The best trainers of Breeders' Cup contenters, Philadelphia Daily News columnist Dick Jerardi says, circle the Breeders' Cup date on the calendar and then plan their top horses' schedules backwards. Everything for the whole year planned to lead up to that day.
A favorite, Chief's Crown, won the first Breeders' Cup race at Hollywood Park in 1984 and paid $3.40. If anyone thought that would be the norm from there on, they were wrong.