Curlin sets earnings record

NEW YORK -- Curlin became the first horse in North America to top $10 million in career earnings, winning the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup on Saturday at sloppy Belmont Park by three-quarters of a length over Wanderin Boy.

The $450,000 winner’s purse pushed Curlin’s career bankroll to $10,246,800. Cigar held the old mark of $9,999,815, which stood for 12 years.

“I’m sure this record will be broken someday, but it will take a hell of a horse to do it,” jockey Robby Albarado said.

The next $3 million could come with a victory in the $5-million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 25 at Santa Anita. The Jockey Club Gold Cup was a Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” race, insuring the winner a spot in the Classic -- and a showdown with Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown.

Owner Jess Jackson, speaking from a charity wine auction in California, called the Classic “the next prospect for us. We will give it every consideration that we can.”

The Breeders’ Cup will be the first contested on a synthetic track. Jackson has reservations about running Curlin on the unfamiliar surface.

“It’s up to him, whether he likes the track,” he said.

Curlin will be shipped to Santa Anita today to train.