If you were hoping for a matchup between 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin and Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown, don’t hold your breath. The connections of both horses recently talked about the possibility of Curlin and Big Brown meeting on the racetrack and neither side looked likely to budge.

Curlin owner Jess Jackson said that he would donate $50,000 to charity if Big Brown would run against Curlin in the $500,000 Woodward on August 30th. That is not going to happen since Big Brown’s connections say the Woodward is not in their plans.

"It's disappointing that he's got to require us to run in a race to give money to charity," said Michael Iavarone, the head of the International Equine Acquisitions Holdings Stable, "We're not running in the Woodward, it's never been part of our plan.”

Iavarone said that the plan for Big Brown is to run the horse on the turf in a prep race with the ultimate plan being the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on October 25th. "We'll up the stakes if he wants to run in the Breeders' Cup," Iavarone said about Curlin. "We'll come together on some kind of agreement with them to give more to charity.

It's the race that should decide a championship, not the Woodward against four horses. Give everybody a chance, Europeans, Big Brown, Commentator. Fifty-thousand dollars to charity is not going to change our tactics."

The idea of getting Curlin and Big Brown together was given some thought after Big Brown’s trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. said that Big Brown was "way better than Curlin." Dutrow has been known to run his mouth and most of the time his horses have not been able to back up that brash talk, including Big Brown who lost the Triple Crown by finishing last in the Belmont.

Curlin’s connections seem a lot more confident of taking on Big Brown and beating him. They suggested that the two horses meeting in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont on Sept. 27th. The reason that the connections of Curlin are suggesting that race instead of the Breeders’ Cup Classic is because there are no plans to run Curlin in the Classic.

The problem is not the race or the field; it is the Santa Anita track. Jackson said that they really don’t want to run Curlin on the synthetic surface at Santa Anita in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The connections of Big Brown don’t want to run in the Jockey Club Gold Cup since it is at Belmont Park where Big Brown was a flop.

The result of all of this back and forth posturing is that Big Brown and Curlin will probably never meet. Curlin is likely to be retired at the end of the year and Big Brown’s racing days may be over at the same time.