OCEANPORT, N.J. --There they were, the three superstars of the 3-year-old class, coming down the stretch, sloshing through the mud that was so saturated it was called sloppy, separating themselves from the rest of the field in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic.
And when the race was over, it was the amazing Curlin who emerged victorious in a Monmouth Park track record-tying time of 2 minutes, .59 of a second, with Hard Spun 4 1/2 lengths back.
Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, the betting favorite, finished fourth, one length behind Awesome Gem, a 4-year-old who used the race's speed to generate one big closing run for third .
"I've been watching horse racing since 1939," said Jess Jackson, who owns Curlin with Satish Sanan and George Bolton, a Baltimore native. "This generation of horses and the competition and quality of Hard Spun, Any Given Saturday, Street Sense, Lawyer Ron and Awesome Gem, those horses are exceptional.
"So he's a champion of champions."
Saying that Curlin has yet to show his full potential, Jackson said he believes him to be "one of the best in the last century or half-century."
After more than three days of rain, the weather cleared during the afternoon, much to the delight of the 41,781, who wagered $12,726,622 at the track. Off-track wagering brought the total handle to a bountiful $99,177,063.
But it was not a perfect day. George Washington, the two-time European champion who was running on dirt for only the second time and on mud for the first time in his career, had to be euthanized on the track after the Classic. He broke down with an eighth of a mile to go.
Dr. C. Wayne McIlwraith, who with Dr. Larry Bramlage were the on-call veterinarians, said the horse sustained an open fracture of the cannon bone in the right front fetlock joint and shattered his leg, breaking both sesamoids, cutting off all blood supply.
"It was a hopeless injury," McIlwraith said.
Bramlage said George Washington's trainer, Aiden O'Brien, recognizing the nature of the injury, "asked us to euthanize him on the race track."
George Washington, a 4-year-old, was bred by Lael Stables, who also bred and raced the late 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro. On the day Barbaro won the Kentucky Derby, George Washington won one of Europe's biggest races, the Grade I 2000 Guineas.
"He did well to stay up," said his jockey, Michael Kinane. "He was brave. He didn't go down. He stayed up on it and he saved me [from injury]."
