Breeders Cup Classic Features Curlin and Street Sense

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Oct

Breeders Cup Classic Features Curlin and Street Sense

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Breeders Cup Classic 2007 Features Preakness winner Curlin and Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense.

The best of the best at Breeders’ Cup. The Classic field features the first three Derby finishers — Street Sense, Hard Spun and Curlin — for the first time, as well as seventh- and eighth-place finishers Tiago and Any Given Saturday. Saturday’s $5 million Classic at Monmouth Park, a race that will determine Horse of the Year honors.

Street Sense, who never has raced at Monmouth, starts from post 2. He is surrounded by a tag team from trainer Todd Pletcher. Mr. Inside is Lawyer Ron, the best older horse in the country. Mr. Outside is Any Given Saturday, the winner of the Haskell Invitational here this summer.

Lawyer Ron, the winner of the Whitney and Woodward, figures to be on or near the early lead, along with Hard Spun, who starts from post 8. Lawyer Ron was second to Curlin in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park, and was second in the Salvator Mile in his only previous start on this track.

“The great thing about this Classic is everybody involved in championship honors is here,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, who has two of the nine horses in the Classic, favorite Lawyer Ron and Any Given Saturday. “What better place to decide it than right here on the racetrack.”

Despite the wet weather in forecast, officials still expect 45,000 to fight traffic and show up at the track on the Jersey Shore, which underwent major renovations to get ready for its first Breeders’ Cup.

“There are so many types of wet tracks, we’ll just have to wait and see what it’s like,” Pletcher said.

Twice before in the 24-year history of the Breeders’ Cup has the track come up muddy, the most recent when Cigar won the Classic at Belmont Park in 1995.

Favorite Horse to win: Street Sense

Street Sense won the Kentucky Derby on May 5, 2007, ridden by 40-year-old Calvin Borel, the rail-hugging jockey. He rallied from a 19th place (second-to-last deficit) to beat Hard Spun by 2 1/2 lengths. Street Sense finished second in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on May 19, 2007. Lost to Curlin by a nose in a photo finish.