2011 Breeders Cup Predictions: Game on Dude Will Claim Classic to Make History

The 2011 Breeders' Cup Classic is rife with intriguing storylines, but perhaps the greatest (and most likely to win) of all is that of Game On Dude.

Not necessarily because of the horse himself, though for Game On Dude to claim victory, at 10-1 odds and ahead of heavyweights like Havre de Grace, Uncle Mo and Stay Thirsty, would be a pretty good story in and of itself.

Rather, the real winner of such an outcome would be Chantal Sutherland, Game On Dude's jockey, who would become the first woman to ride a horse to the lead in the history of the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Sutherland has tasted success with Game On Dude before, having saddled up on the four-year-old gelding when he won the Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita in early October to earn their way into the Breeders' Cup.

The win would give Game On Dude his sixth in 14 tries.

As for Sutherland, she rode Great Hot, a 20-to-1 longshot, in the Filly and Mare Sprint on Friday, though it was another horse with unlikely odds, Musical Romance, that came out on top in the $1 million race.

History won't come easily for Sutherland, even atop a Bob Baffert-trained horse. She'll have to contend with star jockeys Garrett Gomez and Mike Smith, her one-time boyfriend, in what is sure to be a tough ride along every step of the one-and-a- quarter-miles race.

But if Sutherland pulls it off, she'll have more than just a hefty payday to show for her efforts riding with Game On Dude.

She'll have her name etched into a wide array of record books as a pioneer not only in horse racing, not only in sports, but also in women's history, for bucking the trends in one of the original sporting bastions of the "Old Boys Network."