ARCADIA, Calif. – Hall of Fame trainer Dick Mandella, whose barn is just a stone’s throw from the Santa Anita finish line, completed one of the most remarkable days in racing history yesterday when he sent out stretch-running longshot Pleasantly Perfect to win the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, giving Mandella his record fourth winner in the 20th running of the World Thoroughbred Championships.
Earlier on the card, Mandella won the Juvenile Fillies with Halfbridled, the Juvenile with Action This Day, and the Turf with Johar in a dead heat with High Chaparral.
Pleasantly Perfect, a 5-year-old son of Pleasant Colony who’s battled physical ailments for much of his career, took advantage of a furious speed duel between top-class veterans Medaglia d’Oro and Congaree. Those two rivals eyeballed each other after bumping out of the gate through fast fractions of :46.3 and 1:10.1 in the mile-and-a-quarter epic.
Turning for home, Congaree held a slim lead, then Medaglia d’Oro battled back along the inside. But in a flash, Pleasantly Perfect came charging down the lane like a runaway freight train to win by 1 ½ lengths under Alex Solis. With a solid final time of 1:59.4, Pleasantly Perfect paid $30.40. Medaglia d’Oro held for second to complete a $140 exacta. Dynever was along late to nip Congaree for show.
For veteran jockeys Julie Krone on Funny Cide, Gary Stevens on Perfect Drift and Pat Valenzuela on Congaree, just riding in the Breeders’ Cup Classic was an achievement none of them might have dreamed of a short time ago.
Krone, the only woman ever elected to the Racing Hall of Fame, is back at age 40 after coming out of a 3 1/2-year retirement. Since she began riding again last Nov. 1, she’s been booting home winners with regularity – including yesterday’s Juvenile Fillies aboard Halfbridled – despite missing four months after injuring her back in a March 8 spill at Santa Anita.
“I remember I had a Breeders’ Cup party at my house last year,” Krone said, “and I was hoping to be in the next one with some live horses. My dreams have come true.
“I’m so humbled and proud to have so many live horses off my layoff. The Breeders’ Cup people have given me another jump start.”
Before the Cup, Krone, whose biggest victory came in the 1993 Belmont Stakes aboard Colonial Affair, mused that winning a race yesterday “would skyrocket my joy. My feelings would be off the scale. It would probably be the happiest I have been in my whole career.”
Stevens, also 40, who went into yesterday with eight Breeders’ Cup victories and a like number of Triple Crown races to his credit, was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1997. Best known to the general public for portraying his idol, jockey George “The Iceman” Wolff, in the hit movie “Seabiscuit,” he also is un-retired.
Stevens hung up his tack the first time late in 1999 because of severe arthritis in his knees and served as assistant trainer for The Thoroughbred Corp., but was back in the saddle nine months later. He won the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Mile with War Chant and took the Preakness, Belmont Stakes and Travers the next year with Horse of the Year Point Given.
“One of the main reasons I returned from my retirement a few years ago was to ride in the Breeders’ Cup and Triple Crown,” he said. “My year is shaped around those two events.”
This past August, Stevens came within inches of death when his mount in the Arlington Million, Storming Home, bolted just before crossing the finish line first, dumping Gary into the path of several onrushing horses who kicked him as they ran past. He suffered a punctured lung and cracked vertebra, but was back riding three weeks later.
Valenzuela, 41, has battled substance abuse for much of his career, which includes six Breeders’ Cup victories and scores in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness with Sunday Silence. His day got off to a great start yesterday when he rode longshot Adoration to an $83.40 victory in the Distaff.
Eight times his riding has been put on hold because of suspensions and revoked licenses for drug abuse, costing him eight years of mounts in the Cup. After being out of the game for nearly two years, he was reinstated the day after Christmas in 2001.