Handle on the eight Breeders' Cup races at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, on Saturday was at least $108.4 million, according to Breeders' Cup officials, who said the number would likely rise over the next week to surpass the event's record.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - The preliminary handle on the 12-race Breeders' Cup program on Saturday was $119,467,321, a figure that does not include bets made outside of North America. The Breeders' Cup was held at Lone Star Park, and attendance was 53,717.
Handle on Breeders' Cup Day last year, when the event was held at Santa Anita, was a record $120,631,437 and attendance was 51,648.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - On Halloween eve, who ya gonna call?
Ghostzapper.
In an explosive performance that left no doubt as to the Horse of the Year, Ghostzapper romped to a three-length victory against an outstanding field in the $4 million on Saturday at Lone Star Park.
Roses in May finished second, with Pleasantly Perfect, the defending race champion, another four lengths back in third.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Javier Castellano spent a long time trying to forget the first mount he was named to ride in the Breeders' Cup: the ill-fated Exogenous, who was scratched from the 2001 Distaff at Belmont Park after suffering a fatal injury when she flipped en route to the paddock before the race.
But Castellano will always remember his next one: Ghostzapper, whom he confidently guided to victory in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Classic.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - There were no perfect tickets sold on the Breeders' Cup pick six Saturday, although tickets with five of six winners returned $59,149.60. Breeders' Cup officials said at press time they did not have information on the number of cashable tickets sold; total handle on the pick six was $4,566,837.
This is the second time since the Breeders' Cup switched from a pick seven to a pick six in 1997 that nobody correctly selected all of the winners. The other time was in 2002, the year of the pick six scandal, when the only winning tickets were rigged.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Better Talk Now, an unheralded gelding based in northern Maryland, ran past the front-runners with surprising ease and survived a subsequent stewards' inquiry Saturday to pull the third-biggest upset in the history of the $2 million .
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - J. Paul Reddam bought a majority interest in Wilko with an eye more on the future than the present. The future is now.
After outfinishing a trio of North America's top 2-year-old colts to win Saturday's $1.5 million by three-quarters of a length at Lone Star Park, Wilko may try to strengthen his case to earn an Eclipse Award as North America's top 2-year-old by running in the Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 18.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - As the horses were leaving the paddock for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile - about 2 1/2 hours after his Sweet Catomine had won the Juvenile Fillies - trainer Julio Canani was asked about the prospect of pointing Sweet Catomine to the 2005 Kentucky Derby.
"Why not?" Canani said as the Juvenile runners paraded by. "I never run fillies against colts, but this year the way the fillies have been running and the colts have been running I think the fillies are more impressive than the colts. Now I'm going to look like a jerk."
