Party Crasher

A lesson confirmed: Triple Crown dreams are best expressed with caution. Street Sense came to last Saturday's Preakness after a dominant Kentucky Derby victory so resonant that his guileless Cajun jockey, Calvin Borel, was invited to a state dinner at the White House. His trainer, Texan Carl Nafzger, was praised effusively for his skillful conditioning. The racing game again readied itself for history. "If he can get by this one, he looks like he can run all day in the Belmont," said Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, promisingly." � By scarcely the length of a colt's head, those expectations were cast aside. A different Cajun jockey won the Preakness, and a different Texan trainer as well. Five co-owners were rewarded for a deal hammered out while the rest of the country watched Super Bowl XLI, and racing's Triple Crown drought was extended to 29 years, since Affirmed edged Alydar.

An eighth of a mile from the finish of the Preakness, Street Sense was clear by 1 1/2 lengths as a record crowd of 121,263 brought itself to full throat in a cool drizzle at Pimlico Race Course. "You take a lead in a horse race, you're expected to finish it off," said Nafzger afterward. Instead, it was the precocious Curlin, the third-place finisher in the Derby in just his fourth career start, who ran down Street Sense for rider Robby Albarado and won at the wire. It was the closest Preakness finish in a decade, and Curlin's time of 1:53.46 matched the Preakness record set by Tank's Prospect (1985) and Louis Quatorze (1996).

Curlin's victory finished off a breakneck rush that began on Feb. 3, when the colt, who had sat out his 2-year-old season with sore shins, won the first race of his life, at Gulfstream Park, by 12 3/4 lengths. "We had 25 offers to sell him, and we had to make a business decision," says Bill Gallion, who with fellow Kentucky lawyer Shirley Cunningham Jr. make up Midnight Cry Stable. They had bought Kentucky-bred Curlin for $57,000 at the Keeneland yearling sale.

The most persistent bidder was Lexington bloodstock agent John Moynihan, who worked throughout the next day, Super Bowl Sunday, to complete a deal. "My goal was to finish by halftime," says Moynihan. His primary client was Kendall-Jackson wine magnate Jess Jackson, 77, who in 2004 had tried unsuccessfully to buy Afleet Alex, winner of the 2005 Preakness and Belmont. Moynihan helped bring in software entrepreneur and Padua Stables principal Satish Sanan and investment banker George Bolton during negotiations.

Together the three men bought 80% of Curlin (31% to Jackson, 29% to Sanan, 20% to Bolton) for a price that Sanan says was "in the ballpark" of $3.5 million. In the days after the sale was agreed upon, Gallion turned down offers that he says were "multiples higher," but none would have allowed Midnight Cry to retain a piece of the horse. (Even Gallion and Cunningham's 20% ownership might be at risk; they have been suspended from practicing law in Kentucky while accused of misappropriating clients' settlement funds.)

From the beginning, the new owners had only a vague idea of what they had bought. "We hoped that Curlin would be good," says Jackson, "but we never dreamed that he would develop so explosively."

That development was left in the hands of trainer Steve Asmussen, 41, who regularly leads the nation in starts and victories, though he doesn't rake in the purse money like Eclipse Award--winning trainer Todd Pletcher. Asmussen's father, Keith, was a jockey and his mother, Marilyn, a trainer. His older brother, Cash, was one of the most successful jockeys in the world in the late 1970s and '80s, and Steve had hoped to follow in his footsteps. But when he grew to nearly 6 feet, that plan was scrapped. "My father is 5'4", my mother is a five-footer, and I turned into this big, gangly kid," says Asmussen. "It was extremely disappointing."

Curlin was flown from Florida to Asmussen's winter training base at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans. Right away Asmussen saw something special. "He reminded me of Point Given or Barbaro--big, strong horses," he recalls. "He was the kind of horse who was clearly capable of winning classic races." Curlin won two preps at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., by a combined 15 3/4 lengths.

In the Kentucky Derby, Curlin was trying to become the first horse in 125 years to win without having raced as a 2-year-old. He ran commendably, closing to third after a troubled trip. Said Nafzger five days before the Preakness, "Curlin is the horse that's going to get better off the Derby."

Albarado, 33, who was born in Lafayette, La., and raced on the same bush tracks as Borel, was charged with making that happen. Then on Saturday, two races before the Preakness, he was dumped on the Pimlico turf course when a horse in front of his mount went down. Luckily, Albarado walked away unhurt. "I know how to fall," he said, "and I know how to get up."