Curlin's Approval Preps for BC in Barely Even

Looking for a spot to run multiple grade 2 winner Curlin's Approval prior to her Breeders' Cup debut, trainer, breeder and co-owner Happy Alter found one right in their own backyard Oct. 1.

Curlin's Approval will break from post 5 as the 123-pound highweight in the $50,000 Barely Even, a seven-furlong overnight handicap for fillies and mares 3 and up at Gulfstream Park that attracted a field of seven.

The Barely Even, race 4 on the card, is one of six stakes worth $280,000 in purse money on a 10-race program closing Gulfstream's summer meet that began July 1.

Curlin's Approval will yield three to 11 pounds to her six rivals in the Barely Even, the first non-graded stakes the 4-year-old daughter of Curlin  has run since beating her elders in the Added Elegance last August.

The seven-furlong Added Elegance was one of three wins at the distance and one of six wins from nine tries at Gulfstream, where she is based. The most recent came July 1, a 4 1/2-length triumph in the Princess Rooney Stakes Presented by Hardacre Farm (G2) that earned her an all-fees-paid berth to the $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) Nov. 4.

Alter needed to call an audible for the Curlin's Approval when her training was interrupted during and after Hurricane Irma swept through South Florida earlier this month. Like many horses stabled at Gulfstream she was able to take refuge at Palm Meadows, the track's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County.

"We lost a lot of training time during the hurricane. That's why with the goal being the Breeders' Cup, we wanted to have a prep race at home. This is home for me, for the horse and I think it all is working out good," Alter said. "It's a prep race, but a stakes race is a stakes race. The other horses that are in there have earned their right to be in the race. I don't know if some of them (had) more training in than us depending on where they went for the hurricane, but it's the best thing that we could do."

Edgard Zayas will be aboard Curlin's Approval for the second time, after finishing seventh together in the Matron Stakes (G3) May 20 prior to the Princess Rooney. In her most recent start, she was sixth in the Ketel One Ballerina Stakes (G1) Aug. 26 at Saratoga.

"The race at Saratoga—there was a lot of problems coming out of the gate so we've got to throw that race out. The filly that was supposed to be the very best in the whole country, Paulassilverlining, she had the same problem that day and we both finished back together," Alter said. "She won the Princess Rooney one race before Saratoga, so the confidence is there."

Concealedwithakiss and Money Or Love, ninth and 11th, respectively, in the Princess Rooney, return in the Barely Even. Money Or Love won the Added Elegance by a neck in her subsequent start, while multiple stakes winner Concealedwithakiss took the Ana T. Handicap one race prior.

Also entered are 2016 Hut Hut winner Lirica, who is 10-for-13 lifetime in the money at Gulfstream including five wins; She Takes Heart, Rashette, and Savingtime are also entered.

"There's a lot of ways to lose a race and only one way to win them. You've got to overcome all the troubles that can create themselves during a race and you've got to hope the jockeys are thinking clearly on that particular day and that particular race," Alter said. "She's the class of the field but she's also carrying 123 pounds. Things have a way of equaling out, but I'm optimistic."