Jock Ben Curtis “would not exchange anyone else” for someone else * The Racing Biz

The leading rider of Colonial Downs this season has a big assignment this Saturday. But it won’t be in New Kent.

Ben Curtis will be thirty -four miles almost to the north of colonial, aboard the Magnitude in the $ 1,250,000 travers stakes on Saratoga Race Course. Curtis gets a monumental chance to win his first North -American degree 1 win.

But to get it, he must overcome sovereignty, proven against all newcomers about his last three stakes victories, two of them classics.

“First and foremost, I’m excited,” acknowledged Curtis On the way to the races Radio. “These big races give me up in the morning.”

Curtis had an impact in a very short time at Colonial and he became the leading rider almost from the moment he walked the site. Earlier this month, Curtis patiently found an opening along the Rail to win Giocoso a victory in the $ 500,000 secretariat (G2T). It was Curtis’ fifth degree 2 victory of the year.

“I think that was a great ride from Ben Curtis,” said winning trainer Keith Sormeaux waiting for Giocoso to return to the circle of the winner. “It requires a man with some Gumption to go on that hole on the rail because there was no space, but if you got a horse, you can make room.”

After a driving title last summer in Colonial with 24 wins, Curtis is again the leading rider at Colonial Downs this season. Curtis has 27 wins up to and including 20 August, six more than his next rival Paco Lopez.

Curtis launched his American racing career on the stock exchange in mid -November 2023 and the trainer of Magnitude, Steve Asmussen, began to send him Mounts. While he heard about Curtis’s talent, he received an appreciation for his capacities.

“We drove him for two winters on honest grounds and had every success,” Asmussen praised, also on On the way to the racing radio. “I am confident in his ability and how Magnitude responds to him.”

In February, Curtis took a mountain for Asmussen to ride Longshot-Magnitude (43-1) in the Risen Star Stakes on the Train Straight, one month after the three-year-old a disappointing sixth ended in a sloppy run of the Lecomte stakes at the same location. After opening the first half miles in 46 4/5 seconds with a lead of two length, Magnitude gave it up to win with just under ten lengths while a flashy 108 Beyer Speed ​​figure earned.

“I couldn’t be happier with my horse,” Curtis supported. “He got an incredible Beyer figure that day. I don’t think he got the honor he deserved. He destroyed a very good field. Horses like East Avenue were all stacked behind him; Giocoso, these types of horses were behind him. He broke them from the quarter pool.”

East Avenue, the 4-5 favorite that day, chased the size for three-quarters of a mile before he folded his tent, finally 10^one.

A bone chip in his left ankle forced the size on the sidelines for the triple crown. Curtis was on Churchill on Derby Day to win the Twin Spires Turf Sprint on board, think great: not the prize he wanted, but still a fairly good comfort. And he was happy for Rijder Junior Alvarado, who got the roses.

“Junior got the big one on Derby Day On (sovereignty) was great,” Curtis praised. “I was sitting next to him that day, I couldn’t be happier for him.”

While the sovereignty went to the head of the class, Curtis waited for Magnitude to return to action, which he did in the $ 250,000 Iowa Derby July 5.

“He had a single chip, so we gave him enough free time and he continued where he had gone,” said Asmussen.

Four and a half months after the Risen star, Magnitude and Curtis delivered an almost identical winning margin in a performance that looked like the Risen star, dominating van de Poort. This time, however, he was not 43-1; He was the 7-10 favorite.

“The only thing you could do was beat what’s in the field,” Curtis recalled. “He did that again and put them to bed on the quarterly pole.”

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After the Iowa Derby, Curtis went to colonial downs to hang his tack for the summer, while the size went to Saratoga.

If styles fights, the travers become a Slugfest. Magnitude has earned Beyers from 105 and 108 in his last two with a front -style style that craved its rivals for air.

“The last two races were very fast as we had hoped, and we always thought he had the power, only he had not all compiled it [previously]”Explained Amussen.” In the risen star he did with a very impressive victory in a solid field. It is clear that Curtis is a very good rider, and of course the magnitude responds to him. ‘

When winning the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont Stakes and the Jim Dandy, Sovereiny Beyer-Vijgen registered between 104 and 109 with a final style, picking up a load somewhere near the Kwart-Pole and concluding with an indisputable finish.

“Sovereignty is a champion in itself,” Curtis delayed. “He turned up. He has given everyone something to cheer and watch home. He has been fantastic.”

Said next to sovereignty and magnitude is strategic focus, a slightly raced armor -running Colt trained by Chad Brown. He registered a 102 Beyer in his Saratoga debut on the same day that sovereignty won the Belmont Stakes. Recently he was third behind Chanker McPatrick after he had led in the Curlin late.

He will probably push the magnitude more than he pulls sovereignty. Bracket Buster and McAfee are also in the field.

Sovereignty is 2-5 on the morning line, while the size is 2-1. The struggle to become a member: Magnitude’s not -catchable early speed versus the unstoppable kick of sovereignty.

Curtis will set aside its comfortable summer carveout in the mid-atlantic racing world for a great opportunity, perhaps on board the last horse that stands between the sovereignty and an Eclipse coronation in a historic location known for historical malfunctions.

“He is now a new horse that starts the later stages of the year,” praed Curtis. “I would not change the magnitude for another horse in the country. The future is rosy and I am excited [for] Next Saturday. “