Curlin edged Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense by half a head at the finish line on Saturday to win the 132nd Preakness, denying the runner-up's bid to sweep US horse racing's Triple Crown.
Curlin, a distant third in the Kentucky Derby, trailed late but surged ahead from the outside in the final stride of the dirt oval thriller after Street Sense had taken the lead from third-place finisher Hard Spun.
"It was breathtaking for me," said Curlin jockey Robby Albarado, who had been thrown from a mount three races earlier.
The victory will extend the record drought of Triple Crown sweeps in the three-year-old US thoroughbred racing classics to at least 30 years.
Curlin's winning time of 1 minute, 53.46 seconds was just off the race record of 1:53.40.
"He's immature still but he has talent and he displayed it late in the race," Albarado said. "I knew I had it at the wire."
The equine rivals will have one last chance to prove which is the better horse on June 9 at the Belmont Stakes, the final race of the Triple Crown.
"We beat a champion to get here, but Curlin is going to be a champion too," Curlin owner George Bolton said.
One year after the race was marred by the tragic broken leg suffered by Barbaro that led to the horse being put down in January, the Preakness put forth a dramatic showdown.
A photo finish confirmed the verdict in a race where Street Sense repeated his Derby strategy, falling well back in the early going before charging to the front at the end.
"I had a good trip," Street Sense jockey Calvin Borel said. "When he made the lead, the crowd [unsettled him]. He went back the last 40 yards [37m]. I went by the leader. I thought I was home free. I can't take nothing away from him."
"I still think he's the best horse," he said. "It was one of them things. No excuses."
Stunned Street Sense trainer Carl Nafzger thought for a moment his horse had won, but television replays quickly made it apparent that Curlin had won before an official winner of the US$600,000 top prize was announced minutes later.
"He just got outrun," Nafzger said.
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