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World showdown: Curlin and Jalil duel in desert for dirt crown
Last updated at 22:55pm on 29.03.08The duel between David (aka Jalil) and Goliath (Curlin) in the World Cup is the climax to a stunning day's racing at Nad Al Sheba as horses from five continents battle for total prize money of £10.5 million.
Oddly Jalil, at $9.7m, was by far the more expensive purchase. Curlin, in contrast, cost little more than $60,000 and was unraced at two.
American Horse of the Year: Curlin
Only now that he has turned four has Jalil begun to fulfil the promise of his pedigree and purchase price. Should he win the World Cup he will be worth at least treble the money Sheik Mohammed paid for him.
Today's race has been keeping Jalil's rider Frankie Dettori awake at night. He said: 'There's a lot of pressure and I'll feel nervous.
'This is a big day for Godolphin, it's our back yard so to speak, so of course you feel it.
'Jalil is three from three at Nad Al Sheba and he loves the track. He's on an upward curve but this is the biggest challenge of his life. You should never be scared of one horse.'
That horse is Curlin whose career began only 13 months ago with a smooth victory in a maiden race after which his owners William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham sold 80 per cent of him for $1.75m.
The ownership of Curlin is still mired in controversy because those two gentlemen, both attorneys, are in a Kentucky jail awaiting trial on fraud charges involving a drugs law suit.
Meanwhile, their pride and joy has won seven of his 10 starts including the Breeders' Cup Classic at Monmouth Park last October where he glided in by four lengths from Hard Spun, a victory which guaranteed him the title of America's Horse of the Year.
The bold decision to keep him in training at four will pay off if he wins the world's biggest purse today, taking his career earnings to over $8m.
To do so he will have to defy the wide draw of 12, never before achieved in a dozen previous runnings of this race. But his connections are confident that he could win starting from the car park at Nad Al Sheba.
Depending upon the outcome of today's race, both Jalil and Curlin could meet again in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita in October as both will pursue a dirt campaign in America this year.
William Hill reported that their biggest betting move yesterday was the one from 6-4 to Evens that Dubai Millennium's 1m 59.50 track record for the World Cup in 2000 will be broken.
Certainly Curlin who won easily over the course and distance four weeks ago seems suited by the Nad Al Sheba dirt track.
In the main event run on grass, the Sheema Classic over a mile and a half, the Hong Kong champion Viva Pataca will seek to repel a strong European challenge.
Youmzain, runner-up to Dylan Thomas in the Arc, and French raider Doctor Dino, winner of the Hong Kong Vase, look the main dangers.
