2010 Breeders’ Cup History Watch

By The Editors

At least one historical moment will occur for sure this year, the 2010 Ladies Classic Filly & Mare Turf will be the first Breeders’ Cup race to be run under the lights, the rest is up to the entrants. Will Goldikova or Zenyatta become the first horse to win three Breeders’ Cup races? And if Goldikova wins she’ll also be the first to win three consecutive Breeders’ Cup races.

Will Red Desire or Espoir City be the first Japanese horse to win a Breeders’ Cup race? Will Workforce be the first Arc winner to win?

Single year win record holders are trainer Richard Mandella with four (2003) and jockey Garrett Gomez with four (2008). The overall win records are held by trainer D. Wayne Lukas with 18 and jockey Jerry Bailey with 15. The jockeys who have a shot at Bailey’s record are Mike Smith currently at 13 with 6 mounts, Frankie Dettori and Garrett Gomez both currently at 9 with 9 mounts, John Velazquez currently at 7 with 11 amounts and Julien Leparoux currently at 5 with a whopping 12 mounts (the record for most mounts goes to Gomez in 2008 with 13). Lukas doesn’t have to worry about anyone touching his record this year, and he could even add to it with 2 mounts.

Admittedly we didn’t spend a lot time digging for other potential records or historical firsts. No doubt one could could dig deep into each race and find some interesting records to be broken. History and/or stats buffs among you should feel free to let us know of any we may have overlooked!

Update: The first televised jockey fight isn’t one we anticipated!