America’s classic distance is 1 1/4 miles on dirt, and the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) has offered some classic, spine-tingling contests. The race has been the kingmaker among the eight Breeders’ Cup races, producing 11 Horses of the Year in its first 22 runnings. The respective winners in 2004 and ‘05, Ghostzapper and Saint Liam, were both voted Horse of the Year.
Although the year’s best horse does not always win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the race has been extremely competitive, with eight of the races decided by less than one length. The only two runaway victories were Volponi’s 6 1/2-length upset in the 2002 Classic at Arlington Park and Skip Trial’s six-length triumph at Hollywood Park in 1997. |
The series began with a classic finish in the 1984 Breeders’ Cup at Hollywood Park, with three horses charging together through the final furlong. Longshot supplemental entry Wild Again set the pace and prevailed by a neck on the inside. Gate Dancer bore in on favorite Slew o’ Gold nearing the wire, and jockey Angel Cordero Jr. restrained Slew o’ Gold through the final yards to protect the eventual champion older male. Gate Dancer finished second, but Hollywood’s steward disqualified him to third, moving up Slew o’ Gold to second.
The race did not yield its first Horse of the Year until 1987, when the Breeders’ Cup returned to Hollywood and ‘86 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Ferdinand met ‘87 Derby victor Alysheba. They hooked up inside the sixteenth pole and fought to the wire, with even-money favorite Ferdinand prevailing by a nose under jockey Bill Shoemaker. Ferdinand was voted Horse of the Year and champion older male, while Alysheba was honored as champion three-year-old male. The following year, Alysheba won the Classic in near darkness at Churchill Downs’s first Breeders’ Cup and was voted Horse of the Year.
The 1989 Breeders’ Cup Classic reunited Triple Crown rivals Sunday Silence and Easy Goer, and they battled through deep stretch as they had in the Derby and Preakness Stakes (G1) that year. Sunday Silence, who had won both the Derby and Preakness, proved best and won by a neck over Belmont Stakes (G1) victor Easy Goer. Sunday Silence was voted champion three-year-old male and Horse of the Year. After a truncated four-year-old campaign, Sunday Silence was sold for stud duty in Japan, where he became that country’s all-time leading sire.
Tiznow, the race’s only two-time winner, provided two scintillating finishes, holding off Giant’s Causeway in 2000 by a neck at Churchill and then coming back courageously to best Sakhee by a nose in ‘01 at Belmont Park.
Three-year-olds have done well in the Classic, winning seven of the first 22 runnings, and two three-year-old winners have become successful sires. The 1990 Classic winner, Derby victor Unbridled, sired winners of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, as well as two Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) victors and a Juvenile Fillies (G1) winner. A.P. Indy, the 1992 winner and Horse of the Year, regularly ranks among North America’s leading sires and sired 2001 Juvenile Fillies (G1) winner Tempera. Tiznow was a three-year-old when he won in 2000 and was voted Horse of the Year.
While the Classic has yielded some classic contests, it also has produced its share of puzzles and one especially bizarre finish. Arcangues won in 1993 at 133.60-to-1, the longest price for any Breeders’ Cup winner, and Volponi won at 43.50-to-1 in 2002. The unusual finish came in the 1998 Classic, which featured the best field ever assembled for a Breeders’ Cup race. Silver Charm took the lead in the stretch but began to bear out in the final furlong. Swain (Ire), a leading European contender, followed Silver Charm to the far outside under left-handed whipping by his jockey, Frankie Dettori. Awesome Again dashed through the hole they created and won by three-quarters of a length over Silver Charm. Skip Away, the 1.90-to-1 favorite who finished sixth, was voted champion older male and Horse of the Year. |
