The chances of a Curlin-Big Brown showdown do not look promising following Tuesday's teleconference with Jess Jackson, the majority owner of Curlin, who seems to be leaning against going for a repeat in the Breeders' Cup Classic because of uncertainty over the Pro-Ride synthetic surface that is now being installed at Santa Anita Park, the host of the Breeders' Cup this year and in 2009.

Jackson announced that Curlin will be making his next start at Saratoga Aug. 30 in the Woodward, a Grade 1 weight-for-age race with a $500,000 purse that has been on the resume of many champions since its inaugural running in 1954. Among the Woodward winners are Forego (a four-time winner), Kelso (three times), Cigar (twice), Slew o' Gold (twice), Buckpasser, Damascus, Seattle Slew, Affirmed, Spectacular Bid, Alysheba, Easy Goer, Holy Bull, Lemon Drop Kid, Mineshaft, Ghostzapper, and Saint Liam.

Jackson, who with trainer Steve Asmussen also gave serious consideration to the Aug. 24 Pacific Classic on Polytrack at Del Mar and this Saturday's Arlington Million on turf at Arlington Park. Those two $1-million races are worth twice as much as the Woodward, but Jackson said Curlin loves training at Saratoga and he also wants to run his horse at the Spa because of its historical significance in the sport.  "We thought it was best to stay at this venue, both for him and for racing," he said.

Jackson wouldn't commit to a specific race beyond the Woodward, but said he has concerns about the new synthetic track being installed at Santa Anita. He didn't completely rule out the Breeders' Cup Classic or Breeders' Cup Turf, but Jackson also has possible designs on racing Curlin in one of the Hong Kong international races at Sha Tin Dec. 14, in the Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse Nov. 30, or Japan Cup Dirt at Hanshin Racecourse Dec. 7.

Michael Iavarone of IEAH Stables, majority owner of Big Brown, said in the wake of Sunday's hard-fought victory in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth that the Breeders' Cup Classic was the ultimate goal for the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner. Trainer Rick Dutrow said he has the Sept. 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Philadelphia Park as a possibility for the horse's next start. The Grade 2 race has not traditionally been a stopping point on the route to a championship, though the increase to a $1-million purse in 2007 makes the race more desirable than it ever was. Iavarone told Daily Racing Form on Monday that he is fishing for a racetrack to create a special race for Big Brown on turf in mid-September.  Big Brown began his career on grass, and it's likely that if his feet are stinging on dirt a grass course would offer more cushion.

Either of these scenarios gives Big Brown a much more realistic chance of winning than he has taking on good older horses, based on his performance in the Haskell in which he was in all-out drive to catch the non-stakes-winning Coal Play, who outhustled Big Brown to get the early lead and nearly pulled off the 20-1 upset. Iavarone and Dutrow both admitted they thought Big Brown was a beaten horse at the top of the stretch, when Coal Play stretched his lead to two lengths. But Kent Desormeaux went to the whip at least a dozen times and gradually wore down Coal Play, getting up in the final 70 yards to win by 1 d lengths.

Monmouth Park, as it often does on big race days, played to speed horses on the main track on Haskell day, giving Coal Play and local kingpin Joe Bravo a decided advantage once Desormeaux settled Big Brown into second place after breaking on top. But the fact Big Brown was all out to beat a horse that was coming off a third-place finish in an allowance race, and was drifting out significantly down the stretch is not a good omen for Big Brown's future. The drifting out may or may not be a sign that the horse's problem foot is still bothering him, but it's not a positive.

Try as hard as Iavarone has to muzzle Dutrow, the bad news trainer just couldn't help himself after the less than impressive Haskell victory, declaring to one reporter that "we're way better than Curlin."

He's got a chance to prove it. Big Brown would pull a five-pound break in the weights from Curlin in the Woodward (126 to 121), and Big Brown would have four full weeks to recover from his race at Monmouth. A good 3-year-old can win the Woodward; it's been done by, among others, Sword Dancer, Buckpasser, Damascus, Arts and Letters, Pleasant Colony, Slew o' Gold, Easy Goer, and Holy Bull.

If Iavarone wants to enhance Big Brown's reputation as a stallion prospect, the Aug. 30 Woodward is the race they should point to, particularly since Dutrow is so confident his horse is superior to Curlin.

To run two days later in the Pennsylvania Derby (or in some made-for-Big Brown turf race) after Dutrow's most recent blast of hot air would be a joke.

While the Belmont Stakes will forever be remembered as the most disappointing loss of Big Brown's career, if I owned this horse or trained this horse I'd be a lot more concerned about what happened in the Haskell than what happened in the final leg of the Triple Crown.

Big Brown's performance in the Belmont Stakes was too bad to be true. When a horse of that caliber runs that poorly, something has to be amiss. It was possible to dismiss the Belmont as a fluke, draw a line through it and move on. After the horse had eight weeks off and plenty of time to regroup, there was every reason to believe that the Big Brown in the Haskell would be the same dominating, invincible monster that swept through the first two legs of the Triple Crown.

It didn't quite work out that way. A winner or not, Big Brown simply wasn't very good in the Haskell.

On the far turn, Kent Desormeaux was asking his horse for everything he had and he wasn't gaining an inch on Coal Play. He looked beaten, but finally put it together in deep stretch and spurted past Coal Play inside the final 70 yards or so to win by one-and-three-quarter lengths. He did so despite bearing out.

Though Big Brown showed some courage to win when it appeared he was beaten, he was life and death to defeat a very ordinary group of horses. Coal Play might have run the race of his life, but he looked like nothing more than a decent allowance horse coming into the Haskell. He had earned just $84,842 before the race, winning a maiden and a first-level allowance race from nine career starts. Big Brown is supposed to destroy a horse like that.

After the Haskell, several English bookmaking firms raised Big Brown's ante-post price for the Breeders' Cup Classic. Coral raised his price from 4-1 to 5-1.

Big Brown's desultory performance in the Haskell can mean a few things, none of them good. My guess is that Big Brown still hasn't overcome the toll the Triple Crown grind apparently took on him. With the way he ran in the Belmont, he looked like a horse that had been completely knocked out by the stress of the Triple Crown campaign. The eight weeks off between the Belmont and the Haskell apparently did him some good, but he still looked like a horse that was well off his game. If that's the case, he's not likely to round back into top form any time soon.

Another possibility is that a lot of people, myself included, got it wrong with Big Brown. With the way he won the Florida Derby, Kentucky Derby and Preakness, he seemed to be some sort of super horse. He didn't just win those races; he seemed to dominate the competition without even trying. But maybe that was a mirage. After all, his speed figures never were that good and the rest of the 3-year-old crop is about as unimpressive a group as anyone has ever seen.

So, what now? It remains to be seen where Big Brown goes next. There's been talk of a return to the grass or maybe a start in the MassCap up at Suffolk Downs. The Breeders' Cup Classic is supposed to be his final race.

Line him up against another modest group of 3-year-olds and he will probably win again. But put him in against Curlin or, even, a couple of other tough older horses, and he figures to have a very hard time. At least he does based on the way he ran in the Haskell.

There's still another scenario: retirement. Sorry to be so cynical, but doesn't that make the most sense? Everything that he does on the racetrack from here forward affects his stud value. Right now, he's in a pretty good spot. He somewhat put the Belmont disaster behind him and is coming off a Grade I win. He could go out now on a high.

But should he get beaten in any of his next few starts, which is a strong possibility, he's going to head off to stud with a tarnished reputation and a deflated price tag. Is it worth taking the chance? Maybe not.

Big Brown has taken the sport on a strange ride. It's been exhilarating and it's been disappointing. In a way, the latest chapter, the Haskell, was the most confusing. He had been brilliant and he had been awful. Now, he was merely pretty good.

What does it all mean? Where is his reputation now? Those are tough questions, and they remain to be answered.