Curlin in race #5 at Nad Al Sheba on Thursday!

[ArlJim78]

Originally Posted by kentuckyrosesinmay

I just watched the replay of the race, and here are my thoughts of it.

Curlin was the easiest of winners.

Robby asked him just enough to get him to the lead, Curlin gave him a burst, and then Robby barely hand rode him after that.

Robby couldn't have rode the race any better.

Curlin is the type of horse that has to be pushed all the way down the stretch to get the most out of him.

He's so big and powerful that he doesn't have that explosive turn of foot.

He gains momentum as he goes down the stretch, and has to be asked the entire way to get the best out of him...it is the only reason that he was able to nail SS in the wire at the Preakness and Lawyer Ron in the JCGC as both of them have more of a turn of foot than he does. SS and Lawyer Ron are not like this...once you hit the button, they give you everything they have immediately.

In other words, Curlin sped up only a fraction of what he could have. He never really did much of any running, which is a good thing before the DWC since he was carrying so much weight for that long of a distance off a significant layoff.

did Curlin look at all sore to you?