It's nice to see that reference to Nashua and his syndication. Was the deal in place before the end of his 3 year old season? Another ground breaker deal was Secretariat's, formed before he raced as a 3 year old.

Didn't that involve Penny Chenery's dad and the family's financial situation though? If you're trying to save the farm, it's a bit more forgivable.

Oh and about the turn of the century thing, since I believe technically it began in 2001 not 2000 as commonly thought (though I'm still gonna think of 2000 as the dawn of the new whatever) doesn't that mean we're talking top 10 from 2001-2008? I mean it doesn't even include Tiznow's 2000 season or Giant's Causeway. Sneaky there, Jess.

You're right, that does make it a bit more forgivable. Also, when you consider what Secretariat accomplished as a 3 year old, you can accept his position as one of the best.

I actually thought he was fishing for some track to offer a bonanza for the 'one more race this year' that Jackson was willing to do, but couldn't find one rich enough.

--Dunbar

He said Curlin is one of the ten best horses of the last 108 years? That's funny. I could name 20 in the last 15 years that would have kicked his overrated butt. Please remind me of all his spectacular efforts in 2008.

i will miss the big guy.

as long as they are happy and healthy when they retire, i'm happy.

he really doesnt have to be anything like ap indy or mr. p to turn out well as a sire.

There are very few ap indy's and mr p's out there.

he could be like tiznow and turn out well as a sire.

Nuthin special when he wasn't getting his regular fix of Winny

Still laughing about those two young Euros blowing by him in the lane last month

Fitting way to (hopefully) end the overrated beast's racing career, in my opinion

Yes, Christopher Chenery had died and the family needed cash to pay the estate taxes; Secretariat was the most valuable of the farm's assets, so his syndication was a matter of necessity. Like the sale of Sunday Silence to Japan - nobody in Kentucky wanted to buy shares in him for stud and after the late 1980s bloodstock crash, Arthur Hancock needed cash to save the farm (Stone farm). The Japanese offered him the big bucks and off my favorite boy went.

Yeah the best chemical reproduction of a horse I have ever seen too.. Looked like Super star Billy Graham without the head band

(had to look it up:) Nashua was a 1952 model, the syndication was end of the year 1955 (end of his three-year-old year) early 1956:

Owner: Belair Stud Breeder: Belair Stud State Bred: KY
Winnings: 30 Starts: 22 - 4 - 1, $1,288,565

Won: Futurity S., Hopeful S., Grand Union Hotel S., Juvenile S., Arlington Classic, Flamingo S., Florida Derby, Belmont S., Wood Memorial S., Washington Park Match Race (vs. Swaps), Preakness S. (NTR), Jockey Club Gold Cup, Dwyer S., Monmouth H., Widener H., Suburban H., Grey Lag H., Jockey Club Gold Cup (NTNA), Camden H.

Champion Two-Year-Old Colt, 1954.
Horse Of The Year & Champion Three Year Old Colt, 1955.
Hall Of Fame Inductee, 1965.
Set new North American record at Belmont, 16f in 3:20.2 (1956 Jockey Club Gold Cup).
Set NTR in the '55 Preakness, 9.5f in 1:54.3.
Auctioned in 1956 with the winning sealed bid of $1,252,230.
Sire of 636 foals, 77 stakes winners; AEI 2.37.
Died 1982.
----------------------
Time Magazine, Monday Dec 26, 1955:

Spendthrift's Purchase

When they wager that one horse can run faster than another, most horseplayers worry about one race at a time. Leslie Combs II of Lexington, Ky. faced a somewhat different problem. The horse of his choice would be an odds-on favorite almost any time it ran. The question was not whether it would win, but how much it would make for its owner. It had already earned nearly $1,000,000; Combs estimated that it would romp home with another $450,000 before it slowed down. After that, Combs figured, the horse would earn some $800,000 more at stud.

Just in case some other well-heeled horseman came up with the same answers, Combs added $1,200 for good luck. Then he put in a sealed bid for $1,251,200 on Nashua, pride of the late Sportsman William Woodward Jr., whose Belair Stud stable went on the auction block after he was accidentally shot and killed by his wife (TIME, Nov. 7).

If others agreed with Combs's generous calculations, they lacked the cash of their convictions. When the Woodward estate executors opened the bids on Belair Stud last week, Combs had bought himself a horse. He will be paying the highest price a thoroughbred has ever brought in the history of racing.* The other 61 horses in Belair Stud went for a total of $615,000.

To Nashua, all this high finance means little. Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons, dean of American trainers, will continue to have the 1955 Horse of the Year in his charge; the only difference will be that from now on Nashua will race under the orange-and-blue silks of Combs's Spendthrift Farm.

It will, that is, when Combs gets up exactly $1,126,080 (the original bid required only a certified check for 10% of the purchase price). To Combs, this should present no problem.

Left end on the famed "Praying Colonels" of Centre College (1920-22), he worked his way up through polo playing and coal-mine operating to expanding the family fortune at Spendthrift. Besides, says Combs, he will not have to foot the bill alone. He was front man for a syndicate that includes five others.

* Next highest: $700,000, paid for the Aga Khan's Tulyar by the Irish National Stud in 1952.

Just posted on Blood Horse:

"A Thoroughbred appraiser has set a $20 million value on reigning Horse of the Year Curlin and is recommending ownership be consolidated under primary owner Jess Jackson."

Lol ... very true

Supercurlie was quite a physical specimen indeed.

Fortunately, though, they had some kryptonite (i.e. mandatory 'roid testing) at this year's BC and we just saw curlie ... not Supercurlie.




Hard to believe DaHoss9698 isn't in here defending the Winstrol Wonder, by the way...

Curlin was a very nice horse.. I imagine it's hard to be objective if you own him.. I wonder if he would have been within 10 lengths of Ghostzapper at 9 f's? Formal Gold would have eatin him for lunch, I'm not Invasor wouldn't have crushed him as well.. All and all it was good to see him race at 4, even if he wasn't so fast after all..

LOL, someone should have updated Albarado about the BC policy change on chemicals this year .

I remember reading that article and assumed he meant one of the top 10 horses since 1990, and even then, I thought that was probably stretching the truth!!

I don't think it's even worth arguing about Curlin being in the top 20 horses, or 50 for that matter, in the 20th century. Although, as a 3yo he had tremendous raw talent, based upon his performances he just doesn't rate it. I also don't blame Jackson for thinking so. The guy is super-high on his horse. You'd expect that. It's just banter.

I am glad we got to see him run as a 4yo. Unlike many others, I am not convinced that the ownership issues and the accompanying legal issues forced his retirement or his racing campaign for that matter. It's easy to say as an observer, however, that doesn't make it fact.

Regardless, he's retired and we'll see his offspring in a few years.

Eric

I would breed my mare to Curlin in a heart beat..He looked the part, is out of a very significant sire, was fast as sheat early, and was basically sound..What else do do need to know or want!!!

Funny, that happened to me, too. I first read it as 1990. Our brains probably forced our eyes to "see" something that was at least arguable, rather than something from Bizarro World.

--Dunbar