to raid their biggest prize. And Curlin is as good as it gets from this country. He didn't make his career debut until last February. A couple of starts later, he finished third in the Kentucky Derby (G1), perhaps the most difficult event on the American landscape. Curlin knocked off the Derby winner, Street Sense, in the Preakness (G1) two weeks later and continued on to the 1 1/2-mile Belmont (G1), performing courageously to finish second by a head. The grueling Triple Crown campaign obviously took a toll upon the massive chestnut, evidenced by his flat third in the Haskell Invitational (G1) in early August, but Curlin bounced back with an outstanding score in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) in late September and hasn't come close to defeat since then, recording convincing victories in the Breeders' Cup Classic, Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1) and Stephen Foster H. (G1). He's gotten bigger, faster and stronger as a four-year-old, and Curlin is bred to relish the turf. Last chance -- Friday was a giveaway day at Belmont Park but despite the free cooler bag, only 11,123 paid admissions were recorded for the Independence Day card. The holiday racing continued on Saturday and Sunday, but the track drew only 5,653 patrons on Saturday and 5,136 on Sunday. How many will show up to see Curlin this Saturday? He'll be a legend if he wins the Breeders' Cup Classic and Arc in back-to-back years, and the Man o' War is possibly his final U.S. start. Breeders' Cup Turf winners BETTER TALK NOW (Talkin Man) and RED ROCKS (Ire) (Galileo [Ire]) might not be in their best form, but they own plenty of back class and should provide Curlin's connections an accurate assessment of how well he handles the grass. Belmont Park will be the place to be this weekend. Swaps -- The Classic picture is in disarray. Heatseeker (Ire), the best older horse on the West Coast, was retired due to an injury recently, and defending champ Curlin will skip the Breeders' Cup if he heads to France. The clouded status of BIG BROWN (Boundary) -- did you see his slow work last week? -- only adds to the uncertainty. As a result, Saturday's Swaps S. (G2) is important. It will be contested over a synthetic track, just like this year's Classic, and probable favorite COLONEL JOHN (Tiznow) thrives on the synthetic going, winning the Santa Anita Derby (G1) and Sham S. (G3) earlier this year at Santa Anita. He didn't run as well in his lone dirt foray, finishing sixth in the Kentucky Derby (G1), but that doesn't matter. The up-and-coming, once-beaten TWO STEP SALSA (Petionville), an easy winner of the Affirmed H. (G3) and Lazaro Barrera Memorial (G3) in his last two outings, is an intriguing candidate. Head case -- You've probably heard the saying "Million-dollar ability but 10-cent head" used to describe a human athlete who doesn't live up to their potential, and I couldn't help but think of that expression in equine terms following the result of Saturday's CashCall Mile S. (G2). VENTURA (Chester House) was much the best and should have won going away, but she managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with her untoward antics. The four-year-old filly is a head case who should be unbeaten in five starts this season, but she's blown two of her last three outings due to bad behavior. On Kentucky Derby Day, Ventura was making a winning rally in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G3) when she completely blew the turn into the stretch and seemingly lost interest in running the rest of the way, eventually checking in third. In the Just a Game S. (G1) on the Belmont Stakes Day program, she was rank during the early stages of the race, tossing her head in a crazy manner, before gathering herself for the stretch run and recording a three-quarters of a length decision. I guess that victory was fortunate given the circumstances of the CashCall Mile. Ventura was once again unhinged during the opening half-mile before finally calming down some for Garrett Gomez along the backstretch at Hollywood Park. She appeared headed for victory at the top of the stretch, blowing past rivals with her strong turn of foot, and hit the lead about a sixteenth of a mile from the finish. With a half-length advantage in deep stretch, she suddenly lost interest in racing, throwing her head up in the air in an effort to stop. Ventura wouldn't run all the way to the wire.
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