Classic Breeders' Cup Moments - Remembering Racing’s Biggest Day

By Author: Lee Lane-Edgar
Total Articles: 365
Comment this article

It was the summer of 2003 and a new superstar by the name of Ghostzapper was about to burst onto the scene. He was a colt that had been forced to miss the 2003 Kentucky Derby due to injury but managed to make his return by June of that year in a first level allowance race at Belmont Park. He made an eyecatching move in the stretch over a muddy track to mow down a solid field. He next battled the talented Clock topper in a second level allowance race at Saratoga to prevail by a half length.
He was next ready for the Grade 1 King’s Bishop, the premier sprint race on the east coast for three year olds. He came from eleven lengths out of it down the backstretch and closed like a rocket in the stretch, only to come up short by a half length. He surely would have won had the race been 300 feet longer.

The real breakout race came in his next race, in the Grade 1 Vosburgh. He faced a very talented field of nine other horses, including Grade 2 Riva Ridge winner Posse, and the 2002 King’s Bishop winner Gygistar. He trailed the field until the three sixteenths pole at which point he unleashed a furious rally and absolutely ...
... mowed down the field, drawing away powerfully by six lengths in the final sixteenth of a mile. He earned a 116 Beyer Speed Figure for that effort and gave notice that he might be the best horse in the country.

He would not contest the 2003 Breeder’s Cup Classic, as his trainer Bobby Frankel elected to give him the rest of the year off and bring him back in 2004. It was probably the right move, as he came back to win the Grade 2 Tom Fool by 4 lengths under a hand ride, earning a 120 Beyer. In his next race, the Iselin Breeders’ Cup Handicap, he would show why he would prove to be one of the best horses of the last 30 years. He won powerfully by 10 lengths, defeating the talented Presidential Affair, and earning a 128 Beyer Speed Figure in the process, the highest figure assigned in 20 years.

He would be tested in the Woodward by Saint Liam, who many thought was out of his league against Ghostzapper, but he battled him the entire length of the stretch, losing by just a neck in the end. Saint Liam would prove to be a great horse as he would go on to win the 2005 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

The Breeders’ Cup Classic at Lone Star was next, but Ghostzapper had never gone the 1¼ mile distance before, a fact which didn’t worry his trainer Frankel. He broke from the rail, went straight to the lead, shrugged off a brief challenge from future Dubai World Cup winner Roses in May, and motored home in the stretch to win in 159 flat, the fastest Breeders’ Cup Classic time ever recorded. He defeated the prior years’ Classic winner Pleasantly Perfect by 6 lengths. In doing so, he stamped himself as one of the all time greats, and proved that he really was a freak of nature.