The lights have been turned off at Churchill. The purple banners have been taken down. The hardest-knocking of war horses have been shuttled off to retirement, never to see another race track again, and a handful of young horses remain to run on to greater things in the new year. Another Breeders’ Cup has come to an end after a celebration of champions and a windfall of upsets.
And thus it seems the Breeders’ Cup Classic proved little except for the fact Drosselmeyer and Game on Dude like running on peanut butter. Okay, maybe that’s a little unfair. The Classic also proved Uncle Mo, as most race fans suspected, never should’ve been entered in the 1 ¼-mile Classic, and would’ve been the only competition for Caleb’s Posse in the Dirt Mile. Instead, Mo has been retired and we’ll never get to see the brilliant things he may have accomplished on the track as an older horse. Many trainers said their horses didn’t ‘handle the track’ after rain on Thursday gave the main track a bit of water and didn’t entirely dry out over the 2-day championship weekend. Though warmer than last year, the consistency of Churchill’s dirt dries much slower in the fall and a “fast” track after it rains in November is clearly a different animal than a “fast” track in May.
Game on Dude proved he deserved to be considered among the top of the older horse division, if not the pinnacle. If Chantal Sutherland had spotted her ex roaring down the middle of the stretch on Drosselmeyer, we may be singing a different song today, and Game on Dude would have wrapped up the year-end honors for Horse of the Year. Instead, the Classic went to a horse who hadn’t won a graded stakes race all year, and we’re left with our heads spinning about who most deserves the most prestigious Eclipse Award.
Havre de Grace, one of the favorites and the only filly in the Classic field, finished fourth and is in good company. In the Breeders’ Cup Mile, the overwhelming favorite and 3-time winner of the race, Goldikova, finished third to a pair of upsets, while American champion Gio Ponti was right behind her in fourth. The two biggest Saturday races did not pan out to be what the public expected, but as they say, horses don’t run on paper. Thankfully, Havre de Grace will run again and we will be lucky to see her return next year. But Goldi and Gio have finally run their last race after long, globe-trotting campaigns. They, unlike so many horses in this game, have earned their retirement.
Is it so surprising we get a Breeders’ Cup full of upsets in a year marked by longshot winners? Perhaps this year’s juvenile races are a window into a promising year to come: the favorites in the Juvenile Fillies, Juvenile, and Juvenile Sprint all ran exactly how they were expected to. Favorite My Miss Aurelia romped to take the Juvenile Fillies and clench the Eclipse for her division. Secret Circle delivered a win to reward those backing his 2/5 odds, and Union Rags was only beaten by a head in the Juvenile to the valiant Hansen, who had never hinted he was anything but a special colt. If these races are any inclination, we are in for an exciting 2012, and that’s a nice consolation after saying goodbye to favorites like Goldikova, Gio Ponti, Uncle Mo, Blind Luck, Tizway, and others.
But is the race for the Horse of the Year over with the Classic? Some say so, but if Drosselmeyer, Game on Dude, or Flat Out were to show up in the Grade I Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs, the decision may be made once and for all. With so many horses out for the year, or out for good, the field is sure to draw less than 14 horses, which gives the favorites more than enough elbow room to try a go for the big award one last time. But we still have two weeks until the Clark, and as has been proven this year especially, a lot can happen in that amount of time.