Big names from both sides of the Atlantic pick out their most memorable moments from four decades at the Breeders’ Cup
Jerry Bailey
Cigar (Classic 1995)
My favourite would be Cigar capping an undefeated season, winning the 1995 Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Everything went wrong beforehand that probably could have gone wrong. It rained, he’d never been on a muddy track, he had a shoe issue in the paddock that made him stay back in the paddock after all the other horses had left. He got kinda a bit excited about that in a nervous way.
As a jockey you want everything to go like it has before because he was winning everything and nothing was going right. It made us nervous. He had the widest post of all, breaking right on a turn. It made him more aggressive.
Yet he was as impressive as ever. He broke as good as normal. Cigar was a miler that Bill Mott was able to get a mile and a quarter and his preference was to be on the lead. Mott had to train the speed out of him and I had to be patient with him.
Breaking that wide and not wanting to be wide the entire turn, I had to use a little speed from the gate to move over toward the rail as quickly as I could. He gave it to me but once I turned him on, I couldn’t get him turned off. He was very aggressive and pulling very hard.
He wanted to go but it wasn’t time. When I did let him go about the three-furlong pole it was because he was pulled me so hard, I was losing the feeling in my hands. He was just superior that day.
William Buick
Wuheida (Filly & Mare Turf 2017)
My three wins in 2021 with Modern Games, Space Blues and Yibir was just wild, as I couldnt have expected it, but my first Breeders’ Cup win on Wuheida in the Filly & Mare Turf at Del Mar was incredibly satisfying, as I’d had a few near-misses.
I felt it was long overdue, although it feels a bit wrong to say that as every race at the Breeders’ Cup is hard to win. We had a good draw and she showed good gate speed and then travelled. We had a lovely run around and got a split when I wanted. Rhododendron was second, and if she’d been better drawn she'd have been more of a threat, but that day we got the rub of the green.
Mark Casse
Tepin (Mile 2015)
It would have to be Teipin at Keeneland. She is one of the greatest of all time and while it was my second Breeders' Cup win, winning at Keeneland meant an awful lot to me. That's where my father first got interested in the horse business when his father took him to Keeneland.
We call the Breeders’ Cup the 'world championships' but if you look at the dirt racing, it's more like the best in North America. But when you win going a mile on the turf or any of the turf races, normally you are beating the world. That's another reason for it being so special.
I was as confident as you can be with any horse race. I was optimistic and I knew she was really good and on top of her game but I wasn't positive she could beat all the Euros coming over.
It's always nice beating the colts with the filly as well. I know it happens a lot in Europe but it's not so common in the US.
Kieren Fallon
Islington (Filly & Mare Turf 2003)
It was my first Breeders’ Cup win, so very special, and to this day that’s probably one of my favourite wins. It’s the sort of race I’d dreamed about since I’d started riding.
She was one in a million and loved firm ground, which you could nearly always count on at Santa Anita. She hopped off it, unlike a lot of fillies, and beat two good three-year-olds of Aidan O’Brien’s.
We’d had a great year, and winning at Santa Anita capped it all. From day one she had always shown us she had so much ability and it was great to win for owners the Weinstocks, who bred her and were a great family. Doing it for Sir Michael made it even more special.
John Gosden
Raven’s Pass (Classic 2008)
Raven’s Pass winning the Classic at Santa Anita with Frankie on board was obviously a huge highlight. He was some horse, and on that day nothing could beat him and he had horses like Curlin behind.
Then Enable winning the Turf at Churchill Downs was very special too, because she was the first horse to do the Arc and Breeders√ Cup double in the same year. Those two stand out, but Royal Heroine winning the inaugural Mile would be the other.
Johnny Murtagh
Ridgewood Pearl (Mile 1995)
I had three great days, winning three races, but being a young lad, beating Gary Stevens in a driving finish on Ridgewood Pearl was my favourite.
I was confident going over there but there was unreal rain the night before. I knew she would handle the ground well. She was after getting beat in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes but she travelled over really well. I breezed her on the track and she was going really well and when the rain came that raised our hopes even more.
Gary Stevens was a jockey I had watched as a kid so to win my first Breeders’ Cup beating him was pretty special.
Nick Luck
Blame (Classic 2010)
As perverse as it is to pick a defeat but the defeat of Zenyatta was undoubtedly the moment in Breeders’ Cup history that left the deepest impression on me.
She’d not been prepared on dirt all year; it was her first run on the surface that year. She faced a really good field and was detached by a furlong going into the first turn and the ground she made up was nothing short of extraordinary.
As Randy Moss put it on the day, she enhanced her reputation in defeat. It was really the power she had over the crowd that was remarkable. Her presence electrified the whole place. Then after the race there was this sense of deflation, such a dramatic counterpoint to the energy before the race.
The next day when I went to the airport there was this massive picture on the front of the Louisville Courier Journal of the wire under the lights with the headline: ‘Blame the winner.’
Mike Smith
Zenyatta (Classic 2009)
I would have to say Zenyatta beating the boys in the Classic. It was probably the most magical day. It was an amazing day, amazing night, just incredible.
It was a great field and everyone said she wasn’t going to be able to beat the boys. Not only did she beat them, she came from last, she ran by all of them.
Just to see the reaction of the fans was so good. There was a standing ovation that went on for another 25-30 minutes afterwards. It was crazy; it never stopped. I tell people that was the day the ground shook in California and there was no earthquake, it was just all of her fans jumping and down.
Trevor Denman’s call of the race was superb. He set it up for a dramatic finish and she let none of us down.
Saeed Bin Suroor
Daylami (Turf 1999)
Daylami was my first Breeders’ Cup winner and I remember being so confident going into the race. He had won the Irish Champion Stakes by nine lengths where he beat Royal Anthem. I remember Prince Ahmed bin Salman telling me that Royal Anthem would win even if the race was on the moon, but we beat him at Leopardstown and beat the horse again at Gulfstream.
He had worked really well before the race and I told Frankie to make sure he was near the front. It was a top-class contest with all the best horses in it that year. Daylami was such a good horse and one of the first stars for Godolphin.
Gary Stevens
Beholder (Distaff 2016)
There was a lot of hype going into the race and Mike Smith and I were best friends. We would bounce things off each other strategy-wise and would talk about every race we were riding, except for the Distaff.
My strategy was to make Songbird to start digging from three furlongs out, to really pump the pressure on and attack her. I was very confident the entire trip and as we approached two furlongs out, I got head-to-head.
I was going to put her in tight on the rail; I thought I could intimidate her a little bit but I was wrong and when I put that pressure on she fought back. I switched my crop to my left hand. I’d never really used it more than once on Beholder but the half-furlong was an epic battle.
Although a lot of people Songbird had won, I was confident I had won the head-bob. I saluted with my crop past the wire but then I had doubts when Donna Brothers told me it was close. I trotted by where the NBC team were at and Jerry Bailey screamed out, ‘Congratulations, Gary. You got there!’
It was one of those races lived up to the hype – the filly and mare put on a show. It was most exciting race I’d ever ridden in; it compared with the Winning Colors/Personal Ensign battle of 1988 but I came out on the losing end of that.
They both deserved their standing ovation and I feel Mike and I did too.
• Visit the Breeders’ Cup website and the Breeders’ Cup Challenge web page
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