Fort Larned's Wire-to-Wire Win Was Best Single-Race Performance of the Year
Fort Larned shined brightest at the race with the most talented horses in the world. He led wire to wire in a dominant performance. The Kentucky Derby is the greatest spectacle in horse racing, but the Breeders' Cup field is a group of the best horses in the world that aren't retired to stead.
Though the winner of the Breeders' Cup doesn't get the prestige among casual fans, the winner of this race is perhaps the best horse of the year.
Fort Larned bested the favorite Game on Dude easily as Bob Baffert's colt finished a very disappointing seventh.
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To win, Fort Larned had to display the toughness that Baffert's colt Bodemeister couldn't show in his failures in the Triple Crown races earlier in the year.
Mucho Macho Man pushed Fort Larned hard at the end.
Mike Smith worked the horse hard to catch the winner, but Bryan Hernandez and Fort Larned held them off. Smith had already had a winning weekend as he became the winningest jockey at the Breeders' Cup on Friday, but this was Hernandez's race.
If you consider the track record of the competition and the nature of this race, this was the year's best performance by a horse and jockey.
To run as strong as this horse did from the beginning was impressive, but as it is with any horse race, it wasn't just about the horse.
Hernandez had a perfect command and chemistry with the winner. He knew when to push and how to get the most out of his horse down the stretch.
That was a serious challenge from a world-class horse, and Fort Larned and Hernandez would not be denied. This was the perfect way to end the major horse racing season for 2012.
This was a fantastic finish and a win by an amazing horse.
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