There was nothing glaringly bad that happened to Curlin during the running of that race...
However, he broke far more flat footed than usual, he got squeezed back by Storm in May during the run into the first turn...he took a lot dirt in his face for the first time....he had sneaky trouble at the 3/8ths pole when he appeared to have a lot of run...but a few horses were stopping in front of him, and he simply had no place to go. And while he did pass horses once finally in the clear...it's simply unrealistic to expect a horse to go from a wire-to-wire debuting winner sprinting...to win the Kentucky Derby closing from 14th...in less than 100 days time
He gained something from that race, and with a clean break, he can be dangerous using his preferred stalking tactics.
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