Breeders Cup Warmup: the 1991 Juvenile

With only 18 days to go until thoroughbred racing's biggest weekend, the Breeders Cup, we've decided to whet everyone's appetite by every day linking to a race replay that we think shows one of our favorite races in Breeders Cup history. This won't be a compendium of the best performances, the best horses, or the best scores by us at the track. Rather, it's going to be a dozen or so replays of races that show why the Breeders Cup really is one of the best sporting events in America. We'll set each race up with as little fuss and background as possible, because really, the races and performances speak for themselves. Let's start with a race on everyone's short list of the greatest performances in the last twenty years....

The 1991 Breeders Cup Juvenile

Background information on this race:

The 2-1 favorite for this race was Arazi, who had never run a race on the dirt before, having won 6 of 7 races on the grass in Europe. In those wins, he was declared to be one of the top 2 year olds Europe had ever seen.

The 5-2 second choice was Bertrando, an accomplished California juvenile, who in his career would win 7 graded stakes race (including 3 Grade 1's), over $3.1 million, and win the Eclipse Award for champion older horse in 1993.