Big Brown and Curlin Matchup On Again?

Who do you have your money on? Curlin (L) or Big Brown (R)? (AP Images)"]

After months of speculation, horse racing's most anticipated matchup between Big Brown and Curlin may finally be happening in the $5M Breeders' Cup Classic on Oct. 25 at Santa Anita Park.

Rumblings of trainer Rick Dutrow's plans to have Big Brown face 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin began even before Big Brown's disastrous Belmont Stakes performance in May: "I would like to see them run together, it would be good for racing and good for us; it won’t be so good for them."

And after Big Brown returned to winning form in the Haskell Invitational in August, Dutrow again claimed he had the superior horse, saying, "I don't know why people think Curlin is such a good horse. We're way better than Curlin."

The responses from Curlin's majority owner Jess Jackson have been more restrained.

"We don't have anything to prove, does," Jackson said in August. "We like him, he's a great horse; it would be good for racing to have them together. We're not avoiding him, we're just doing what's right for Curlin."

But with Curlin's arrival at Santa Anita Park on Sept. 28, the debate over which horse is better has been reignited.

Three-year-old Big Brown and 4-year-old Curlin both have impressive racing resumes. Along with victories in the Monmouth Stakes and the Haskell Invitational, Big Brown is this year's Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes champion. His most notorious loss came in the third leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, when he was eased in the stretch. Curlin's 2008 campaign has thus far been sensational, with wins in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, the Woodward Stakes, the Stephen Foster Handicap and the Dubai World Cup. The only blemish on his record this year is a runner-up showing in the turf-run Man o' War Stakes.

How Curlin takes to the synthetic track will ultimately decide whether racing fans will finally get to see these two powerhouses race against each other. But it seems more likely than ever that the question of who the better horse is, Big Brown or Curlin, will finally be answered.

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