Curlin Responds

Ah, steeds, steeds, what steeds! Has the whirlwind a home in your
manes? Is there a sensitive ear, alert as a flame, in your every
fiber? Hearing the familiar song from above, all in one accord you strain
your bronze chests and, hooves barely touching the ground, turn into straight
lines cleaving the air, and all inspired by God it rushes on!

~Nikolai V. Gogol, Dead Souls, 1842 (translation)

Before Big Brown disappointed in the Belmont, everyone called for the meeting of Curlin and Big Brown. In typical fashion, Rick Dutrow bragged on Big Brown while disparaging Curlin, stating that a meeting between the two horses would be "very bad" for Curlin. The Curlin camp was very classy about all of this, chalking the comments up to the excitement Dutrow had over Big Brown and the Triple Crown.

And then, on Saturday, Curlin himself responded:

He definitely isn't worried about meeting Big Brown.

While other members of that superior 2004 foal crop hang out in the breeding shed, forgotten until their first son's and daughters take to the track, Curlin races on. He's won five in a row, in two different countries. There's talk of him flying to Europe for big races this fall. He keeps taking on the best in the world and winning. This is what racing is all about. This is what makes it exciting. And this is what some in the industry need to remember. It can't be all about the breeding shed; that's not where the memories are made.