The return of the Breeder’s Cup World Championships to “real” dirt and Churchill Downs lived up to every expectation last Friday and Saturday. If you said it lack color or excitement, you need to find another sport to follow. It was a blend of great racing with exciting finishes, tremendous efforts, controversy and a little extracurricular activities.
First was the “fist-a-cuffs” right after the finish of the first Breeder’s Cup race, the marathon. Jockey Javier Castellano aboard; Prince Will I Am took a sharp right turn at the top of the stretch and interfered with Romp nearly putting jockey Martin Garcia down on the track. This action also affected A.U. Miner with jockey Calvin Borel aboard. After the race in the winner’s circle, both Castellano and Borel exchanged words. That accelerated to more than just words and nearly a brawl! Jockey Borel was restrained by several other people in the paddock and there was a rage in his eyes. This was all caught on camera by the ESPN television footage, including the “sucker punch” that Castellano gave Borel. It was really like a scene from the WWE and got the Breeder’s Cup race schedule off to quite an interesting start!
The first day ended under the lights in the Ladies Classic and here was the second big event of the Cup, this was the controversial one. As the field was in the post parade and making there way to the starting gate, the second choice in the wagering; Life At Ten seemed not to be warming up well for the race. What was not known to the people “on track” was the conversation that jockey John Velazquez aboard Life At Ten had with former jockey Jerry Bailey on the ESPN television coverage. Velazquez told Bailey that his horse wasn’t warming up well on the track and wasn’t acting herself in the paddock prior to saddling. Even her trainer, Todd Pletcher said that Life At Ten was not on her toes when he saddled her and seemed listless on the track. When the gates open, Life At Ten walked out of the gate and just lagged behind the field throughout the mile and an eighth event. Basically “distanced” in the running of the race, questions arose whether the stewards at Churchill Downs knew the condition of the horse and what was said on ESPN prior to the running. The horse was not a late scratch, no action was taken against Velazquez or Pletcher because of their comments and millions of dollars was wagered on this horse that was never ridden at any point during the race. This is a “black eye” for the sport again with the wagering integrity part and how the bettor took it on the chin with a horse that SHOULD have been scratched.
Day two on Saturday was less controversial and without fighting, but did have that great element of excitement our sport produces “on track”. We saw the great European mare; Goldikova win her third straight Breeder’s Cup Turf Mile with ease again. Just before her triumph, a future superstar; Uncle Mo dominated his field of two year old runners with a bold victory and served early notice for next year’s Triple Crown races. But, the biggest race of the two days came at the end in the Breeder’s Cup Classic. This highlighted the great Zenyatta going for a perfect 20 for 20 in her career and second straight victory in the Breeder’s Cup Classic versus the boys. As the gates open, our heroine lagged far behind her rivals as she usually does and lost contact with the field. Then on the far turn she got into gear and was making up ground slowly, but surely. As they came down the Churchill Downs stretch, she was gobbling up ground and the question was would see get there in time? In the shadow of the wire, the great Zenyatta came up a head short to Blame and tasted defeat for the first time in her career. It was not the finish many wanted to see, but Zenyatta’s effort in defeat was one of the greatest I have ever seen. All in all, the 2010 Breeder’s Cup lived up to the hype and even more!
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