Santa Anita California this year played host to the most exciting 2 days of horse racing that is the Breeders Cup. Nestled in the suburb of Arcadia and based at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, Santa Anita race track is a magical place to spend the day in the company of some of the worlds best racehorses.
Friday, the first day of the event, saw the crowd bathed in gorgeous sunshine for the entire time that the horses graced the track. We saw a fantastic day of racing that started with undefeated Juvenile Merit Man being upset by the outsider of the field, Hightail, in a thrilling photo finish and culminated with Royal Delta taking her second Ladies Classic and at the same time provide Mike Smith with his 16th Breeders Cup win making him the all time leading rider in Breed
ers Cup history. It was a fitting end to the day and a great lead into what was to come on the Saturday.
But first we had to make a detour that night to the Breeders Cup Taste of the World extravaganza at the Huntington Library Botanic Gardens. A magnificent affair hosted by Bobby Flay, that bought together some of the best chefs and mixologists from different regions of the world. The party saw trainers such as Bob Baffert, Aidan O’Brien, and Graham Motion mix with the owners of horses and VIP guests of the Breeders Cup. The fabulous evening allowed everyone to mingle inside a marquee tent set on the botanical lawns and taste delicacies from Australia, Brazil, France, and Argentina just to name a few. Mixing in with these were fantastic cocktails provided by the accompanying mixologists and of course the special Grey Goose
cocktails that were designed especially to accompany the Breeders Cup event. It was truly a fantastic celebration and a wonderful evening for those people who love the industry to talk in great anticipation about what was to come the next day.
Saturday saw us awake to a gorgeous blue sky and brilliant sun that was to soar to the high 80’s by mid afternoon, providing an absolutely gorgeous stage for the main day of the Breeders Cup weekend. With racing superstars like Groupie Doll, Game on Dude, Wise Dan, and St Nicholas Abbey just to name a few it was always going to be an amazing day! Throw into the mix, the return of 2011 Kentucky Derby champion Animal Kingdom and it was the only place to be for a true racing enthusiast and a great place to get introduced to this wonderful sport. The day saw some upsets, with Arlington Million winner and
20/1 shot Little Mike outlasting the fast finishing and heavily favored Point of Entry and St Nicholas Abbey in the turf as well as the Argentinean Calidoscopio cruising home in the Marathon at juicy odds of 18/1. The mighty Shackleford was well below his best in the Dirt Mile as was equal favorite Emcee, they both finished midfield and were never in the hunt as Tapizar took the honors.
But handicappers got a few dollars back in the Filly and Mare Sprint when odds on favorite and crowd favorite Groupie Doll produced a memorable run to travel wide most of the way and then proceed to crush her rivals in the stretch by 4 1/2 lengths on the wire. It was truly a magnificent run to behold. They also were able to make some money thanks to an unbelievably gutsy run by what must be this year’s top Juvenile, Shanghai Bobby, who looked spent halfway down the straight but refused to yield and held off He’s Had Enough to take the Grey Goose Juvenile.
All this had led us to one point, the Breeders Cup Classic. With a $5 Million purse, the richest in American racing, the crowd had been given a magnificent serving of entrees and now it was time for the main course. And it did not disappoint, from the moment the crowds put down their drinks to the moment they picked them back up to toast the winner, it was a magical place to be, suspended in gorgeous sunlight at the foot of the San Gabriel mountains watching these magnificent creatures give their all for one of racings ultimate prizes. In the end it was left to two to fight tooth and nail down the straight to see who would be this year’s Classic champion. Fort Larned had gone out to the lead early and he wanted to keep it that way, but Mike Repoles Mucho Macho Man was going to chase him home every step of the way down the straight, and with every step he was going to get a little closer. The crowd was a choir of roaring voices as they approached the final furlong and it looked like Mucho Macho Man was going to get there, but Fort Larned looked him dead in the eye and like a horse worthy of joining such greats as Zenyatta, Curlin, Cigar, and two time winner Tiznow, he stood his ground to take the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Classic.
The sun started to set as if it knew it was time to remove itself from the stage and allow the curtain to fall on what had been an amazing celebration. People remained to toast the past two days winners and new fans were born into the sport of horse racing. It was a magical two days that was filled with every emotion you could possibly think of, a trademark that is somewhat unique to this wonderful industry that has the ability to take you to the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. As we made our way back to our hotel to celebrate a little longer and try and hold onto the last two days, it was summed up by one of our group, whom noted that it was like Christmas for him…and now he had to wait another year for it to come again.
