Your Breeders' Cup Best and Worst?

[Charismatic1]

People:

From your Breeders' Cup history, which has been your favorite BC and which is your biggest Cup Day nightmare and why? It can be from a fan or wagering perspective.

I've only been celebrating Cup day since 2000, but I'd have to say my nightmare occured in 2002. 2004 and 2005 weren't good either, but 2002 was my first year wagering through the "system" on the races in addition to our points championship at my party. I was shocked to have 3 singles on my Cup card (The Rock, Starine, and Vindication). I figured this allowed me to spread a little. In the first four races, I tried catching some value against Azeri and Storm Flag Flying to play with Rock. Didn't matter when Rock lost. My nightmare occured in the late pick 4. I singled Starine at 13-1 and she banked. Vindication sent me to 6 horses in the Turf. I thought High Chap was real strong, but since I had singled twice, I figured I could spread just in case a horse like Falcon Flight (horse for course) or Denon (lover of the give) surprised. I stood against Golan and With Anticipation (fan, but soft turf was discouraging). The win threw me into the Classic where I had 8 of the 12. The house was going crazy as usual, so I couldn't hear Durkin's call and I figured one of my horses was streaking away because I didn't think three of them had a shot (Dollar Bill, E Dubai, and the winner). I knew Hawk Wing's silks, so I knew he hadn't bit me. Someone finally answered my question right before the wire, "the 2 is Volponi!" I suck, but this didn't help.

My favorite Cup is my first. I had my first racing party and had just my 6 best buds over. I wrote scouting reports for them and we went at it. I won the contest with just 38 points which compared to the next couple years, including the Derby prep-race contests, is embarassing. As a race fan, though, that day was incredible. Excluding the Distaff's 9 runners, every field was 14 full (disregarding scratches). You had big bombs (Spain and Caressing), a moderate favorite (War Chant) and a strong fave (Kona Gold) take titles. Most importantly, the biggest margin of victory was Spain's 1 1/2 length score over Surfside. Practically every race was in the balance with just 25 yards remaining. I watch my tape of this Cup more than any other.

1990 was the worst year IMO. Go For Wand, Mr. Nickerson....etc

Late 80's were about my favorite. Ferdinand. Alysheba. Sunday Silence.....

Arazi was one of the most memorable runs too. The way he came flying around the turn....

[Kasept]

Worst: 1990/2001/2005 -- All the BEL Cups.. In '90, a great wagering day is hardly compensation for seeing my 2 favorite horses die.. In '01, with 9/11 apparent to everyone in attendence, Exogenous flips before my eyes and its a miserable 36 degrees.. '05, a miserable 37 degrees.. horses survive, bankroll does not..

Best: 2000/1993 -- Churchill '00, biggest windfall day ever at the track.. Could do no wrong.. "I'm having a very good day..." Santa Anita '93, picked up a hot doll named Terri by the 3rd race and we were liplocked by the time Lure won the Mile...

[cal828]

2003 best for me. Pretty much lost all day until the classic. Very frustrated by the deadheat in the Turf between High Chap and Johar which meant I got half the payoff. Was getting pretty deperate by the Classic. Decided that Medaglia D'Oro and Congaree were probably gonna go right at each other which would probably set it up for one of the closers like Pleasantly Perfect or Dynever. I was right, but very lucky too that Perfect Drift wiped out Ten Most Wanted in one of the turns. Had the tri, three exactas and also win/place on Pleasantly Perfect. That was my best breeder's cup day, but the one that made the biggest impression on me was 2001. Tiznow was amazing. All heart. A lot of people got off of him because he was pretty much refusing to run in his workouts, but he decided to run in the actual race and it was a nose to nose battle with that other horse to the finish. Never forget that race.

[Cpt.Bodgit]

I'd say my favorite 2 were 2003 and 2005.

2003
I make about 3k due to Cajun Beat and then Pleasantly Perfect (hit the ex in the sprint and the tri in the classic)

2005
I had half of the super in the Turf and the Tri in the Classic but was screaming for Ace to get up because I had him singled in most of my tickets.

I would say 2005 was my favorite because it was my first in attendance although I didn't net as much money. Funny story too about it because I was with my girlfriend and she kept saying how cold she was and I told her to calm down because it was probably like 55 out she crying about nothing. Then when we get back home and watch the day that I taped and Bob Costas is talking about it being one of the coldest BC's ever!!! Needless to say my girl doesn't believe my weather forcasting now.

Worst BC probably 2004 because I didn't cash a single ticket!! I mean not even close to cashing a ticket!!!

[Seattleallstar]

****ing 1999 BC at Gulfstream, my pops lost alot of cash. The worst BC day ever and one of the worst gambling days ever.

best one would be 2003 at Santa Anita Action this day and Plesantly Perfect completed a very great day

2004 at Lone Star wasnt so bad either because of late pk 4 which we singled zapper, and ouija board

[Suffolk Shippers]

2004 at Lone Star Park was my big day. Hit a $2 trifecta with Speight on top with My Cousin Matt @ 65-1 coming in third for about $2800 I think...Also hit the late pick 4 with Ghostzapper singled.

Last year at Belmont my only good score was a $1 box super on the Euros in the turf...

[SundayStar]

as a fan, my favorite by far was sunday silence silencing all the critics showing everybody he was the man.

least favorites were all the tragic breakdowns....especially go for wand and landseer.

[ateamstupid]

I've wagered on three Cups.. '03-'05.

'03 - Bad day, and even worse when I saw Pleasantly Perfect (who I liked) win the Classic without a dime on him..

'04 - Mediocre day, could've been a lot better.. Hit a win bet on Singletary, but Kitten's Joy cost me a double I would've had 80 times and Speightstown beat me out of the early Pick Four (I had Kela, who it was paying $1,100+ to). Chickened out of making a big win bet on Ghostzapper, and that cost me.

'05 - An absolute massacre. Didn't cash a ticket all day. It took me a while to recover from that..

[SCUDSBROTHER]

Well,I don't know how the worst can not be the one where Santos won the Classic.I think the last good ride I got from this guy was on Manila,but when he has zero pressure on him,he can once in a while turn lead into gold.Seems like the rest of the card was pretty difficult too.Gee,who could predict that they would get weather in Chicago like that.

The best one for me will always be the one at Woodbine(the one when Corey and Lit de Justice came flying home.)

One of Lit's kids came oh so close to paying 50-1 at Anita in the 1st race Saturday.The horse's 1st race at Fairplex was really bad(a football field behind the leader.)The dam had put out like 4 or 5 multiple winning horses though,and sure enough the horse showed up with speed at Anita on Saturday..........."Steal Justice"...damn near stole it at 54-1.

[dalakhani]

03 santa anita- One of my best days at the track. Six perfections going off at 5-1? How Islington wasnt odds on is beyond me and that they let her go off at 3-1 and key a 1600 all euro tri really has to be the all time bc gift.

00 churchill downs- Kalinisi, perfect sting and giants causeway across the board paid for my trip. Wheeling GC front and back wasnt a bad deal either.


Worst:

2005 belmont- was terrible. Didnt hit a race all day.

[pmayjr]

THE BC wagering-wise has never been kind to me. I hit a WP bet on Singletary, but that's about the extent of my winnings lol. I'm cold as hell on that day. But I keep comin back for more lol.

From a fan stand-point, watching Tiznow and Sakhee hook up in the stretch in '01 has to be my favorite.

My least favorite was watching Abbondanza (my 40-1 WP bomb) jump out to a decent lead in the BC sprint (and he was alone on it) setting suicidal fractions, and fading to practically last lol. Speightstown... the 2-1 bomb lol... blew right by him, ans did 10 others. I thought i was flirting with an atomic bomb for a minute there- the problem is, the race was run in 1:09 lol.

[FATPIANO]

My best was Volponi, I touted him for a week before the race, my worst was not hitting the exacta or triple with him...........

Groovy deserved to win a cup. He had the misfortune of catching two Cups in a row out west on the pavement.

My favorite BC was the one at Belmont in 1990.
Only time I ever made a huge score with a mistake ticket.
The OTB's in Ny state used to use a letter system, rather than numbers. And the letter system was constant and never tinkered with, until that day, unbeknownst to me.
I made a 10 dollar 3 horse exacta box on the Classic and went to a friends home to watch the last two races. I realized while there that they had tinkered with the letter system on that day and made the entry A and A and the rest of the numbers altered accordingly.
Instead of having Unbridled and his entry mate with two other horses. I found out that I had Unbridled and his entrymate with two other horses I didn't want.
One of them turned out to be Ibn Bey, who ran 2nd at around 40-1.
I was in college and the 3 grand or so that I got back represented a huge amount of money.
Sadly, thats the last score I ever made with a mistake ticket.

[sham]

Last year's John Deere Turf was the best payoff for me. Boxed the 4 Euros in Xta and Tri and cleaned up. My only regret is that I did not play the super. I figured at least one American horse would be in the top four.

For visual impression, Skippy winning the classic was awesome. Of course I was a big fan of Skip Away which biased my appreciation of his win, but it was still a powerful performance by anyone's measure.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by FATPIANO

My best was Volponi, I touted him for a week before the race, my worst was not hitting the exacta or triple with him...........

i actually used him in the pick six contest....got 5/6 that day, got skunked on the rock coming too late.

best breeders cup? hard to say, they're all good! worst are the ones that all the horses don't come back safe.

some of my fave performances....personal ensigns win was a race for the ages. and then she tops it off with her daughter and granddaughter(storm flags best ever race, a gutty effort) both being bc champs. also tiznows wins, i think i liked his second win better.

[Thunder Gulch]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that crashed and burned in 2005. Didn't hit anything all day other than Shirrocco, and couldn't hook that one up with anyone in the exotics.

Favorite was 2000. Tiznow's first...also had Kona Gold's track record, War Chant in the Mile, and a $900+ trifecta in the Juvenile.

Worst: 1990 seeing equine athletes die; 1984 not reversing Slew O' Gold and Wild Again in a big exacta. Best: 1992 collecting on longshot Thirty Slews and favorite A.P. Indy; 2002 Vindication showing his dominance and yielding a nice check; 2005 collecting on Stevie Wonderboy and Silver Train; also, I had the Spain/Surfside exacta in the Distaff, but I just got lucky with the Lukas angle and I really preferred Surfside(I do not remember the year.).

[Scav]

Pleasant Home last year. I was down to my last $40 in Vegas and put $20 WP on her, thank you very much....

I also had the squirtle squirt/xtra heat exacta way back when