2012 Breeders' Cup Classic
| Breeders' Cup Classic | |
| Location | Santa Anita Park |
|---|---|
| Date | November 3, 2012 |
| Winning horse | Fort Larned |
| Jockey | Brian Hernandez Jr. |
| Trainer | Ian Wilkes |
| Owner | Janis R. Witham |
| Conditions | fast |
| Surface | Dirt |
| Attendance | 55,123 |
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The 2012 Breeders' Cup Classic was the 29th running of the Breeders' Cup Classic, part of the 2012 Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships program. It was run on November 3, 2012 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California with a purse of $5,000,000.
Fort Larned, a 9-1 longshot, won the race in frontrunning fashion, holding off a closing drive by Mucho Macho Man.
The Classic is run on dirt at one mile and one-quarter (approximately 2000 m). It is run under weight-for-age conditions, with entrants carrying the following weights:
Game On Dude was the favorite for the Classic after winning the Hollywood Gold Cup and Awesome Again. Second in the 2011 Classic held at Churchill Downs, Game on Dude was expected to improve at Santa Anita, a track over which he was undefeated at the time. His frontrunning style was expected to give him a tactical advantage in a field that lacked other speed horses.
He faced a deep field that lacked star power, in part due to the injury and subsequent retirement of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I'll Have Another and Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags. The 12-horse field also included:
Game on Dude, who had been expected to set the pace, broke poorly and then experienced traffic problems that took him out of contention. Fort Larned went to the lead and set a brisk pace, trailed by Mucho Macho Man. Fort Larned opened up a lead of nearly three lengths moving into the far turn, then Mucho Macho Man started to close ground. With an eighth of a mile to go, Fort Larned's lead was down to a half length and his jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr. went to the whip. Fort Larned responded and maintained his lead to the finish line, completing the 1 1⁄4 miles in a solid time of 2:00.11. Flat Out was well back in third.
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