3 minute read
You wouldn't call Aidan O'Brien's relationship with the Breeders' Cup an obsession, though unrequited love might be a good analogy.
Rock of Gibraltar's unlucky defeat in the 2002 Mile, George Washington's tragic end in the 2007 Classic and Henrythenavigator's loss to Raven's Pass in the same race a year later all stand out.
Even O'Brien's great Breeders' Cup success story, High Chaparral, didn't have luck entirely on his side. He arrived at the 2003 Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita in much the same way as he had the previous year at Arlington, off the back of a third-placed finish in the Arc which would be his only defeat of the season, but this time the competition was tougher. Where High Chaparral had been an odds-on favourite for the 2002 Breeders' Cup Turf, in 2003 he had Storming Home and Sulamani (first past the post and official winner respectively of that year's Arlington Million) ahead of him in the betting, as well as Falbrav, whom he'd narrowly and controversially beaten in the Irish Champion Stakes before Longchamp.
The 2003 Breeders' Cup Turf has been called 'The race of the decade' in several outlets and it's not difficult to see why. There was early drama with Sulamani and Storming Home both involved in scrimmaging at the start of the final circuit, the former never landing a blow and the latter looking a threat turning in before he faded. It was at around that stage that Falbrav, winner of the QEII on his previous start, was sent for home by Darryll Holland in an attempt to make best use of his speed. High Chaparral was quickly sent in pursuit, but could only erode the lead initially before Falbrav started to tie up slightly inside the last. Then, out of nowhere, a relatively unfancied American runner named Johar appeared down the outside; he'd been last for much of the race and had only come into view with a quick move around the field on the home turn.
As High Chaparral drew upsides Falbrav no more than 50 yards from the line, it looked as though Johar's finishing rattle would be in vain. When the trio passed the winning post, with Falbrav clearly third, it still didn't look as though Johar had got there. He had- sort of.
Even taking away the subjective 'Best Race of...' debates, the 2003 Breeders' Cup Turf will forever have a place in history as the first ever dead-heat at the Breeders' Cup. To call a Breeders' Cup dead-heater 'unlucky' might be stretching things, but when you consider that, by whatever measure you choose, Johar never got near that performance before or after (he was tailed off in the Japan Cup on his only subsequent start before embarking on a so-far unspectacular career as a stallion), High Chaparral's connections must still wonder how they came to merely share the spoils in one of the the great Flat races.