Your favorite race of 2014 (?)
 

What was your favorite race of 2014 and why?

Please include as much (or little) info as you like and a replay if possible!

Mine was the 2014 Zabeel Classic at Ellerslie on the 26th of December.

A G1 race with a stellar field, Soriano (6-5-10 from 38), a 4 year old mare who has been a bridesmaid SO many times, won it beating home an all-star cast of so many G1 winners it was dizzying.

Embarrassingly for me I'd have to run it by ed and ask the combined total of G1 wins and horses in that field... it is probably a staggering number.

Anyway, this is the race... :)

http://www.nzracing.co.nz/RaceInfo/4...ce-Detail.aspx

Who wants to go next?

Belmont Stakes by far. Most dramatic race of the year given all that was at stake.

I am partial to the Travers...as I had the winner :D

BC Sprint. Have been a Work All Week fan since I saw him romp in an allowance race at Arlington Park in May 2013.

Breeder's Cup Mile for me.

Paul

I have two.....one that I saw live and the other on simulcast at Santa Anita.

Game On Dude's 2014 Santa Anita Handicap was just a thing of beauty for me. It was probably the best race he ever ran, and he became the first 3-time winner of the Big Cap......and he did it at 7 years of age!

The other one was California Chrome's Derby win. It wasn't just the fact that he won the Derby, but what happened at Santa Anita when he did. The place felt like it was coming down from the roar of the crowd....just about anywhere you were standing. Zenyatta's win in the BC Classic is the only thing that I can equate to it, but that happened live. 'Chrome's Derby win happened 2500 miles away and was watched on a bunch of TV screens. I'm not sure that you can ever experience anything like that anywhere else in sports.

BC Filly and Mare Turf!!
Perfect ride by Javier Castellano.

:cool:
:tro:

My vote goes to the G1 Santa Anita Sprint Handicap. A Hong Kong horse with a French jockey comes to Arcadia and beats Goldencents and Secret Circle in a thriller.

Quite possibly also the best ride of 2014. Watch Deleuze recognize the 4-wide speed duel develop in the first quarter and he wisely pulls Rich Tapestry back along the rail. He sees Goldencents is 4-wide and accelerating. Waits to top of the stretch and just follows behind him and out sprints him to the wire with a fresher horse.

http://youtu.be/OJ8-HypIBj0

Cheers!

Otis

Best Performance was Bayern Belmont day (Stephens)
Best Race "drama" Bobby's Kitten BC day

Met Mile

Bernard Baruch Handicap, Wise Dan holding off the 11 lb lighter Optimizer. I thyought it was a game win after coming back from the layoff and colic surgery.

Prince of Wales Stakes at Royal Ascot with Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Fugue mowing down Magician and easily handling the favorite Treve setting a course record of 2:01.90 for a mile and a 1/4.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCMiECmOy_A

Shadwell turf was pretty good

Hadn't seen that one. The Fugue tons the best!

Thanks,

O

I have 2 races that will forever be etched in my mind. The first one will be pretty mundane to everyone but is personal favorite.

07/25/14 race 5 Del Mar:
Oscar Party getting through on the rail to give me a 30K pick 5 payout.

The 2nd race was the Illinois Derby back in April. Mike Tice was interviewed before the race and is a partner in Midnight Hawk. He was asked if Midnight Hawk could get the distance and if he had any concerns if his horse could be overtaken before the wire. Mike gave a rather flippant response. " That won't happen today! These aren't exactly Derby horses we're running against today!" Well, roll the you tube video. Miguel Mena gives Dynamic Impact a great ride and the horse will not quit. It was my favorite performance of any horse this year. Check it out.

I'm sorry. I don't know how to post video links :(

Left click on the address bar of the link you want to post. While it's blue hit (Ctrl and c) at the same time. Then left click where you want to post it and hit (Ctrl and v) at the same time and that will do it. :)

http://youtu.be/DL7SEusjfFk

Here you go, Dew. Great pick. Love how Tice's horse actually looks behind him to see Dynamic Impact and they eyeball each other in the stretch.

O

Thanks D and O.

I only had time for a rough count, but it's definitely up around 10 G1 wins. And most of the non-G1 winners were repeat G2 performers. That really was a top field.

There are a few races I loved in 2014, but the New Zealand Derby has to be at the top of the list.

Puccini had won all the major prep races by going wire to wire, but everything was thrown up in the air when he was slow out of the gates and ended up stuck near the back of a big and strung-out field.

He made a crazy mid-race move and the rest is history. Runner-up Rising Romance ended up being an okay horse...

http://www.nzracing.co.nz/RaceInfo/4...ce-Detail.aspx


Honourable mentions:
Irish Champion Stakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KMUOqlg0Z0
Treve's Prix de l'Arc repeat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqRZFdJxyTc
BC Turf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxTWGiU1hrg

The Turf was special for me because I saw Main Sequence run in the 2012 Derby when I was over in the UK.

Yeah I thought maybe 9 or 10 G1 winners but then couldn't even count how many G1 wins between them.

GREAT field. MY favorite of the year by far and especially seeing Soriano finally do what we knew she could do. :)

Puccini's Derby... great choice!

Can't wait to see who wins this year... so many really nice 3YOs. :)