The 2003 Breeders’ Cup

Ten years earlier at Santa Anita, trainer Richard Mandella won two races at the Breeders’ Cup, but on this day he would experience the greatest success of his racing life. Julie Krone became the first female rider to win a Breeders’ Cup race aboard the Mandella -trained Halfbridled in the Juvenile Fillies. Action This Day garnered the Juvenile for Mandella’s second win. Mandella’s third win of the day was another Breeders’ Cup first. After 1 ½ miles in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Mandella’s Johar and defending champion High Chaparral hit the wire together. It took 12 minutes for the stewards to declare the race a dead heat, the first tie in Breeders’ Cup history. As if destined, Mandella’s 14-1 shot, Pleasantly Perfect, won the Classic by 1 ½ lengths. Mandella broke D. Wayne Lukas’s record of three Breeders’ Cup wins set in 1988 with his fourth triumph of the day.