2011 Breeders' Cup Results: Afleet Again Makes Legendary Stallion Proud in Win

Afleet Again, who was a 41-1 long-shot to win the 2011 Breeders' Cup Marathon, he did just that Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs.

The four-year-old horse was the longest shot of the entire 11-horse field on Saturday, and beat favorite Birdrun, who finished second with 7-2 odds.

If Afleet Again sounds like a familiar racehorse name, that's because the colt is the offspring of legendary stallion Afleet Alex, who won the 2005 Preakness Stakes and 2005 Belmont Stakes before a career-ending leg injury.

Afleet Alex finished with a career record of 8-2-1, and finished third in the Kentucky Derby that year, coming within one win of taking the Triple Crown in 2005.

Although Afleet Again's future looks hardly as promising as his father's, it was fitting that the colt would defy long odds to take the one-and-three-quarters-mile race while outpacing overwhelming favorites Birdrun and Giant Oak.

The win earns owners Robert and Susan Krangel $270,000, and those who bet on Afleet Again a pretty little penny as well.

The nine-year-old stallion that helped breed him, Afleet Alex, remains in Lexington, Ky., not far from where Afleet Again shocked the horse racing world on Saturday.

The 2011 Breeders' Cup continues Saturday afternoon with Goldikova going for her fourth-consecutive win in the Mile and some of the world's best dirt horses racing for the $5 million purse in the Cup Classic.

Follow Bleacher Report Featured Columnist Patrick Clarke on Twitter @_Pat_Clarke