Breeder’s Cup is My Favorite Holiday

As I write this we are well into the holidays. For most people, the holiday season begins with Halloween in October. (Obviously this does not include Lowes, Home Depot or Costco, all of which start displaying Halloween stuff in August, and Christmas stuff in October, if not earlier.)

For me, the holidays are ushered in by the Breeder’s Cup World Championships, which is held yearly the first weekend in November. (A bonus for me is that it is conveniently close to Halloween; the only traditional holiday I enjoy.)

The Breeder’s Cup is comprised of 14 races held over two days and attracts the best Thoroughbred race horses from around the world. This year was 40^th Breeder’s Cup World Championships of was held at Santa Anita Race on November 3 and 4.

Of course I was there. This was at least the 19^th Breeder’s Cup I’ve attended.

I lose track of the exact number I’ve been to, which may be why this year one of the main sponsors was Pevagen, was perfect marketing. Prevagen is said to boost mental acuity while aging.  Sadly to those of us who love it, horse racing’s main demographic is getting older by the minute.

Still if you ask a true racetracker who won the fifth Big Cap at Santa Anita, they will know immediately. Of course, there is a good change that they will also forget where they parked their car. Prevagen for everyone!

A group of my friends and I have gone to the last 15 Breeder’s Cups together. Breeder’s Cup shifts venues between the Kentucky and California. In the early years it Texas and New York were also part of the mix, but the weather in November at those locations was problem. This means we have been lucky enough to go to Churchill Downs and Keeneland in Kentucky several times as well as Del Mar and Santa Anita.

When we travel, we make a vacation of it. Last year BC was in Keeneland, and we took almost a week. We flew into Cincinnati, in theory, so we could get a direct flight from LA. In reality, it was so I could go to the Cincinnati Zoo and see the hippo bloat.

I couldn’t be that close and not visit Fiona! I was in heaven. The other ladies were pretty charmed. Really.

After the zoo closed we drove to our rental house in Lexington and spent the next three days visiting as many breeding farms as we could. We also went to the early morning works, which is always one of my favorite things to do. The first year we went to Kentucky, it was like herding cats to get everyone up and out at 4:30 am.

 Not anymore.

There is something magical about arriving at the track before the sun comes up and standing so close to the rail that the earth moves when the horses run by. Watching the works also provides a close up view of the horses, riders and trainers that are competing.

It’s a piece of heaven for me.

If we didn’t attend morning works we wouldn’t know that Aiden O’Brien always has his charges out at the same time, and they enter, work and leave the track in rigid and precise formation. They remind me of the Madeline stories. (“…Lived 12 little girls/ In two straight lines…”)

We wouldn’t have met Harley the gigantic appaloosa pony horse, as well as multiple other equine superstars. We probably wouldn’t have chatted with Bob Baffert and Donna Barton. We have gone to parties in Lexington and had the opportunity to chat with past and present heroes of racing. We danced in the streets of Lexington at street parties.

We had fun.

Everything (except perhaps meeting Champion Beholder at Spendthrift Farms) is just a lead up to the racing days. Friday is billed as the future of racing, and all of the Breeder’s Cup races feature the juveniles. Saturday is for the superstars of horse racing. The Dirt and Turf Sprints, the Miles, the Distaff (always in my opinion the best race of the series) and of course, the Classic.

Even before the first horse steps on the track, the site – it doesn’t matter which venue it is – is dressed up. Santa Anita is my stomping grounds and when it hosts Breeder’s Cup I can get lost. The place is decked out like a prom.

There are garlands of purple and yellow flowers, the Breeder’s Cup colors, everywhere. From the Grandstands, to the walking ring to the observation decks it’s a sea of purple and yellow. Even the Sally, the draft horse whose job it is to ferry stewards to their observations posts, has purple and yellow ribbons in her mane.

There are a ton of places designed to be featured in Instagram posts. There is a champagne lounge, several places to sip bourbon (Woodward Reserve or Makers Mark) and high and low end eating opportunities. There are at least three enormous merchandise tents stuffed with t-shirts, sweatshirts, drinkware and branded luxury items including Burbour , Lululemon as well as gold and diamond jewelry.

It’s enough to make your head spin. Most attendees take it seriously too. A lot of men come in their best bespoke suits and the women pull out their fancy dresses and jewelry. The hats would do Ascot, or a royal wedding, proud. 

There are a fair share of dudes wearing their best bro clothes and gals dressed to catch or keep the attention of rich men.  Those girls are the ones that after the second 12-hour day of walking on concrete, limp home in Breeder’s Cup branded flip-flops while clutching their stilettos.

All of that is fun, but the horses! The racing!

At best I’m a mediocre handicapper, but Breeder’s Cup races are tough for even the professionals. These horses are the best of the best. Even the horses with the longest odds are better than most Grade I runners.

This year the racing was spectacular. Even the best story of the week, Cody’s Wish who should be Horse of the Year, didn’t disappoint.

Cody’s Wish was named after a profoundly disabled child, Cody Dorman. Dorman was visiting the farm when the horse was a foal.

There was an immediate boy between the boy and the colt. Instead of being fearful of the little boy in a wheelchair, Cody’s Wish came right up to him and stuck his face in the kid’s lap and nuzzled him.

The farm honored the child with his name and the family became regulars when they could watch Cody’s Wish run.

Cody Dorman and his parents were in the Winner’s Circle at Keeneland last year when Cody’s Wish won the Dirt Mile. They were back this year when the horse battled to defend his title, winning by a neck. It was a spectacular race, and even the most hardened viewers choked up when Cody’s parents rolled his wheelchair up to the horse in the winner’s circle.

Cody Dorman passed away only two days later. I am positive he waited until after the Breeder’s Cup.

The Distaff was fantastic. Randomized broke in front and held the lead, but Idiomatic stuck to her hip like glue. When they hit the final stretch Florent Geroux opened Idiomatic up, and she and Randomized dueled all the way down the stretch only to cross the line almost in tandem. Spectacular racing.

The Classic is marquee race of the Breeder’s Cup but it lost a little luster this year when Archangelo, the winner of the Belmont Stakes, and the favorite, scratched on Tuesday due to heat in his foot.  This left the field pretty open, with Arabian Knight and White Abarrio the co-favorites.

White Abarrio won with a calm and calculated ride by Irad Ortiz, Jr.  The horse was trained by Rick Dutrow in his first year back after a 10 year suspension for drugging horses. I like the horse a lot, but call me cynical; his improvement was remarkable and possibly miraculous since he changed trainers in the spring. I have strong thoughts about Rick Dutrow, but I will keep them to myself.

The Classic was not the last Breeder’s Cup race of the day since organizers had to keep the TV audience in the East in mind. The last two are the Turf Sprint and the Sprint which were also superior racing.

And then it was over. There was a palpable air of sadness that it was over; after all, we had ordered our tickets in March.

Next year it is in Del Mar. Which means I need to get busy finding a rental soon.

In the meantime, for those of you who celebrate, Happy Holidays!

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