The 10 Greatest Performances in Breeders' Cup History

The term "great," a subjective adjective too often applied and misused, perhaps is the wrong way to describe the following performances. However, time has given these individual achievements a unique aura and they've retained their power to thrill and excite all these many years later. Their order may be disputed, but these examples do stand out among the hundreds of Breeders' Cup events contested over three decades.

10. Prized (1989 Turf) -- Although not a huge surprise in a pari-mutuel sense (8-1), to beat some of the world's best grass horses in your first ever start on the surface was in some ways a remarkable feat. The three-year-old had established class going in having upset Sunday Silence earlier that season in the Swaps (G1), but another round with that one and Easy Goer in the Classic (G1) was bypassed after a disappointing fourth-place finish to the latter in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1).

9. Alysheba (1988 Classic) -- After drowning in the slop in the previous year's Travers (G1) and scratched on other occasions due to wet conditions, there was no way for the great champion to avoid the mud on Breeders' Cup Day. Satisfied that the prevailing conditions were unlike any off track he had encountered before, trainer Jack Van Berg was confident the colt would show his best, and "America's Horse" did just that over one of the strongest Classic fields in history.