Looking back - the 2000 Breeders Cup at Churchill Downs is a bit hazy for me. I don't have specific memories of who exactly I was with or where I sat at the track or even the trip there and the hotel. Not sure why, but it must have been a very uneventful trip without any calamities.
The wagering day started well enough as I hit a small win bet in the 2-year-old filly dirt race that paid $48.00 on the Tote. The rest of the day was basically losing wagers except for a win on the wonderful Kalanisi in the Turf. Those two wins kept me afloat for the day. What I didn't know at the time was what I was about to see in the Breeders Cup Classic.
The Internet as a viable commercial entity was still pretty shaky back in 2000. There may still have been a restriction on the number of hours per month, but I definitely know that my service was through a phone landline - super slow. There was no video of UK and Irish racing to watch, no races from Europe being exported here for wagering and really Americans knew almost nothing other than European turf horses were generally better than ours. The first foreign racing available for wagering in America was from Australia and that was nothing like European racing.
So, when the form was available for the 2000 Breeders Cup and there was an Irish horse in the Classic...on dirt, well, it perks you up. The French-trained Arcangues had shocked the world a few years before winning the Classic at odds of 133/1, but we all wrote that off to luck and a bad field of opponents. This time was different though. A horse named Giant's Causeway was entered in the Classic and he had already run nine times that year over a 5-month period with seven wins, five of them Group 1. This horse appeared to be a monster on form, but dirt? Well, he was an American-bred, dirt pedigree through and through. Honestly, at that time, I had no idea who Aidan O'Brien might be and really didn't care. My mind was made up, I was going to load up at the end of the day on this horse and roll the dice.
The field for the 2000 Classic was a very accomplished bunch. The favorite was 2000 Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus and other top horses included 1999 Classic winner Cat Thief, Belmont Stakes winner Lemon Drop Kid, and at least six to eight other Group 1 winners. Still, with all that talent, Giant's Causeway was bet down on the Tote to 15/2.
It didn't take long to see how the race would unfold. Tiznow, a recent Group 1 winner that year, went to the lead with Giant's Causeway never more than a length off the lead for the first mile of the race, even having to break from the furthest outside Stall #14. Roaring down the long Churchill Downs stretch Mick Kinane drew even with Tiznow's legendary jockey Chris McCarron and it appeared to me that Giant's Causeway was going to win the race. But, Tiznow fought back, and little did anyone at the time know that he would do this again in 2001. Giant's Causeway, after going four-wide on the first turn and even wider on the second turn, lost by a short neck to Tiznow. It was clear taking into account the ground lost in the race that Giant's Causeway was the better horse. It was a thrilling and exhausting effort by both horses who were clearly best and more than three lengths back to their nearest combatant. I lost that race, but it opened my eyes to a whole new world of racing.
Enjoy a fantastic moment in racing history https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knY07WPVYW8
