Alysheba
Jack Van Berg's hard-trying racehorse was probably the first great three year-old to get a crack at the Breeders' Cup races after their inception in 1984. The dual classic winner raced in both the 1987 and the 1988 Breeders' Cup Classics, winning the latter race en route to a Horse of the Year title. That race is where the famous line from Tom Durkin comes from - "Alysheba - America's horse!" However, Alysheba would also live on in his second-place effort in the 1987 Breeders' Cup Classic, where he battled with Ferdinand the entire length of the stretch. The two Derby winners fought their heart out that day; neither of them deserved to lose. Sadly, Ferdinand met a sad end in a slaughterhouse in Japan, where he had been sent to stud. Alysheba was sold to Saudi Arabia for many years of stud duty before returning to the United States to live out his last few months at home.
Bayakoa
A brilliant racemare who started her career in South America, Bayakoa is one of only two horses to win the Breeders' Cup Distaff twice. She competed at the top levels in Argentina, but when she came to the United States, she was nearly unstoppable. She captured 13 individual Grade 1 victories and over $2.8 million in prizes, and was champion female in 1989 and 1990. Sadly, her victory in the 1990 Breeders' Cup Distaff was marred by the breakdown of Go For Wand, the brilliant three year-old filly who had given her older rival everything she had. Go For Wand's breakdown - and subsequent death - cast a shadow over that championship day. In the 1989 Distaff, though, she held off all challengers to win the event, setting a stakes record in the process. Her Breeders' Cup legacy would not die with her - 22 years after her second Distaff win, her grandson Fort Larned - in Bayakoa's same colors - went wire to wire to win the Breeders' Cup Classic.
Calidoscopio
This hard-knocking stallion made headlines in last year's Breeders' Cup Marathon with a 17-1 upset win. A Grade 1 winner in his native Argentina, he trailed the field by many lengths, sitting back as the front-runners did their thing. When he began his drive, no one could stop him. He flew past his rivals in the stretch, pulling away to win by open lengths. The seasoned racehorse became the oldest horse to ever win a Breeders' Cup event at the ripe old age of 9. He returned this year with a sharp victory - much like his win in the Marathon - in the Brooklyn Handicap, but was retired to stud soon after that. Many lamented the loss of such a good stayer, and yes, he would have added some intrigue to this year's Marathon, but the 10 year-old has done more than enough on the track to merit retirement. The sound of shock in Trevor Denman's voice when he calls out Calidoscopio is unforgettable:
Da Hoss
The story of Da Hoss is frequently cited as one of the greatest Breeders' Cup stories of all time. After winning multiple stakes, Da Hoss found himself victorious in the 1996 Breeders' Cup Mile. After the Mile, however, leg injuries kept setting the gelding further and further back. After not racing for all of 1997 and most of 1998, trainer Michael Dickinson decided to start Da Hoss in an allowance in preparation for the 1998 Breeders' Cup Mile. After passing that test with flying colors, the gelding was entered in the Mile, a move that surely must have raised some eyebrows. After all, the horse had only raced once in nearly two years! This must have made Dickinson and Da Hoss even more eager to prove the naysayers wrong. After taking the lead in mid-stretch, the gelding was challenged by Hawksley Hill, who even briefly took the lead. His drive, however, was no match for Da Hoss, who came back to win by a stubborn nose. As Tom Durkin put it, "This is the greatest comeback since Lazarus!" Da Hoss now lives a peaceful life at the Kentucky Horse Park.
Easy Goer
It seems strange that a horse with no Breeders' Cup wins would appear on this list, but Easy Goer is a special case. He barely lost, in a flying finish, not one but two championship events. The chestnut colt, who was a product of the prestigious Phipps stable, had won all of his starts as a two year-old, handily defeating a colt named Is It True. In the Breeders' Cup Juvenile of 1988, the track came up muddy, and Easy Goer floundered. He tried his best to get to the frontrunner, Is It True, but could not quite get there in time and had to settle for second. After a very successful three year-old campaign, with wins in six Grade 1 races and second-place finishes to Sunday Silence in the Derby and Preakness, Easy Goer would tangle with Sunday Silence for the last time in the 1989 Breeders' Cup Classic. The chestnut colt was taken back as Sunday Silence took the lead at the head of the stretch. It was, again, too much to ask Easy Goer to close that fast. He tried his best but could not get to Sunday Silence in time to win. As a recipient of two unlucky losses, Easy Goer is just as much a part of Breeders' Cup history as any of the winners are.
Flanders
In 1994, Flanders gave us one of the grittiest performances you'll ever see from a two year-old filly. A two-time Grade 1 winner already, she would meet up with stablemate Serena's Song, a top two year-old filly on the West Coast who would later become one of the greatest racemares of all time. The stage was set for an exciting edition of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. The two fillies went for the front almost immediately, and after they rounded the first turn of the race, they began to pull away from the rest of the field. From there on out, it was a two horse match race between the two Lukas fillies. In the stretch, it looked as though Serena's Song would pull away from the tiring Flanders, but the chestnut filly came right back to fight, and eventually won the long battle over her stablemate by a short nose. Sadly, Flanders suffered an injury during the running of that race and would never set foot on the track again, after only five brilliant starts. The two fillies would not only be remembered in this race but would leave their mark in the breeding shed as well, producing many stakes winners between them.
Goldikova
Most horses on this list have only won a Breeders' Cup once or twice, and that is where Goldikova beats them all. She won the Breeders' Cup Mile in 2008, 2009 and 2010 before finishing third in her fourth attempt in 2011. The fleet-footed French filly came into her first Mile off of a handful of group stakes wins in her native country. She soon showed the world what she was capable with an ultra-impressive win in the 2008 Mile. With her win in that race, she gave trainer Freddie Head the honor of being the only person to win a Breeders' Cup race as both a jockey and a trainer. (He rode Miesque to victory in her two Breeders' Cup Mile wins.) Each of her subsequent Mile wins were also impressive, but she was the victim of declining form as a six year-old in the 2011 Mile that Court Vision won. Nevertheless, she remains the only horse to ever win three Breeders' Cup events, a title in jeopardy as Royal Delta goes for her third Breeders' Cup Distaff win in two weeks. Out of 27 starts, Goldikova only finished off the board once. Her first foal was born this year - a colt by champion Galileo.
High Chaparral
Through a career of thirteen races, this Irish racehorse proved himself as one of the best of his generation. As a three year-old, he was a winner of both the English and Irish Derbies, and after a third-place finish in the 2002 Arc de Triomphe, he traveled to America to notch a strong win in the Breeders' Cup Turf. After a few more stakes victories and another third in the Arc, High Chaparral came to Santa Anita to attempt to become the first horse to win two Breeders' Cup Turf events. Little did racegoers know that his bid for the Turf would become one of the most famous moments in Breeders' Cup history. Holding off a challenge from Falbrav, who he had battled against in the Irish Champion Stakes earlier in the year, High Chaparral was looking like a sure winner when the green and white silks of Johar appeared on his outside. Mick Kinane asked his champion mount for his all, and the two colts hit the wire together. After a lengthy photo examination, it was determined that High Chaparral and Johar had finished perfectly in sync. The purse was split and the accolades equally given to the two winners of the Breeders' Cup Turf. High Chaparral's two Turf victories would not be equaled until Conduit won the race in both 2008 and 2009.
Inside Information
Like Easy Goer, mentioned previously on this list, Inside Information was a result of decades of careful breeding by the Phipps family. Her sire was Private Account, who was best known as the sire of 1988 Breeders' Cup Distaff champion Personal Ensign. Inside Information was no slouch - before her start in the 1995 Distaff, she was already a five-time Grade 1 winner, including three prestigious races in 1995, her championship year. The field that Inside Information would face in that Distaff was full of talented fillies and mares. Among the field was Serena's Song, one of the best of the decade; Mariah's Storm, who would later become the dam of Giant's Causeway; and stablemate Heavenly Prize, who had already snagged an Eclipse Award as a three year-old. Despite the tough field, Inside Information put on a show for the people at Belmont that day. Snatching the lead from Lakeway five furlongs from home, she took off at a high rate of speed, leaving those brilliant fillies and mares in the dust. Her final margin of victory was 13 1/2 lengths - the largest in Breeders' Cup history - and the final time was shockingly close to Secretariat's track record for a mile and an eighth.
Johannesburg
Out of all the juvenile colts we've seen in the past few decades, Johannesburg has to be one of the best. He marched all over his competition at age two and did it while globe-trotting, too. He was seven for seven in 2001, with Grade 1 victories in England, Ireland and France. Those accomplishments would earn him the Cartier Award for champion two year-old male. The world was his for the taking, though, so Aidan O'Brien brought Johannesburg to the United States for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. He would not be the first foreign-based horse to win the race - one's mind immediately goes to French-trained Arazi's runaway victory ten years before Johannesburg. Bottled up on the inside for most of the race, Johannesburg entered the stretch behind a wall of horses, led by speedy pacemakers Officer and Came Home. Once he had running room, the bay colt took off like a rocket, flying past the best America had to offer and holding off a late run from Repent. His performance at Belmont was so good that Johannesburg earned the title of American champion two year-old colt as well.
Kona Gold
Kona Gold is a perfect example of the saying "never give up." In 1998, he finished third in the Breeders' Cup Sprint. In 1999, he finished a narrow second to Artax, who equaled a track record in the process. But 2000 would be the six year-old gelding's year. After victories in several graded stakes in California, including the Grade 1 San Carlos, he entered the starting gate at Churchill Downs for his third crack at the speed event. Sitting close off a wicked pace set by Caller One, he collared the three year-old at the head of the stretch and had enough left in him to hold off a fast-closing Honest Lady. As the sweet-faced gelding galloped past the finish line, an astonished Tom Durkin made it known to the crowd that Kona Gold had not only set a Breeders' Cup record time - which beat the time set by Artax the previous year - but a Churchill Downs track record as well. Although both these records would fall, ironically in the same year (2007), his achievement remained etched in stone, and the hard-knocking gelding won races up to the ripe old age of nine.
Lure
This son of Danzig is often cited as one of the greatest American turf horses of all time. He continued a history of multiple Breeders' Cup Mile wins first achieved by the great racemare Miesque. In the 1992 Mile, his first of two victories in the race, he would face Paradise Creek, a colt born the same year who would later blossom into Lure's greatest rival. Also part of the field was Arazi, the sensational Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner of the previous year. The gates opened and immediately Lure took off from the inside to take the lead. White shadow roll bobbing, the handsome bay colt led the way through sprightly opening fractions. Turning for home, Lure still had a solid lead on the field, and in mid-stretch, no one was even close to catching him. Paradise Creek held off Brief Truce for second; Arazi sputtered out and finished off the board. Lure did it again, in similar fashion, in 1993, but failed in his attempt to win three Breeders' Cup Miles when he finished ninth in 1994.
Midnight Lute
Trainer Bob Baffert was always high on this son of Derby winner Real Quiet. Though his career was relatively short, he couldn't have impressed any more in his six wins. Two of those wins came in Breeders' Cup events; the first on a sloppy track at Monmouth, the second on his main stomping grounds at Santa Anita. In the 2008 Breeders' Cup Sprint, his last career start, he came back after a tenth place finish in his first start off a long layoff to win the race for the second time. The first time, the track came up sloppy and Midnight Lute sat well back off the leaders, who set suicidal fractions in the mud. The colt began to uncork his powerful run rounding the turn. It was almost hard to distinguish where he was, as he and jockey Garrett Gomez were both plastered in gray mud. But as the leaders began to crumble, and the wire approached, no one could miss his powerful strides eating up ground on the far outside. Midnight Lute soared past the leaders, making it look incredibly easy. Despite the poor track, he destroyed Kona Gold's stakes record, coming very close to six furlongs in under 1:07. Though inconsistent, and plagued with injury, Midnight Lute was undoubtedly one of the best sprinters in recent years.
Nownownow
When thinking of Breeders' Cup champions, Nownownow's name is certainly not one of the first to come to mind. His championship win, after all, was certainly the biggest in his spotty career. However, there were a few special things about this longshot's unlikely victory. It was the same year as Midnight Lute's soggy Sprint win and the start of a new experiment - the inaugural running of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. Thought by many as an incentive to get more European two year-olds running in the Breeders' Cup, it was won by a 17-1 American outsider instead, a colt who had broken his maiden in just his last start. The two year-olds raced through a cold autumn rain, with 7-2 choice Prussian leading most of the way. In the stretch, it looked as though five or six could win the race, but on the outside, it was Nownownow who was traveling the best, and it was indeed Nownownow who would win the first Juvenile Turf over Ireland's Achill Island. Not only was Nownownow the first winner of this Breeders' Cup race, but he also gave jockey Julien Leparoux his very first Breeders' Cup victory.
Ouija Board
Certainly Ouija Board's name should be in such high regard as names like Zenyatta or Rachel Alexandra. After all, the mare won ten races, seven of which were Grade 1 events, and competed against the males at the highest of levels. Among the horses she defeated was Dubai World Cup winner Electrocutionist and top-rated stallion Manduro. She also remains the only racemare to win the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf twice, doing so in 2004 and 2006. Ouija Board came into the 2004 edition off of a third-place finish in the Arc de Triomphe - a move that also worked for High Chaparral. She had already won both the English and Irish Oaks, and her sharp win at Lone Star Park stamped her as a horse to watch out for in the future. After a 2005 season plagued with setbacks, Ouija Board failed to repeat in the Filly and Mare Turf, finishing second behind front-running Intercontinental. 2006 would be her year. Not only did she score an impressive win against males in the Prince of Wales (G1), she came back to Churchill Downs for another shot at a Breeders' Cup title. Sitting in midpack, Ouija Board cruised up to take the lead in the stretch. Under the confident hands of Frankie Dettori, she showed the American turf mares how it was done, pulling away to win by easy open lengths. Of course, in the winner's circle, Dettori displayed his trademark flying dismount. It was nothing but celebration for Ouija Board, one of the most talented mares we've seen in a while.
Personal Ensign
In November of 1988, an undefeated racemare was to be given one last challenge. The air that day must have been reminiscent of when Zenyatta entered the 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic with a chance to make it 20 for 20. Personal Ensign had passed every test given to her so far - 12 wins in 12 starts and eight Grade 1 victories, including the Whitney over her male peers. She would go for a baker's dozen in the Breeders' Cup Distaff, but it would not be easy. Personal Ensign would face a classy field of fillies, including Kentucky Derby heroine Winning Colors. Lukas' gray filly got off to a beautiful start, loose on the lead as she had been at Churchill Downs that May. Nervous eyes scanned the field for the cherry cap of the Phipps colors that Personal Ensign bore. The filly was still a handful of lengths behind Winning Colors. They hit the stretch and Winning Colors still had the lead. Personal Ensign seemed to be struggling - would she collar the Derby winner in time? Slowly but surely, she edged up to Winning Colors. The wire was approaching fast...but Personal Ensign managed to get her nose on the wire first! She was able to retire undefeated in 13 starts. This finish is highly regarded as one of the best in Breeders' Cup history. And her legacy would not end with her racing career; she produced My Flag, a Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner, whose daughter Storm Flag Flying also won the Juvenile Fillies.
Royal Delta
Less than two weeks from now, Royal Delta will go for an unprecedented feat: a third win in the Breeders' Cup Distaff after victories in 2011 and 2012. She has a lot of work to do there, as she faces stiff competition in Princess of Sylmar, who defeated her last time out, and Beholder, a speedy filly who will give her company on the front end. Nevertheless, Royal Delta is one of only two horses to win the Distaff twice (although she did so when the race was renamed, briefly, the Ladies' Classic). Although her career has not been perfect, like Personal Ensign's was, Royal Delta has been very consistent, finishing in the top three 18 out of 21 career starts. Her signature move is to take the lead and keep it, all the way to the wire. Whether that works or not depends on if she's brought her A-game and the competition she's facing. She is looking to duplicate her powerful win in last year's Distaff. When Questing, a fast filly that nearly everyone expected to set the pace, broke poorly and settled into last place, Mike Smith aboard Royal Delta siezed the day and took the lead. Taking advantage of a speed bias over the Breeders' Cup weekend, she set quick fractions but was able to hold off late runs by My Miss Aurelia and Include Me Out. Can lightning strike thrice two weeks from now?
Street Sense
For many years, there was something known as the "Juvenile Jinx." The Breeders' Cup Juvenile, born out of a desire to showcase the early favorite for the Kentucky Derby, had failed to produce a Derby winner in over two decades of existence. If a Derby winner did come out of the Juvenile of the previous year, he certainly hadn't finished first. No horse had ever won both the Juvenile and the Kentucky Derby. The Juvenile Jinx no longer exists, and it's because of this colt, Street Sense. Overlooked heading into the race, Street Sense was taken far back by Churchill specialist Calvin Borel, a jockey who would go on to win three Derbies in four years. The pair skimmed the rail, biding their time until the far turn, where they began to catapult past horses in their journey to the front. All the horses on the front end took the far turn wide, leaving a gaping hole on the rail for Street Sense to motor though. He took the lead so quickly and forcefully that Trevor Denman didn't even mention his name until he was many lengths in front. The final margin was an eye-popping ten lengths - an impressive breakout performance for a colt who hadn't even won a stakes race before. Street Sense mirrored his Juvenile performance with another rail-skimming victory in the Kentucky Derby that next year, thus breaking the Juvenile Jinx.
Tiznow
Tiznow, whose name now rests near the top of general sire lists around America, is a Breeders' Cup legend. He remains the only horse to win two Breeders' Cup Classics, a feat attempted by the likes of Cigar and Curlin, and he did so, both times, in such gritty, unforgettable fashion. The dark bay, whose unorthodox male line stretches back to the great Man O' War, came into the 2000 Breeders' Cup Classic as a three year-old; it ended up being a showdown with European sophomore Giant's Causeway. The two hooked up at the top of the stretch and, after heads bobbed for many strides, Tiznow stuck his nose out to win the race. The victory earned him a Horse of the Year title, one he would not win in 2001 due to Point Given's incredible year. However, his 2001 Classic win was one of the most unforgettable races in history. It was a race run less than a month and a half after the tragedy of September 11th, and America needed something to lift their spirits. Tiznow looked beaten at the far turn, beginning to fall back as Arc de Triomphe winner Sakhee took the lead. But as they went down the stretch, cheers rose from the crowd...Tiznow was coming back! Stubbornly fighting his way to the lead, he crossed the wire with a head in front of Sakhee. "Tiznow wins it for America!" Tom Durkin proclaimed, as the great stallion had given a thrill to a grieving nation.
Unbridled's Song
The late Unbridled's Song is best known for his success in the breeding shed, but his greatest accomplishment on the racetrack was in the 1995 edition of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. From the first crop of Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic winner Unbridled, the two year-old colt had shown great promise in just two starts on the track; his third would be the championship race. Unlike previous starts, he sat off the pace - a wise decision, for the frontrunners were setting testing early fractions. The dark gray colt, whose coat would later fade to nearly white, siezed command on the far turn, taking the lead at the top of the stretch. Hennessy, a chestnut colt who would also become a very good sire, took after Unbridled's Song, and the two dueled the entire length of the stretch. Despite his lack of experience, Unbridled's Song showed the tenacity of a seasoned older horse, coming back from Hennessy's challenge to win by an extended neck. Thirteen years later, his son Midshipman would also win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
Volponi
Sometimes, the biggest races have the most astonishing results. One thinks of 1993's Breeders' Cup Classic, when the French-trained Arcangues stunned the world, winning at odds of 99-1. Nine years later, another upset rocked the highest levels of the sport. A stellar field had assembled for the 2002 Classic, including top horses Medaglia d'Oro and Milwaukee Brew and Classic winner War Emblem. But none of those horses would win the prestigious event. Instead, it was Volponi who waltzed away from the field to win by six lengths. He was 44-1; he had never even won a Grade 1 race before! Yet here he was, galloping away from that star-studded group of horses like they were cheap claimers. Though many of the stallions behind him went on to produce successful offspring, and Volponi was far their inferior at stud, his connections still have the luxury of that emphatic win in America's richest horse race. This would not be the last shock jockey Jose Santos would offer racing fans - the year after that, he won the Kentucky Derby on longshot gelding Funny Cide.
Wild Again
Longshot victories by Volponi and Arcangues were merely aftershocks of the very first Breeders' Cup Classic, won by a 31-1 outside chance. Run at Hollywood Park - which sadly will host its last race meeting this winter before closing for good - it was to be the first edition of a race that would later create some of the greatest moments in horse racing. It drew a field of very nice stakes horses, including top older male Slew o' Gold and Preakness winner Gate Dancer. But it was Wild Again, on the toteboard at 31-1, who took the lead on the backstretch, setting fast times for the distance. Slew O' Gold drew alongside the dark bay colt in an outright challenge. As they entered the stretch, the bright white blinkers of Gate Dancer joined the two in a three horse battle that would not soon be forgotten. Many thought the vastly superior pair on his outside would defeat the tired leader, but Wild Again fought back bravely, prevailing by a flared nostril over Gate Dancer. After a review by the stewards, Gate Dancer was disqualified from second to third for interference with Slew O' Gold, who was pinched back in late stretch. This changed nothing for Wild Again - he remains the first winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic.
Xtra Heat
It was 2001, and a filly named Xtra Heat was well on her way to stardom. She won eight stakes victories that year, including the Grade 1 Prioress, and a three year-old female title seemed hers. She was so dominant against her own gender at a sprint distance that her connections decided to throw her in against the boys in the Breeders' Cup Sprint. There she would face Kona Gold, the seven year-old defending champion, and Caller One, a speedy frontrunner. When the gates opened, Xtra Heat broke faster than them all, even outpacing Caller One. She set quick but not unreasonable fractions, extending her lead to a length as she rounded the far turn. For a while, it looked like the filly had the race won. However, in deep stretch, a rally from the quick colt Squirtle Squirt would put an end to her dream run. Despite leading nearly the whole way, Xtra Heat finished a valiant second, beaten only a half-length. It was a performance in defeat that rivaled most wins.
Yanks Music
It's odd to have a horse on this list who never even started in a Breeders' Cup race, but in the fall of 1996, this filly was under heavy consideration for the event. It wasn't the Breeders' Cup Distaff she was aiming for, though, but the Breeders' Cup Classic itself. The three year-old had beaten everyone of her gender that had faced her, including champion older mare Serena's Song and great fillies Escena and Cara Rafaela. Four Grade 1 races had fallen her way, and now, trainer Leo O'Brien sought a fifth. The presence of Horse of the Year Cigar did not frighten off O'Brien and his filly; he was confident in her ability to handle the distance and the competition. However, in training for the prestigious event, Yanks Music sprained an ankle and would have to sit the Classic out. She was retired in January of the next year due to that ankle injury coming back; it would always be a case of "what could have been" for Yanks Music. Cigar didn't win the 1996 Breeders' Cup Classic. Instead, it was the gray Alphabet Soup that took the prize, with Louis Quatorze in second. Cigar would have to settle for third that day. One has to wonder - would the filly Yanks Music have won that day?
Zenyatta
Last, but certainly not least, we have the "dancing queen," the lovely Zenyatta. American racing's sweetheart for a few years at the turn of last decade, she was the first horse to win two Breeders' Cup events and the first female to win the Breeders' Cup Classic. Her undefeated, 19 race career came to an abrupt end with a heartbreaking loss to Blame in the 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic. Two years earlier, she broke through on the national scene with a strong win in the Breeders' Cup Distaff. After that, people really started to pay attention to the rangy daughter of Street Cry, and after many nice wins against her own gender, the public clamored for a start against males in the Classic. Owners Jerry and Ann Moss and trainer John Sheriffs obliged, and Zenyatta would begin a run for history in November of 2009. She broke last from the gate, almost lazily, waiting for her famous last-to-first closing kick. It took longer than usual, and many thought, as she was stuck behind a wall of horses at the head of the stretch, that this was the end of her winning streak. Finally, though, the big mare angled outside and swept by them all, pulling away to win by a length. Her performance in the Classic is certainly one of the best in the prestigious race's history. If any horse exemplifies what the Breeders' Cup is about, in this day and age, it is certainly the mighty Zenyatta.
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Author's note (belated): I just realized that I have no "Q" horse on this list. A "Q" name with any relevance to the Breeders' Cup escapes me! If any of you know one, let me know and I can edit him or her into this alphabet! Thanks in advance.
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