There were 9 races on Day 2 of the 2012 Breeders' Cup World Championships. Of these, one of the more highly anticipated was the $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) for older horses going 1 mile on the turf, despite the absence of European star miler Frankel. Wise Dan was sent off as the 9-5 favorite off a three race winning streak, including two Win and You're In races, the Woodbine Mile (G1) and the Shadwell Mile (G1). In to challenge him included 2-1 second choice Excelebration, winner of the QIPCO Queen Elizabeth II (G1) and the Prix Jacques le Marois (G1), and 11-2 third choice Moonlight Cloud, off his win in the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (G1).
Wise Dan leads down the stretch while Animal Kingdom rallied between horses
Jockey Joe Talamo sent 6-1 Obviously to the front first time by and set fractions of 23.34, 46.16, and 1:08.81 over the firm going while pressed by 35-1 Suggestive Boy and favorite Wise Dan. Obviously continued to lead to the 1/8 pole through 7 furlongs in 1:20.31, but Wise Dan was quickly closing the gap, passing him at the 1/16 pole to win by 1 1/2 lengths over late-running 10-1 Animal Kingdom in a new course record time of 1:31.78. It was another 1/2 length back to Obviously third.
Left: Wise Dan in the winner's circle. Winning owner-breeder Morton Fink said, "You're in the business for forty years, and you know, you can do everything right and have the best of everything and then you get a bad trip and you lose.
With this horse, this is crazy to say, it's almost impossible to do that to him. As soon as he sees daylight he's gone and nobody will beat him, nobody! Charlie and I both believe he is entitled to a rest and we haven't gone any farther than that. In this business it's one race at a time, no long-range plans. I'm not going to think about how he would do against Frankel. He's the best horse in the world. He's retired. We're never going to get a chance to run so no point of thinking about that."
Right: The trophy presentation with jockey John Velazquez, trainer Charles Lopresti, and owners Mr. and Mrs. Morton Fink.
Left: Wise Dan heads out to the track before the race. Trainer Charles Lopresti said, "He is just a super horse, every time I work him, every time I do something with him, he amazes me and I've tried not to work him too often and too fast. At Saratoga, I realized how fast he was when we started to work him on the turf, some of you have seen him work there, so we don't put a lot of works into him in between races. Sometimes you will look at the workouts and maybe they look spotty and people will wonder what's wrong, but he's a phenomenal horse."
Right: Wise Dan returns to the barn in his winner's blanket
Left: Second place finisher Animal Kingdom in the post parade. Jockey Rafael Bejarano said, "They were going so fast early and I was stuck down inside. I had no choice. Then I had to go in and out of horses. When I finally got to ask him, he gave me a huge kick. I only wish I could have asked him earlier. (Wise Dan) got first jump on me. If it is the other way around, it might have been a different finish." Trainer Graham Motion added, "Seconds are very tough and I have some tough second-place beats in the Breeders' Cup. I'm thrilled with the way he ran. If he doesn't get steadied at the top of the stretch, I don't know. What a great run and what a great horse. He's a special horse."
Right: Third place finisher Obviously leads first time by. Jockey Joe Talamo said, "We figured to be on the lead and we had an easy lead. I just wish that (Suggestive Boy) hadn't been out there. He just put pressure on us. I don't know if that cost us the race, but we did feel it. He stayed on well."
Breeders' Cup Saturday Results - There were 9 races Saturday highlighted by the $5 million Classic where American Pharoah was an impressive winner in his final start before retiring to stud. Also on the card, Found won the Turf, Nyquist won the Juvenile, and Tepin won the Mile. Get the results, charts, and photos for all 9 races here. Get more photos and comments for each race here.
Breeders' Cup Friday Results - There were 4 races Friday highlighted by the Distaff where Stopchargingmaria won by a neck over Stellar Wind and the Dirt Mile won by Liam's Map. Get the results, charts, and photos for all 4 races here.
Thursday Breeders' Cup Photos - Photos and comments for 38 horses out on Thursday morning at Keeneland on both the main and training tracks, including American Pharoah. Beholder was also out, but was found to have bled when scoped and is scratched from the Classic.
Wednesday Breeders' Cup Photos - Photos and comments for 46 horses out on a very rainy Wednesday morning at Keeneland on both the main and training tracks, including Keen Ice, Frosted, and Golden Horn. No American Pharoah yet, hopefully he comes out tomorrow.
2015 Breeders' Cup Entries - Check out the entries, post postitions, and morning line odds for the 13 Breeders' Cup World Championship races to be held at Keeneland on October 30 and 31.
Tuesday Breeders' Cup Photos - Photos and comments for 31 horses out on a rainy Tuesday morning at Keeneland including Stephanie's Kitten, Grand Arch, and Private Zone.
Monday Breeders' Cup Photos - Photos and comments for 28 horses out Monday morning at Keeneland including Rachel's Valentina and a timed work by Beholder.
Sunday Breeders' Cup Photos - Photos and comments for 10 horses out Sunday morning at Keeneland including Liam's Map and Lea
Breeders' Cup Weather - Check out the latest weather forecasts for the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland
Review: Crushing the Cup 2015 - by Jim Mazur and Peter Mallett. An invaluable tool for trying to unlock the mysteries of handicapping the Breeders' Cup races at Keeneland updated for 2015.
2014 Breeders' Cup Saturday Results - The feature race was the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic won by Bayern. Get the results, charts, and photos for all 9 races here.
2014 Breeders' Cup Friday Results - Friday was headlined by the $2 million Ladies Classic won by Untapable. Get the results, charts, and photos for all 4 races here.
Breeders' Cup History - Historical info, past results, and photos from previous runnings
The Breeders' Cup Championship Day - The official page for the Breeders' Cup championship races. Just about anything you need to know about it: results, video clips, and race calls for past years, and eventually nominations, entries, and results.
Free Prep Replays - for major prep races in the Breeders' Cup Challenge. The ones with camera logos have video available.
Blazing Silks, Breeders' Cup Edition- an interactive social network game that allows horse racing fans and social gamers to train and care for Thoroughbred horses.
TV Schedule - for all the preps and other programming leading up to the big day
Breeders' Cup Postcards - Breeders' Cup theme virtual postcards to send your friends including many past winners
Breeders' Cup Supplemental Entries - The old official policy on supplemental entries plus all the supplemental entries and how they fared, mostly it was a losing proposition. There are no more supplements now, only late nominations making it impossible to track now.
Left: Wise Dan in the winner's circle. Winning owner-breeder Morton Fink said, "You're in the business for forty years, and you know, you can do everything right and have the best of everything and then you get a bad trip and you lose.
With this horse, this is crazy to say, it's almost impossible to do that to him. As soon as he sees daylight he's gone and nobody will beat him, nobody! Charlie and I both believe he is entitled to a rest and we haven't gone any farther than that. In this business it's one race at a time, no long-range plans. I'm not going to think about how he would do against Frankel. He's the best horse in the world. He's retired. We're never going to get a chance to run so no point of thinking about that."
Left: Wise Dan heads out to the track before the race. Trainer Charles Lopresti said, "He is just a super horse, every time I work him, every time I do something with him, he amazes me and I've tried not to work him too often and too fast. At Saratoga, I realized how fast he was when we started to work him on the turf, some of you have seen him work there, so we don't put a lot of works into him in between races. Sometimes you will look at the workouts and maybe they look spotty and people will wonder what's wrong, but he's a phenomenal horse."
Left: Second place finisher Animal Kingdom in the post parade. Jockey Rafael Bejarano said, "They were going so fast early and I was stuck down inside. I had no choice. Then I had to go in and out of horses. When I finally got to ask him, he gave me a huge kick. I only wish I could have asked him earlier. (Wise Dan) got first jump on me. If it is the other way around, it might have been a different finish." Trainer Graham Motion added, "Seconds are very tough and I have some tough second-place beats in the Breeders' Cup. I'm thrilled with the way he ran. If he doesn't get steadied at the top of the stretch, I don't know. What a great run and what a great horse. He's a special horse."
