Breeders Cup

Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla., will be the site of the 7-race, $10-million Breeders' Cup thoroughbred racing card in 1989, it was announced Friday. The tentative date announced by the Breeders' Cup Board of Directors is Nov. 4. The fifth Breeders Cup series will be held this Nov. 5 at Churchill Downs. The 1989 Breeders' Cup will be the first to be held in Florida. The first four were held at Hollywood Park in 1984 and 1987, Aqueduct in New York in 1985 and Santa Anita in 1986.

California Flag is an 8-year-old gelding who won the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita's hillside turf course in 2009. By now, most horses his age have been retired. But California Flag made his 2012 debut a memorable one Saturday at Santa Anita, winning the $100,000 San Simeon Handicap by 2 1/4 lengths over Sayif while giving his trainer, Brian Koriner, confidence that he might be able to make the next Breeders' Cup this fall at Santa Anita. "It was nice to see him back," Koriner said.

There are 167 of the finest thoroughbred horses in the world who will compete as afterthoughts here the next two days. They are warmup acts to No. 168, a mare named Zenyatta. It is amazing to behold. Not only do other owners and trainers of horses entered in this year's Breeders' Cup, where $26 million in purses will be won, not resent her dominance of the scene. They welcome it. Renowned California trainer John Sadler, who has four entrants in this annual prestigious showcase of horse racing's finest, estimates he has seen the magical Zenyatta run in 15 of her 19 races -- all 19 victories, of course.

Marje Everett, a legendary and controversial figure in the sport of horse racing for more than four decades and the chief executive of the Hollywood Park racetrack for six years, has died. She was 90. Everett's longtime associate, Dorothy Carter, said Everett had been in declining health the last year and died Friday morning at her Los Angeles residence. Everett became a major female force in sports at a time when it wasn't considered a possibility. When she lost a takeover battle with businessman R.D. Hubbard for control of Hollywood Park in 1991 — after turning away several other bids in previous years — she had been a director at the Inglewood track since 1972 and its chief executive since 1985.

Breeders' Cup race-by-race rundown from Eric Sondheimer: Ladies' Classic Royal Delta surged from third place at the top of the stretch to win the $2-million Ladies' Classic, beating It's Tricky by 21/2 lengths in the 11/8-mile race. Favorite Plum Pretty from trainer Bob Baffert's stable led by a head at the stretch but fell to fifth. Juvenile Sprint Secret Circle, the first of nine scheduled Breeders' Cup starters for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, came through as the odds-on favorite.

Breeders' Cup favorites Horse; Jockey; Trainer; Morning-line odds; FRIDAY RACES Juvenile Sprint Secret Circle; Rafael Bejarano; Bob Baffert; 6/5; Juvenile Fillies Turf Elusive Kate; William Buick; John H.M. Gosden; 2/1; Filly and Mare Sprint Turbulent Descent; David Flores; Mike Puype; 6/5; Juvenile Fillies My Miss Aurelia; Corey Nakatani; Steven M. Asmussen; 5/2; ...

Friday's first day of Breeders' Cup horse racing at Santa Anita was a Ladies Day delight. Saturday's second day is expected to be, well, the same thing. Today is Zenyatta's day. No filly or mare has ever won the Breeders' Cup Classic, and they've run this race since 1984. One filly, Jolypha in 1992 at Gulfstream, finished in the money, a third to A.P. Indy. That's it for females in this testosterone dash. So far. The $5-million Classic has been the domain of the big boys, the rough and ready, who can power over whatever turf is presented and through whatever tight hole is presented.

The Times has put together a U.S. vs. Europe showdown, Ryder Cup-style (or is it Rider Cup?) for the Breeders' Cup. In each of the Breeders' Cup races two European horses will be matched against two U.S. horses. If one of those four horses wins the race, one point will be awarded to that team. If none of the four horses wins, half a point will be awarded to the highest finishing horse among the four. If only one European horse is entered, the U.S. will enter only one horse. The horses are drawn by morning-line odds.

Saturday will be a huge day for Santa Anita's historic and venerable racetrack. April 22 will be bigger. On Saturday, 10 of the fastest 3-year-olds in the world will leave the gate in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby, hoping that, in a mile and an eighth, they will have shown that they are Kentucky Derby caliber. The local Derby has long been one of the prestigious semifinals for the ultimate main event, held the first Saturday of May under the Twin Spires at Churchill Downs.

Twenty-five years ago, at Hollywood Park, Chief's Crown, a grandson of Secretariat, became the first horse to stroll into a Breeders' Cup winner's circle, having prevailed in the one-mile Juvenile. Since then, the Breeders' Cup, whose 26th edition is being staged Friday and Saturday at Santa Anita, has produced another 194 winners. Add them up and 152 were American bred. Of the 43 foreign-bred winners, 35 were from Europe, four from Canada and four from Argentina. If form prevails, look for the Europeans to chalk up a few more victories this weekend.

Jockey Garrett Gomez turned 40 on New Year's Day, which only means he's getting wiser and better based on the way he has been riding at Santa Anita. He has become the jockey to bet on in stakes races, winning his fourth in a row and sixth in nine days at Santa Anita on Saturday. Gomez guided 10-1 longshot Out Of Bounds to a half-length victory over 1-2 favorite Secret Circle in the Grade III $100,000 Sham Stakes, the first major West Coast prep race for 3-year-olds seeking a spot in the Kentucky Derby.

On a sparkling Kentucky fall afternoon, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa stood in a Breeders' Cup winner's circle in the shrine of horse racing and didn't pause to proclaim that his metropolis can do better by staging the event routinely at Santa Anita. It's what politicians do. Chris Quinn, Santa Anita's vice president of sales and marketing, said that "politically" it might be best not to interrupt negotiating momentum to place the 2013 Breeders' Cup at Belmont Park in New York, but the Santa Anita contingent is nonetheless pushing Breeders' Cup officials to make the Arcadia track the event's home every other year starting next year.

How about ghost of boyfriend past? Game On Dude was within yards of making Chantal Sutherland the first female jockey to win the Breeders' Cup Classic on Saturday when Sutherland's ex-boyfriend Mike Smith and his colt Drosselmeyer surged past on the outside to win the $5-million race before 65,143 at Churchill Downs. "I looked up, saw white and said, 'You've got to be kidding me, it's Mike Smith,' " Sutherland said. For Smith, who was aboard Zenyatta last year in a heartbreaking Classic loss to Blame at the wire, the redemptive victory tied him with now-retired Jerry Bailey for the most Breeders' Cup triumphs in the event's 28-year history with 15. "Last year, I sat here just devastated, thinking my life was over," Smith said.

Results from the Breeders' Cup on Saturday at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. $500,000 Marathon Afleet Again, at odds of 41-1, rallied in the stretch to win the 1 3/4-mile race and return $85.20. Afleet Again had lost 13 consecutive races. Favorite A.U. Miner was pulled up after suffering a broken leg bone. $1-million Juvenile Turf Wrote, a 2-year-old son of two-time Breeders' Cup Turf winner High Chaparral, gave European-based horses their first victory of the weekend, winning the mile race at odds of 11-1 for trainer Aidan O'Brien.

Reporting from Louisville, Ky. — Royal Delta might never race again. If that's the case, she created a lasting legacy Friday. The 3-year-old Kentucky horse won the most prestigious of the day's six Breeders' Cup races at Churchill Downs, claiming the $2-million Ladies' Classic by rallying from third place at the top of the stretch to pass favorites Plum Pretty and runner-up It's Tricky with 40,677 in attendance. Victory was bittersweet, with Royal Delta set to be part of next week's Keeneland's November breeding stock sale, which will include the dispersal of horses owned by Saudi Arabia's Prince Saud bin Khaled.

Breeders' Cup race-by-race rundown from Eric Sondheimer: Ladies' Classic Royal Delta surged from third place at the top of the stretch to win the $2-million Ladies' Classic, beating It's Tricky by 21/2 lengths in the 11/8-mile race. Favorite Plum Pretty from trainer Bob Baffert's stable led by a head at the stretch but fell to fifth. Juvenile Sprint Secret Circle, the first of nine scheduled Breeders' Cup starters for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, came through as the odds-on favorite.

Reporting from Baltimore -- The company that operates Santa Anita racetrack has voided a contract that runs through 2016 with nonprofit Oak Tree Racing Assn. That disrupts, at least temporarily, negotiations to make Oak Tree and Santa Anita a permanent or semipermanent home for the Breeders' Cup series. Sherwood Chillingworth, executive vice president of Oak Tree, confirmed Friday night that his group's contract to run racing in its usual fall time slot at Santa Anita, which it had since 1969, was affirmed two weeks ago, then voided two days ago. Greg Avioli, chief executive of the Breeders' Cup, which has been meeting and discussing the likelihood of an increased role for Santa Anita, said, "We do not view this as a positive development.

Reporting from Louisville, Ky. — For trainers with the good fortune of sending several horses to the 15-race Breeders' Cup that runs Friday and Saturday at Churchill Downs, hopes for a financial windfall start in the first day's fillies and juvenile races. California-based trainer Bob Baffert has nine entries, including four running Friday, after withdrawing the feverish 30-1 longshot Prayer for Relief from Saturday's $5-million Classic. The country's top trainer, Todd Pletcher , also has nine horses running, including three Friday and Classic threats Uncle Mo and Stay Thirsty.

Reporting from Louisville, Ky. — A mare is seeking a horse racing accomplishment for the record books. So is a woman. And a group of men have put their faith in a young female horse that has performed as if their late Southern California friend is orchestrating the outcome. These are some of the stories leading into the Breeders' Cup as the sport's largest collection of international thoroughbreds compete in 15 races Friday and Saturday worth a combined $25.5 million at Churchill Downs.