Best horse in the world returns in Kentucky

Though it seems that we’ve gotten through the week without everyone at Belmont Park last Saturday being blamed by someone for the defeat of Big Brown, another Saturday is at hand that holds the promise of some very significant racing.

The Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Handicap at Belmont is overshadowed by the return to competition of reigning Horse of the Year, Curlin, who has been freshened after a lights-out victory in the Dubai World Cup in late March.

Curlin towers over nine who appear capable of no more than providing background noise in the nine-furlong Stephen Foster Handicap. With the other leading figures in a strong 2007 three-year-old division retired, leaving little apparent competition in a painfully thin handicap division, Curlin will tower over every field he faces in the United States this season. With little to gain here and nothing to lose in Europe, the possibility that Curlin will be sent to Paris for the Arc de Triomphe in the fall remains on the table. Should owner Jess Jackson opt for international competition – the Japan Cup or Hong Kong Cup late in the year would be tempting objectives in what would be an unprecedented and historic campaign. Or, if his form translates to turf, he could attempt to become the first horse ever to win both the Breeders’ Cup Classic and Turf, an alternative to a defense of the Classic on a synthetic surface at Santa Anita.

There is another horse of note in the Foster, but Einstein, who was intended for the Manhattan Handicap at Belmont last week but became entangled in questions regarding his ownership and did not run, is entered on dirt only because he is in need of a race if he is to maintain his summer schedule.

Defending champion older female Ginger Punch returns to Belmont heavily favored to win the Phipps and in the company of stablemate Spring Waltz, who appears at age five to finally have come into her own. A one-two finish for the Bobby Frankel-trained entry would be no surprise. This is not a race, however, that lacks the prospect of upset.

Golden Velvet and Cowgirls Don’t Cry, an uncoupled Kiaran McLaughlin-trained entry, both come off very solid performances in their most recent races, the former in the Sixty Sails Handicap in April at Hawthorne, the latter in the Shuvee Handicap last month at Belmont. –PM