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Since 1984, the world's finest thoroughbreds have competed in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships for a place in history. But only the best of the best have found one.

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It was labeled by many as the greatest field of horses ever assembled and the 15th running of the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs more than lived up to its billing with Stronach Stables’ Awesome Again posting a three-quarter length victory over Silver Charm.

The field of 10 featured eight millionaires with combined earnings just shy of $30 million. The runners had won 69 stakes, 31 of which were Grade or Group 1s, and included winners of all three Triple Crown races and defending Classic champion Skip Away.

Coronado’s Quest set the pace with fractions of :23.56, :47.69 and 1:12.09 over a fast track with Skip Away and Arch in closest pursuit. Silver Charm was just behind the top trio and Awesome Again was eighth ahead of only Belmont winners Touch Gold and Victory Gallop.

On the far turn, Awesome Again began a four-wide move that would propel him to within 5 lengths of the lead at the top of the stretch when things got very interesting.

“We came off the turn and they went into the grandstand,” Awesome Again’s jockey Pat Day said of Silver Charm and Swain (IRE) who began drifting toward the grandstand. “You could have drove a Mack Truck through that hole.” 

Silver Charm wrested the lead away from a determined Coronado’s Quest but Awesome Again had clear sailing to the leaders.

“Awesome Again was hitting his best stride and I hadn’t really called on him,” said Day of Awesome Again who surged past Silver Charm inside the sixteenth pole to complete a perfect 6-for-6 campaign. Awesome Again completed the mile and a quarter in 2:02.16.

The victory was the third for Day in the Classic and 10th of 12 Breeders’ Cup wins in total. For trainer Pat Byrne, it was the third of three Breeders’ Cup victories in two years.

Silver Charm finished a neck in front of Swain who finished a nose in front of Victory Gallop. Coronado’s Quest was another length back in fifth and 2 lengths in front of Skip Away who would go on to earn Horse of the Year honors.

1998 Classic Replay

Buck’s Boy became the pride of Illinois racing with a front-running and decisive score in winning the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs.
Bred and trained by Noel Hickey’s Irish Acres Farm, the Illinois-bred Buck’s Boy sprinted to the lead early in the 1 ½-mile test on the turf and never looked back with Shane Sellers in the irons. The 5-year-old gelded son of Hickey’s Buckpasser finished 1 ¼ lengths ahead of Yagli and Dushyantor was third, another 1 ¾ lengths back.
Buck’s Boy’s final time on firm turf was 2:28.74 and he returned $9.20 as the second choice in the 13-horse field.
With the win Buck’s Boy, who had been fourth in the 1997 Turf, earned his place in history as the first Illinois-bred to win a Breeders’ Cup (Work All Week would win the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Sprint), and the first to win a race with a purse of $1 million or more. The Breeders’ Cup win was the first for longtime horseman Hickey, who trained the gelding for 20 of his 30 lifetime starts. 
Buck’s Boy won the Eclipse Award as champion Turf Male. His attempt to defend his title in the 1999 Turf fell short with a third-place finish.

1998 Turf Replay

After finishing third in the 1997 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1), Escena returned for another try. She was the second choice at 3-1 at Hollywood Park Downs with Banshee Breeze the overwhelming 4-5 favorite in the field of eight. Speed was the name of Escena’s game and she used that early foot to lead the way through fractions of :23 4/5, :47 4/5, 1:12 and 1:37. As was her style, Banshee Breeze was content to race just behind the leader before unleashing an outside rally on the final turn. Escena maintained a comfortable advantage over Banshee Breeze through the stretch until Banshee Breeze made a powerful surge in the closing yards. Her bold effort was too little and too late as Escena prevailed by a nose in a clocking of 1:49 4/5 for the 1 1/8 miles. Keeper Hill, the 9-2 third choice, was another five lengths back in third. 
The triumph was part of a seemingly endless parade of champions in the 1990s through the early part of the 21st century for the breeding and racing operation of Allen and Madeleine Paulson, best known for campaigning the legendary 1995 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner Cigar. Escena was voted Eclipse Award champion older mare. The previous year, the Paulsons’ Ajina won the Distaff and was named champion three-year-old filly. Both were conditioned by the Paulsons’ main trainer Bill Mott, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998. Escena was retired after the Distaff. 
Banshee Breeze received the Eclipse Award as outstanding three-year-old filly of the season and returned to be runner-up again in the 1999 Distaff in which Keeper Hill finished fourth.

1998 Distaff Replay

Prestonwood Farm and Wallstreet Racing Stables’ Da Hoss, sidelined by various injuries for nearly two years since winning the Breeders’ Cup Mile in 1996 at Woodbine, fought back after being headed in the final sixteenth to win the 15th running of the $1 million race by a head over Hawksley Hill (IRE) at Churchill Downs. 
Da Hoss ran the mile over a firm turf course in 1:35.27 to give trainer Michael Dickinson his second of two Breeders’ Cup victories and provided Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez with the first of multiple victories in the race. 
Reigning Horse of the Year and favored Favorite Trick grabbed the lead out of the gate but was soon pressured by Cape Cross (IRE) and Among Men as they raced through fractions of :23.23 and :46.49. 
Da Hoss raced in midpack through the first five-eighths of a mile and began to move four wide on the turn while nearly 3 lengths back Hawksley Hill was weaving his way through traffic. 
At the top of the stretch, Favorite Trick held a narrow lead over Cape Cross and Among Men but Da Hoss continued his four-wide move and hit the front at midstretch. 
“I might have let him go a little too soon,” Velazquez said. “I wanted to wait a little longer, but he was doing it so easy I just let him go.” 
Da Hoss was a half-length in front of a charging Hawksley Hill at the eighth pole and yielded the lead to Hawksley Hill at the sixteenth pole only to battle back along the rail. 
Da Hoss did not make his return to the races until two weeks before the Breeders’ Cup when he won an allowance race at Colonial Downs. 
“It’s unbelievable,” Velazquez said. “He wanted to win so bad. When I hit him and he responded, I knew I had a chance to win.” 
“This is the happiest day of my life for what we’ve been through,” Dickinson said. “This is the end of a six-week roller coaster ride (to get to the Breeders’ Cup).” 
“I thought I had won the race,” Solis said after Hawksley Hill had hit the front. 
Hawksley Hill finished 4 ¼ lengths in front of Labeeb (GB) who up for third 1 ½ lengths in front of 95-1 longshot Magellan.

1998 Mile Replay

Reraise made every call a winning one as he scored a straightforward victory in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint and carried jockey Corey Nakatani and trainer Craig Dollase into the record books at Churchill Downs.&nbsp;
The win was the third consecutive in the Sprint for Nakatani, who won this event with Elmhurst in 1997 and Lit de Justice in 1996. The 27-year-old Dollase made his mark as the youngest trainer to win a Breeders’ Cup race.&nbsp;
Reraise, a 3-year-old gelding owned by Barry Fey, Class Racing, Larry Opas et. al, completed the 6 furlongs in 1:09.07 on a fast track and hit the finish line 2 lengths in front of Grand Slam, with Kona Gold a head behind. He returned $9.60 for a $2 bet.&nbsp;
Reraise, a multiple-graded stakes winner with eight victories from nine starts in his career, was honored as the 1998 Eclipse Award-winning Sprinter.&nbsp;

Dollase is one of only three father-son teams with Breeders’ Cup winners. His father, Wally Dollase won the 1996 Breeders’ Cup Distaff with Jewel Princess. Aidan and Joseph O’Brien and Charlie and Michael Whittingham are the other two.

1998 Sprint Replay

Mike Pegram’s Silverbulletday surged to the lead in the upper stretch and then held off a late bid from stablemate Excellent Meeting by a half-length to win the 15th running of the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

The future Hall of Famer completed the mile and a sixteenth over a fast track in 1:43.68 and gave trainer Bob Baffert his second Breeders’ Cup victory and the fifth of 11 World Championships triumphs for jockey Gary Stevens.

Extended Applause led the field of 10 through fractions of :23.55, :47.27 and 1:12.12 as Silverbulletday raced fifth while in the clear in the second flight of runners.

Going into the far turn, Silverbulletday angled to the outside and began a move that brought her to within a length of the leaders and the momentum to grab the lead just past the quarter pole.

Silverbulletday opened a 2-length lead at the eighth pole with the only threat coming in the form of Excellent Meeting, who had followed her stablemate when she started her run on the far turn.

“I really felt these fillies could do it. They should run 1-2,” Baffert said. “If I didn’t win this, I would have to do the low crawl out of here.”

Excellent Meeting easily held second by 2 ½ lengths over Three Ring with Extended Applause another neck back in fourth.

Silverbulletday finished the year with six wins from seven starts to earn the first of her two Eclipse Awards. She concluded her championship campaign three weeks later over the same track with a 10-length victory in the Golden Rod as the 1-10 favorite.

1998 Juvenile Fillies Replay

John Franks’ homebred Answer Lively held off a late bid from 76-1 longshot Aly’s Alley by a diminishing head to win the 15th running of the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs.&nbsp;

In wrapping up the Eclipse Award as outstanding 2-year-old for 1998, Answer Lively completed the mile and a sixteenth over a fast track in 1:44 to give trainer Bobby Barnett his first Breeders’ Cup victory with his first Breeders’ Cup starter and jockey Jerry Bailey his second of three in the race and seventh overall in the World Championships.&nbsp;

Yes It’s True and Buck Trout dueled for the early lead in the field of 13 through fractions of :23.27 and :46.60 with Answer Lively tracking just behind the top two.

On the far turn, Answer Lively began to inch closer with a three-wide move that would carry him to the front in the upper stretch.&nbsp;


Cat Thief, who had beaten Answer Lively three weeks earlier in the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland by a neck, moved into second before the eighth pole but still a couple of lengths behind Answer Lively with Aly’s Alley splitting horses to the inside and gaining quickly.&nbsp;

Aly’s Alley finished three-quarters of a length in front of Cat Thief, who came back a year later to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park. Cat Thief was 5 ½ lengths in front of Daring General who was a neck better than Lemon Drop Kid, the winner of the 1999 Belmont Stakes.

1998 Juvenile Replay