2011 Breeders’ Cup World Championships roll into Churchill Downs
It was no surprise that the Breeders’ Cup Mile would be Goldikova’s last race, but the news of who she may be bred to was a welcome surprise to listeners.
“I think they plan to send her to Galileo,” Trainer Freddy Head said.
Mike Smith’s heart was broken after last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic when he was on the wrong side of a head bob with Zenyatta. This year he started the healing process with a 1 1/2 length victory on Winstar’s Drosselmeyer over Game On Dude.
In addition to Smith’s revenge, it was also Bill Mott’s second “Classic” win of the weekend as he captured the Ladies’ Classic with Royal Delta.
Drosselmeyer may be best known for a win in the Belmont Stakes last year, although he did win the May 2011 One Count Stakes at 1 1/4 miles. Incidentally, this year’s Belmont Stakes winner Ruler on Ice finished third in the race.
After the Classic win, Winstar seemed to rethink their retirement plans for the stallion.
“We’re probably going to retire him, but we’ll sit down and huddle up tomorrow and talk about making that decision then. But the plans were to retire him after this race,” Winstar President Elliott Walden said. “You know, as Bill said, he won the Belmont, and this puts him in a very unique position to win the Belmont and the Breeders’ Cup Classic.”
Favorites Havre de Grace and Uncle Mo finished in fourth and 10th respectively, opening up a new can of worms for Horse of the Year discussions in the coming months.
Overall, while there was no huge fan favorite like Zenyatta in any of the races, the 2011 edition of the Breeders’ Cup was chock full of stories from all over the world. From U.S. based trainer Bill Mott winning both Classics to Aidan O’Brien’s son winning on a horse his father trained, there was definitely nothing lacking in the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs.
About the Author (Author Profile)
Melissa Bauer-Herzog is a senior Mass Communications-Broadcast Journalism major from Vancouver, Washington. She covers WTAMU sports for The Prairie.Subscribe
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