Curlin in race #5 at Nad Al Sheba on Thursday!

[Linny]

I'll ask the person who gave me the info. I think he got it from Richard Stone Reeves.

[prudery]

You need only to look at pictures ... Affirmed was tallish and racy, Secretariat taller and more musclebound ... Actual measurements can be deceiving ... Alydar looked bigger than Affirmed and they were not technically much different in size ... During the TC series I do not think Affirmed reached 16 hands quite yet ... But I am reasonably sure that Reeves, who painted both horses, did not say that Affirmed weighed more or had a bigger heart girth .....

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by prudery

You need only to look at pictures ... Affirmed was tallish and racy, Secretariat taller and more musclebound ... Actual measurements can be deceiving ... Alydar looked bigger than Affirmed and they were not technically much different in size ... During the TC series I do not think Affirmed reached 16 hands quite yet ... But I am reasonably sure that Reeves, who painted both horses, did not say that Affirmed weighed more or had a bigger heart girth .....

right, he never seemed to me to be very large, or muscular. alydar just a bit taller--the book 'affirmed and alydar' says they were incredibly similar, which apparently most people at the time didn't think was the case...

[prudery]

Originally Posted by Danzig

right, he never seemed to me to be very large, or muscular. alydar just a bit taller--the book 'affirmed and alydar' says they were incredibly similar, which apparently most people at the time didn't think was the case...

True ... I saw them both in person ... Affirmed did fill out as a stallion, which is normal and developed a curvaciousness he did not have in race trim ... At two he looked almost feminine, and at three looked slighter than he was ... My 15.3 OTTB had a bigger heart girth in race trim than all the horses mentioned, but no one thought he was King Kong ... Those measurements can be deceiving at times ...
Regardless, aside from being chestnuts, I do not see any resemblance between Affirmed and Curlin at all ...

Originally Posted by prudery

True ... I saw them both in person ... Affirmed did fill out as a stallion, which is normal and developed a curvaciousness he did not have in race trim ... At two he looked almost feminine, and at three looked slighter than he was ... My 15.3 OTTB had a bigger heart girth in race trim than all the horses mentioned, but no one thought he was King Kong ... Those measurements can be deceiving at times ...
Regardless, aside from being chestnuts, I do not see any resemblance between Affirmed and Curlin at all ...

Horses like Curlin that are in superior shape, very fit and are at the top in the race world... its impressive. Horses that are trained hard and raced hard can lose a bit of weight and not look so well. I basically was commenting that I thought he really looks significantly bigger to me around the girth compared to last I saw him. But perspective is difficult, he may have been running against small horses. I guess Asmussen would be the one to comment on this. Just trying to understand if my eyes are going bad... they are in other aspects.

[prudery]

Originally Posted by pgardn

Horses like Curlin that are in superior shape, very fit and are at the top in the race world... its impressive. Horses that are trained hard and raced hard can lose a bit of weight and not look so well. I basically was commenting that I thought he really looks significantly bigger to me around the girth compared to last I saw him. But perspective is difficult, he may have been running against small horses. I guess Asmussen would be the one to comment on this. Just trying to understand if my eyes are going bad... they are in other aspects.

Your eyes may be going bad, but Curlin does not have that drawn up racey look---Helen Keller could see that ... Most racers have that " swimmers" build, while Curlin is considerably more prizefighterly ... He does not have that trained down look .....
I have not yet seen him in person, but when I saw Majestic Prince---a similar muscleboy--decades ago, he sailed into the paddock--a luxury liner amongst canoes ...
If Curlin looks like this in racing trim, I imagine he will put a bull to shame as a stallion ...

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by prudery

Your eyes may be going bad, but Curlin does not have that drawn up racey look---Helen Keller could see that ... Most racers have that " swimmers" build, while Curlin is considerably more prizefighterly ... He does not have that trained down look .....
I have not yet seen him in person, but when I saw Majestic Prince---a similar muscleboy--decades ago, he sailed into the paddock--a luxury liner amongst canoes ...
If Curlin looks like this in racing trim, I imagine he will put a bull to shame as a stallion ...

Helen Keller also knows to put him on ignore.

[Danzig]

from crown jewels, i have here where mr reeves says about affirmed 'he developed into one of the more attractive stallions i have painted. his neck arched and became a little fuller. his body proportions were a little heavier and more picturesque than as a racehorse...'

sadly, no measurements given in the paragraph about the painting above it. but it doesn't sound from that description that when affirmed was racing that he was particularly large.