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USA: ONLY the final word needs to be delivered, but Curlin's retirement looks all but certain after trainer Steve Asmussen ruled out any final race this year for the US champion.
Owner Jess Jackson left the door open for the world's top-rated dirt performer to have one last hurrah when he confirmed the four-year-old would be retired to stud for the 2009 breeding season.
However, Asmussen dismissed Friday week's Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs, seemingly the last available opportunity - unless some enterprising track should decide to put up an inflated purse for a one-off race.
The Clark has lost much of its lustre this year, having been dropped down to Grade 2 status with a purse cut by $100,000 to $400,000.
What is more, it may not be a cakewalk, with top-class older horse Commentator - one of the best horses in America - on course to run after missing the Breeders' Cup, where Curlin was beaten into fourth on the all-weather behind Raven's Pass in the Classic.
Asmussen evidently has no interest in the Clark. "We've eliminated ourselves from the Clark," he told the Louisville Courier-Journal.
"With the purse cut and it being a Grade 2, there's not enough incentive tobe ready for it even if the possibility was so."
Asmussen trained Curlin to win a multitude of the top races in the US, headed by last year's Breeders' Cup Classic, Preakness Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup - plus the Dubai World Cup in March.
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