On a day when Skip Away ran out of the money and lost his chance to become the world's richest race horse, Awesome Again won the world's richest race when he rushed through the pack in a blanket finish and snatched the $5.2 million Breeders' Cup Classic by three-quarters of a length over Silver Charm.
Awesome Again not only won the laurels and the loot, but also his sixth straight start in a perfect year at the races. To do it, he needed to make a furious dash through the homestretch and knife his way through the 10-horse field to hit the finish line in front.
But he did it, prevailing over one of the most impressive casts in racing history before a record Breeders' Cup crowd of 80,452 at Churchill Downs. And he redeemed an agonizing choice made a year ago by his trainer, Patrick Byrne, who dominated the 1997 Breeders' Cup with two juvenile winners, Favorite Trick and Countess Diana, and then gave them up to take a new job with Frank Stronach of Canada.
''Favorite Trick was a part of history,'' Byrne said with feeling, explaining again why he would surrender the Horse of the Year. ''I loved him. But I was faced with a decision that I had to make. That's what horse racing is all about.''
Racing is also about Skip Away, the 5-year-old superstar who will now retire with career earnings of $9.6 million, about $400,000 short of Cigar's record. But in his final performance at the races, just when he might have scored his greatest triumph, he stalked the leaders through most of the mile and a quarter but could not keep up and faded to sixth place.
As he did, the Classic was ending in high drama. Awesome Again crossed the line less than one length in front of Silver Charm, the winner of last year's Kentucky Derby, who won second place by the length of his neck over the 6-year-old Irish horse Swain. And Swain finished third by a nose over Victory Gallop, who won this year's Belmont Stakes. At the far end of the scale, the 6-year-old Argentine champion Gentlemen suffered pulmonary bleeding, was eased up by his rider, Corey Nakatani, and finished last in the final race of his career.
''I'm ready to cry, but I won't,'' said Sonny Hine, the trainer of Skip Away, who won nine straight races before losing the last two. ''I feel really bad about the horse. I thought he broke a step too slowly and, by the time they reached the first turn, I knew they were in trouble. I am disappointed for the horse. He gave me plenty.''
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