By Frances J. Karon
When Kenny McPeek signed the ticket as agent for Hip 2261, a Smart Strike colt, from the Eaton Sales consignment at the 2005 Keeneland September sale, it’s unlikely that he, or anyone, could have foreseen that the $57,000 yearling would become a record-shattering breed-shaper.
But in 2022, that horse, Curlin, became just the second stallion, after Dubawi in 2021, to get three Breeders’ Cup winners (Cody’s Wish, Elite Power, and Malathaat) in one year, a feat he promptly repeated in 2023 (Cody’s Wish, Elite Power, and Idiomatic). Last November, Elite Power’s second victory in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint gave Curlin an eighth Breeders’ Cup win as a sire, moving the stallion out of a tie with Dubawi, Into Mischief, More Than Ready, and Tapit with the most Breeders’ Cup wins.
And when Hill ‘n’ Dale’s flagship sire was represented by three individual Eclipse champions – male sprinter Elite Power, older dirt female Malathaat, and three-year-old filly Nest – in 2022, it would have been a career pinnacle for any stallion that came before him. Other sires have gotten the winners of three Eclipses in a single year, but that was accomplished with two (such as Mr. Prospector in 1982; Alydar, 1988; Smart Strike, 2007; and Into Mischief, 2020) or one (Wiseman’s Ferry, 2012 and 2013) individual champion(s), not three.
That was no pinnacle for Curlin, because not only did he follow it up in 2023 by achieving the same again with three individual champions, he went one better when Cody’s Wish earned Horse of the Year honors, making the tally three winners of four Eclipse Awards last year. And just one of the champions – Elite Power – was a repeater, with Cody’s Wish (Horse of the Year/older dirt male) and Idiomatic (older dirt female) first-timers.
Curlin is also now the fourth Horse of the Year to sire a Horse of the Year, along with Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and A.P. Indy (by Seattle Slew from a Secretariat mare). All four of these Horses of the Year converge in the sire/broodmare sire cross of four of Curlin’s champions, as A.P. Indy is the broodmare sire of Malathaat and Nest, sire of the broodmare sire of Stellar Wind, and grandsire of the broodmare sire of Cody’s Wish.
CURLIN (2004 Smart Strike – Sheriff’s Deputy, by Deputy Minister)
B: Fares Farm Inc
O: Stonestreet Stables LLC (originally owned by Midnight Cry Stable; then Stonestreet Stables, Padua Stables, George Bolton, and Midnight Cry Stables)
T: Steve Asmussen (originally trained by Helen Pitts)
Record: 16-11-2-2, $10,501,800 USD
Highest achievement: Horse of the Year (twice), Classic winner, Breeders’ Cup winner
A Preakness winner who was second in the Belmont and third in the Kentucky Derby, Curlin has sired a Preakness winner (Exaggerator) and a Belmont winner (Palace Malice) among his 101 stakes winners. While he has yet to get a Kentucky Derby winner himself, his sons Keen Ice (Rich Strike in 2022) and Good Magic (Mage, 2023) have sired a Derby winner apiece from their respective first crops.
One point of interest you may have noticed from the stallions with three Eclipse Awards in one season is that Mr. Prospector sired Smart Strike and Smart Strike sired Curlin, for three continuous generations of dominant sires. For Curlin to equal, let alone outshine, his outstanding sire and grandsire in this department is notable.
Curlin’s earliest sons to stud sired their first foals in 2017, and in the ensuing five full crops of foals of racing age among them, three different sons have cumulatively sired the two Kentucky Derby winners mentioned above as well as a Breeders’ Cup winner (Structor, by Palace Malice, in 2019). In that short timespan, already seven of his sons have sired at least one Graded stakes winner.
At the age of 20, Curlin is still active, covering mares at Hill ‘n’ Dale for $250,000 live foal alongside his first champion son, Good Magic ($125,000). Champion Vino Rosso ($25,000 at Spendthrift) has first three-year-olds – could he become Curlin’s third son to sire a Classic winner in his first crop? – and champions Cody’s Wish ($75,000 at Darley America) and Elite Power ($50,000 at Juddmonte) are standing their first seasons in 2024. With what his sons have accomplished so far, Curlin is well poised to become a sire of sires over the coming years.
Other notable Kentucky-based sons are Connect ($15,000 at Lane’s End; Grade 1 sire), Global Campaign ($12,500 at WinStar; first two-year-olds), Nest’s Grade 1-winning brother Idol ($10,000 at Taylor Made; first foals this year), Keen Ice ($7,500 at Calumet), and Known Agenda ($7,500 at Spendthrift; first two-year-olds). New York’s Solomini ($7,500 at McMahon of Saratoga), who is not a stakes winner but was disqualified from first in the G1 CashCall Futurity and was second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, has Grade 2 winner Wynstock, a potential Preakness horse, from his first crop of three-year-olds.
Curlin has set the bar high, but he’s proven before that he’s more than capable of sailing over that bar to reach a new high. It’s anybody’s guess what he may do to top himself in 2024 and beyond.
And remember this: Curlin has done what he has in the face of hefty competition from Into Mischief – another giant of the industry who went to stud the same year as Curlin – as well as Quality Road, Speightstown, Tapit, Uncle Mo, and many other luminaries, including major youngsters Gun Runner, Justify, and Not This Time.