Today, Skip Away broke the Breeders' Cup record for a mile and a quarter set by Cigar two years ago at Belmont Park. Most of all, he won the gamble of the year: because he was never nominated for the Breeders' Cup, it cost $480,000 in supplemental fees just to enter him. But he redeemed the faith of his owner, Carolyn Hine, and her husband, Sonny Hine, the colt's trainer, and collected the winner's share of the purse, $2.2 million.
''I put my money where my mouth is,'' Sonny Hine said. ''How many other guys would put up half a million dollars?''
So he won the gamble and the race, but it is not certain yet that he has won Horse of the Year. Favorite Trick became a contender for that title, too, although only Secretariat has won it as a 2-year-old. And Gentlemen, who led the list of horses that missed the Breeders' Cup because of injury, was still ranked near the top of the honors' list.
Skip Away closed his year with a smashing performance, just three weeks after he won the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont by 6 1/2 lengths. He has won only 4 of his 11 races this year, but he has run in the money all 11 times, and today he swept past the field with half a mile to go and flashed home far in front of several other candidates for year-end awards.
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