Welcome back to the Twelve Days of Curlin Babies, where we celebrate the twelve most memorable races from Curlin’s progeny through 2019. Among all the hundreds of races in which they ran this year, these are the ones to which my mind keeps wandering back.

#12: Curlina Curlina Finds the Wire
#11: A Pleasant Surprise, Volgograd

#10 Ajaaweed Emerges as a Juvenile to Watch

Though Curlin has such a strong reputation as a sire of three-year-olds and older horses, the likes of Good Magic, Exaggerator, Off the Tracks, Solomini, and Valadorna have made clear that he can produce classy juveniles, as well. As soon as Curlin’s two-year-olds make it to the track, the question bubbles up: who will be the first one to make me throw my caution to the wind, if only for a moment, and envision their future at the highest levels?

This year, Ajaaweed (Asiya, by Daaher) earned that honour.

Ajaaweed debuted in a six-furlong maiden special weight at Saratoga, always chasing midfield and running fifth behind Tumbling Sky. Perhaps it was good that he had more of a prep race than a grand unveiling that day. It may have gotten lost in the shuffle: that debut came on August 10, the same day as the Arlington Million.

But, it gave Ajaaweed exactly what he needed to move forward a month later.

He stretched out to a mile in the first race at Belmont on September 11. The Kiaran McLaughlin trainee faced a field of seven and he wore the same #3 saddle towel he did on debut, the same blue and white colours that matched his Shadwell silks so well.

He got away more cleanly in start number two; though his start on debut wasn’t truly poor, it showed signs of roughness, inexperience. This time he came out smoothly.

He settled inside, a couple of lengths off the pace. Jockey Joel Rosario made no rush to challenge Brewmeister, half of the favored Chad Brown entry, though made sure not to drop him too far behind as Ox Bridge and briefly even Brewmeister’s stablemate Basie encroached to the leader’s outside.

Rosario pushed Ajaaweed along through the far turn, asking him to pounce. But, as the field approached the quarter pole, Ajaaweed searched for a hole. By that point Ox Bridge had capitulated, but Brewmeister, Starting Over, and Basie all lined up directly between Ajaaweed and the long Belmont stretch.

Approaching the three sixteenths, Ajaaweed got three wide and descended on Starting Over, the one going the best of the leading flight. He wasn’t the only one who loomed; 31/1 first-timer Forza Di Oro, despite dwelling at the start, had come rolling around the turn and sustained his run on the outside.

In the eighth and final furlong, Ajaaweed had the most. Forza Di Oro and Starting Over quibbled for the place, but Ajaaweed drove clear to win by four and a quarter gaping lengths over Forza Di Oro.

On a late-summer Wednesday, Ajaaweed looked like a Saturday afternoon horse. And, in two starts since, he has only raced on Saturday afternoons. He jumped straight from the maiden win to the top level, trying two turns for the first time in the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1) at Keeneland. Though he never looked a threat to Maxfield, he was passing horses late, and checked in fourth. Next out, in the Remsen (G2), he did even better. On a day when speed was so good, he closed from well out of it to get within half a length of the always-forward Shotski.

And, being by Curlin out of a Daaher mare who won at two but was able to hold good form into her three-year-old year? Ajaaweed remains a horse to watch.

Welcome back to the Twelve Days of Curlin Babies, where we celebrate the twelve most memorable races from Curlin’s progeny throughout 2018. Through all the hundreds of races in which they ran this year, these are the ones to which my mind keeps wandering back.

#12: Timeless Curls Marks Herself a Rising Star

#11: Secret Passage Comes Into His Own

In the fall of 2015, I got very excited about a two-year-old Curlin baby. By then Exaggerator had been on the radar for months, but there looked to be a rising star at Remington Park: Secret Passage (Sweet Eloise, by Sky Classic). After a pair of deep-closing victories that fall, I hoped to see him in the Springboard Mile and on the Derby trail.

Those things never happened.

Instead, he didn’t return until after the Triple Crown was over — August, in the Super Derby Prelude. In both that and the Oklahoma Derby (G3) he chased home Texas Chrome. He was fourth in the Super Derby Prelude and fifth in the Oklahoma Derby; though he never looked a winner in either, he did well for being thrown into the deep end immediately, better than splitting the field in both.

From there, his form went on and off. He did have an allowance win at Oaklawn in February of last year, but after Oaklawn his form flattened out a bit.

This year, I wasn’t sure what to expect. He finished off the board in a pair of allowance-optional races at Tampa for Pin Oak and trainer Malcolm Pierce, then was privately transferred to trainer Robertino Diodoro and new owners Lucky Dog Stables, Fitch Racing Stable LLC and Selman Shaby. His first start for those connections was also his first start in a straight claimer — a conditioned $50,000 race. If he was going to find his better form, it seemed like that would be the race where he would. But, he didn’t kick on quite enough and finished fourth beaten five lengths by Brerry.

Things went better two weeks later. Let off at 20/1 in an allowance-optional dirt mile at Oaklawn April 11, Secret Passage looked like the old Secret Passage. He settled back off a contested pace, kicked on in the lane, and scored by a head.

I hoped that race would be a harbinger of a better year, but I was cautious about my expectations, particularly since he had shown some horse-for-course tendencies at Oaklawn before. But, after his effort at Belmont on June 1, I let myself believe that he could have his breakout season this year.

The bettors in New York didn’t think much of his Oaklawn victory, or of his ability to win a two-other-than optional claimer outside of Hot Springs. (Secret Passage was in for the $62,500 tag.) He was hardly chalk at Oaklawn, but he went off over twice the price at Belmont: 41/1.

Once again, the Secret Passage I had known since 2015 came out to play.

J S Bach, half of an odds-on Michael Dubb entry, made the early pace. He set an uncontested yet heady clip for the mile and a sixteenth distance: 23.27 for the quarter, 45.90 for the half. Secret Passage dropped out the distant trailer, about a dozen lengths off the running, waiting for the pace to catch up to J S Bach and his closest pursuers, the likes of Realm and Driven to Compete.

The pack began to close in on J S Bach through the sweeping far turn. Secret Passage was still far back, but beginning to make up ground outside of fellow trailer Frammento. Approaching the stretch the pacesetter still had his lead, but just barely: Realm loomed to his outside, and Niigon’s Edge breathed down three wide.

Secret Passage was coming. Turning for home he blew through most of the pack and swung to the outside. Into the lane had dead aim on the leading trio, and something in the tank.

Into the final furlong J S Bach capitulated, but Niigon’s Edge and a game Realm made Secret Passage work for it. Under a drive, Secret Passage kept finding more; he wore down Niigon’s Edge to get up by a neck at the wire.

Secret Passage has raced three times since that victory at Belmont. He finished fourth in a field of five in an allowance-optional at Saratoga in August, where a dawdling pace did him no favours. The next month he reappeared at Belmont, in the same kind of race he won in June: N2X/$62,500, a mile and a sixteenth on the dirt. Secret Passage’s odds were 5.9/1 and not 41/1, but the win tickets were just as good: he swallowed up the field in the lane and won by a length and a quarter. From there, it was off to Listed stakes company in the Delta Mile — where he achieved the first stakes placing of his career, finishing third behind a forwardly-placed Mocito Rojo.

Though it happened a couple of years later that I had let myself think it would, Secret Passage finally found his stride at age five. As he is a gelding by Curlin, we can only hope he stays healthy, in training, and in that form for a while longer.