Behind every winning race is a winning ride, and the Breeders' Cup has produced some of the most impressive piloting efforts the sport has seen.
When considering those winning trips, a share of the credit must, of course, go to the jockey's agents who booked the mounts for their riders. An agent knows a good ride when they see it.
With 37 years of Breeders' Cup races to draw from, we polled six jockey's agents to get their picks for the greatest riding effort in Breeders' Cup history. The answers cast a wide net from personal victories, to betting scores, to rooting for childhood heroes.
Doug Bredar
“For obvious reasons, it would be Gun Runner in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar. I'm still surprised that Arrogate went off as the favorite. The bettors thought that Gun Runner would have issues going a mile and a quarter, but the connections felt otherwise. Arrogate had beaten him a couple of times, and it was not only an incredible thrill watching Florent Geroux win the race, but redemption for the way he did it. The fractions were 22.4, 46.1, 1:10.2 and 1:35. He went wire-to-wire and I thought it was an exceptional ride. Very fond memories of a special race.”
John Herbstreit
“Arazi and Zenyatta are the most impressive horse races I've seen. Even when Zenyatta ran second, she was impressive. Alysheba and Personal Ensign are my favorite wins. My favorite ride was Pat Day on Wild Again in the 1984 Classic.”
Ron Ebanks
“Randy Romero on Personal Ensign in the mud getting up the last jump to nail Gary Stevens on Winning Colors (1988 Distaff). He was my idol as a kid and I couldn't have been more happy and proud of him.”
Jimmy McNerney
“Pat Valenzuela aboard Fraise in the 1992 Turf stands out the most. It was the first Breeders' Cup that I was old enough to 'legally' bet and I put $100 across the board on him. He came from last and P-Val made every right move weaving his way through the pack through the turn. When they straightened, he dove down and snuck through along the fence and nipped Sky Classic right on the money. There's no other path that he could've taken and had the same result.”
Mike Luider
“Gulch in the 1988 Sprint. Angel Cordero Jr. was masterful!”
Brian Beach
“Julie Krone's ride on Halfbridled in the 2003 Juvenile Fillies was one of the best I've seen. It's not always about weaving though traffic and getting up at the wire. It's sometimes about getting your horse to perform its best under adverse circumstances, and that's what happened in this race. They broke from the 14 post and Julie was able to get her filly to relax while going wide and still not expending too much energy until she could get a better position down the backstretch. By the time they turned for home Julie had Halfbridled in a perfect winning position with something left in the tank for the run to the wire.”
The post Breeders’ Cup Buzz: The Rides Of A Lifetime appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
