The third Breeders’ Cup was held for the first time under the majestic San Gabriel Mountains at Santa Anita on November 1, 1986…..as a record Breeders’ Cup crowd of 69,155 were on hand to witness the 4-year-old Lady’s Secret go wire to wire to win the Distaff and become the first Breeders’ Cup champion to be named Horse of the Year….while Skywalker, ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Laffit Pincay, Jr., led the Breeders’ Cup Classic from start to finish. A record total of $34,884,790 was wagered across North America on the race day program.
The Breeders’ Cup World Championships is an annual series of Grade I Thoroughbred horse races, operated by Breeders’ Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception two years earlier than the video herewith in 1984 through 2006…..the Breeders’ Cup was a single-day event….but starting in 2007, it expanded to two days…..with all sites of the race having been in the United States, except in 1996, when the races were at the Woodbine Racetrack in Canada.
The attendance at the Breeders’ Cup varies, depending mainly on the capacity of the host track…as Santa Anita Park set the highest two-day attendance figure of 118,484 in 2016…..as Santa Anita also set the highest one-day event prior to 2007. As with any year, the Breeders’ Cup is always a popular day in sports…..especially in the sport of horse racing….as evidenced by the excitement at the track on this 1st day of November in 1986.
