Curlin to parade at Churchill Downs

Stonestreet Stables' CURLIN (Smart Strike), reigning Horse of the Year and

North America's richest racehorse of all time with earnings of

$10,501,800, will be paraded one final time at Churchill Downs on Saturday,

closing day of the 26-day fall meet. Curlin, the brilliant winner of seven Grade

1 events including Churchill Downs' $1 million Stephen Foster H. in June, is

scheduled to be paraded on the main track between the 5TH and 6TH races on

the program. A special salute in the paddock and/or winner's circle

will follow.

The 5TH race that day is scheduled for 1:28 p.m. (EST), and the first of 12

races will be at 11:30 a.m. Grandstand admission gates will open at 10 a.m.

Stonestreet Stables owner Jess Jackson, founder and proprietor of

Kendall-Jackson Vineyard Estates, and Curlin's trainer Steve Asmussen, permitted

the parade to give area horse racing fans perhaps their final opportunity to see

the champion before he is retired to stud duty in 2009. He will stand for

$75,000 at Mr. and Mrs. William S. Farish's Lane's End Farm near Versailles,

Kentucky.

"We're thrilled to have another opportunity to showcase Curlin in front of

his many fans in Kentucky," Asmussen said. "For the past two years, he's given

our entire team numerous thrills and great memories. We've always considered

Churchill Downs to be his home track, and we'll always remember that standing

ovation he received after winning the Stephen Foster."

The four-year-old, out of the Deputy Minister mare Sherriff's Deputy, won 11

of his 16 starts with two seconds and two thirds, and is the only horse in North

American racing history to earn $5 million in back-to-back seasons. His prize

money haul included $5,102,800 in 2007 and $5,399,000 this year. At age three,

Curlin captured a trio of Grade 1 races that led to Horse of the Year and

champion three-year-old male honors: the Preakness S., the Jockey Club Gold Cup

and the Breeders' Cup Classic. His other stakes wins included the Arkansas Derby

(G2) and Rebel S. (G3). Curlin also suffered a narrow loss to the champion filly

Rags to Riches in the Belmont S. (G1) and finished third in the Kentucky

Derby (G1), which was only the fourth start of his career.

Committed to an aggressive 2008 campaign that showcased Curlin to an even

greater worldwide audience, Jackson and Asmussen sent the chestnut colt to the

United Arab Emirates to win two races, including an emphatic 7 3/4-length score

in the Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1) -- the most lucrative race in the world with a

$6 million purse. In addition to the Dubai World Cup and Stephen Foster,

Curlin's headline-grabbing 2008 campaign included victories in the Woodward S.

(G1) at Saratoga and a second straight triumph in the prestigious Jockey Club

Gold Cup at Belmont Park. His only two defeats this year came on surfaces

other than dirt: a second to 2006 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1) winner Red Rocks (Ire)

(Galileo [Ire]) in the Man o' War S. (G1) at 1 1/2 miles over the Belmont

Park turf course, and a fourth-place finish behind European stars Raven's Pass

and Henrythenavigator in the Breeders' Cup Classic, which was contested over the

Pro-Ride synthetic surface at Santa Anita.

Despite galloping daily at Churchill Downs, it appears that the Breeders' Cup

Classic was the final start of Curlin's career.

Churchill Downs' closing day program on Saturday also will double as Stars of

Tomorrow II. Staged for the fourth consecutive year, Stars of Tomorrow II will

be entirely devoted to races for two-year-olds. The co-featured races are the

$150,000 Kentucky Jockey Club S. (G2) and $150,000 Golden Rod  S. (G2) for

fillies, both at 1 1/16 miles.