Somebeachsomewhere, Curlin Skipping Biggest Races?

Posted by BarbaraAnne Helberg Sep 7, 2008

Co-owner and trainer of harness racing's best pacer, Somebeachsomewhere, Brent Mcgrath says his boy won't compete in the Little Brown Jug, and 2007 Thoroughbred of the Year Curlin's connections say their prize runner isn't on a schedule that would include starting in his second straight Breeders' Cup.

Pacing's premier race, the Jug, is scheduled for September 18. Come on, Brent! The fans want it! Somebeachsomewhere is fit and ready!

Mcgrath's beef is that Somebeachsomewhere may have to win preliminary elimination heats to qualify for the same-day Jug final. Delaware, Ohio bettors have favored Somebeachsomewhere 3-1 in the first future wagering pool.

What Thoroughbred racing fan doesn't want to see Curlin, the four-year-old star, captor of this season's Dubai World Cup Classic and last year's Breeders' Cup Classic champ, hook up with three-year-old phenom Big Brown? And when has Curlin's owner, Jess Jackson, ever run from a fight? Big Brown's trainer, Richard Dutrow, Jr., has called for a matchup.

Hook'em up, gentlemen!

In Delaware, Badlands Nitro, who paced second to Somebeachsomewhere in the Pepsi North America Cup in June, has been given next best voting status. His odds stand at 7-1.

After Big Brown's failure in the Belmont Stakes, which robbed him of the 12th Triple Crown in history, but subsequent hard-fought victories in the Haskell Invitational and the Monmouth on turf, the game was on for a match race, so to speak, with the mighty Curlin.

What a shame if the best of the best don't race in the best of the available competitions.