It was a cup of upsets this weekend at the 29th Annual Breeder's Cup Classic.
Jim Rome's horse, Mizdirection, won after being 20-1 in the morning and getting down to 7-1 odds. Saturday hosted upsets in six of the day's nine races, which set the stage for the big event, the $5,000,000 Classic.
The odds were not in his favor, but Fort Larned bested the deep field of the Breeder's Cup Classic as the sun set on the San Gabriel Mountains.
Roughly 55,000 ostentatious hats and over-accessorized suits flooded Santa Anita for the Breeder's Cup Nov. 2-3 in the San Gabriel Valley. During the two-day event, all eyes focused on the Classic with a $5,000,000 purse. Rival trainers Bob Baffert and Doug O'Neil each had horses in this race, Baffert with the favored Game On Dude and O'Neil with Handsome Mike and Richard's Kid.
Fort Larned stole the show with a long shot of 9-1 odds and ended up returning $20.80, $9.80 and $6.80.
Fort Larned is owned by Janis Whitham, trained by Ian R. Wilkes and ridden by Brian Hernandez, Jr.
Trainer Ian Wilkes had a good feeling about today.
"We had to be there near the front and he was ready today," he said. "He had galloped great over the track. I knew we were good when he broke sharp. That's where Brian (Hernandez) won the race. We broke sharp and Game On Dude broke bad. I trust Brian because the horse trusts Brian."
It was a great 27th birthday for Brian.
"It's the greatest birthday ever," said the Louisiana jockey, who was overlooked compared to the heavy-hitter trainers going head to head in this event.
"I always had a lot of confidence in him." Hernandez said. "Ian and I talked about the race and he told me don't take him out of his game and let him do whatever he wants to do. He has a good cruising speed and I just let him go."
At the half-mile split, Fort Larned was in the middle of the pack, and by the three-quarters-of-a-mile mark he had moved up to first and for the last quarter it was a match race between Mucho Macho Man and Fort Larned with Flat Out nipping at their hooves. Fort Larned was clearly in the lead at the far turn and Mucho Macho could not get by as they broke from the field.
The final time for Fort Larned was 2:00.11, paying $20.80 to win after being the 5-1 co-second choice in the line.
The favored Game On Dude did not come close to being a contender, which ended the theme of trainer Bob Baffert's weekend as he went 0-10 with his Cup Starters on his hometown track.
"It was a tough day for me but I've had tougher," Baffert said. "It really was a tough week. But what are you going to do? It was a great two days of racing here and I was glad to be part of it."
Fort Larned is now 8-2-1 in 19 starts, with $3,681,236 in earnings with the $2.7 million payday for owner-breeder Janis Whitham and her family.
Legendary jockey and last year's classic champion Mike Smith, who at 47 years young is the best jockey in the United States, was aboard Much Macho Man.
"The other horse (Fort Larned) snuck away from me and I wasn't able to keep up with him at that point," Smith said. "Brian (Hernandez) has always been a great rider. He has great hands, I've known him since he started, and I knew he was going to win a race like this sometime. I just wish it hadn't been today."
Janis Whitham and family plan to race the 4-year-old in the Breeder's Cup again next year and attempt to do it all over again
