KEY POINTS:
Preakness Stakes winner Curlin has emerged from Sunday night's dramatic triumph in good shape but a little drained, trainer Steve Asmussen said.
The lightly-raced chestnut colt was flown back to his home base in Kentucky yesterday, a day after defeating Street Sense by a nose in a thrilling
stretch-run duel.
"He looked good as he was loaded on the trailer, but he definitely knows he ran," Asmussen said.
Curlin raced stride-for-stride with Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense from the 16th pole to the finish line. With jockey Robby Albarado using the right-side whip, Curlin forged ahead on the final surge to win the race in a photo finish.
The triumph marked the fourth victory in just five career starts for the Kentucky-bred by Smart Strike. Curlin finished third in the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago after a difficult trip in the 20-horse race.
Asmussen would not commit to the Belmont Stakes on June 9 in New York - the final leg of the triple crown - but said Curlin belonged on racing's centre stage.
"This is the stage this horse deserves and those are the calibre of races he is intended for," he said, adding that participation in the Belmont Stakes depended entirely on the colt's fitness.
"Our job is to make sure he is prepared for it."
Hard Spun followed up his second-place finish in the Derby with a third-place showing in the nine-horse Preakness, staged before a record crowd of 121,263 at Pimlico Race Course.
Curlin, Street Sense and Hard Spun have proven to be the cream of the 3-year-old crop, having finished in the money in both the Derby and the Preakness.
Street Sense also returned to Kentucky yesterday and trainer Carl Nafzger said he did not think the Preakness favourite would make it to New York for the Belmont Stakes.
"Right now, I don't think we probably will. There's not really any reason to go there right now, the triple crown is gone," he said.
"These three horses ran their guts out in the last two races."
Nafzger, who saddled Unbridled to a second-place finish in the 1990 Preakness after winning the Kentucky Derby, said Sunday's affair was a race to remember."
"It was a spectacular race," he said. "Winning isn't everything in this game. You don't want anybody to get beat, but there's got to be a winner."
- REUTERS