It doesn't get any easier. From that melancholy moment in 1984 when John Henry had to bow out with a ligament strain, to the most recent gut punch delivered by Sovereignty's elevated temperature, high-profile defections from the Breeders' Cup drama have been a cross the racing world has grown to bear.
Whether caused by lameness or illness—or something terribly, tragically worse—the many reasons a particular racehorse is not able to answer the bell have become part of the sport's late-season vocabulary.
"We're running out of time," said trainer Jena Antonucci as her team tried valiantly to resolve Arcangelo 's hoof problem two years ago at Santa Anita Park. As a result, the Breeders' Cup was deprived of a spectacular ending to the year's feel-good story, and the winner of the Belmont Stakes (G1) and Travers Stakes (G1) was retired.
In 2014, Magician, primed to defend his title in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T), made it to Wednesday before Aidan O'Brien had to pull the plug.
"When he came out of a trot this morning he was found to be acutely lame," O'Brien said. "It was an instant decision to take him out of the race."
And imagine the disappointment of the Bob Baffert crew when their up-and-coming colt American Pharoah had to be scratched from the field for the 2014 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) because of a hoof bruise.
"It's part of the business that knocks you on the ground," Baffert said. "But he's going to be fine. You'll see him in the spring."
The apparent equanimity with which Bill Mott delivered the bad news about Sovereignty's withdrawal from the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) this week belied his deep disappointment. He was as excited to see the colt run as any of Sovereignty's legion of fans. But Mott, a two-time winner of the Classic, is also the guy who replied, when asked to identify a trainer's toughest job:
"Saying no."
Then again, sometimes it's easy. When Churchill Downs management refused to water its drought-stricken turf course in 2010—at least to the satisfaction of a particular trainer—Sir Michael Stoute withdrew Juddmonte's 2010 Epsom Derby (G1) winner Workforce from the Breeders' Cup Turf, in which the colt would have been favored.
"We have absolutely no complaints," said a diplomatic Teddy Grimthorpe, Juddmonte racing manager. "But the welfare of the horse is paramount."
The same can be said this year with the Oct. 31 scratches of the 2-year-old filly Precise and the 2-year-old colt Blackout Time, both prime contenders in their Breeders' Cup races. The Cup soldiers on without them, always blessed with a ridiculous bounty of talent.
Richard Mandella has had more than his share of late-inning heartbreak at the Breeders' Cup. If anyone knows how Mott feels, it's Mandella.
In 1986, Phone Trick appeared on his way to a division championship when all he had to do was walk his beat in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) at Santa Anita. Then he was injured the week before the race.
In 1997, Mandella had two of the best older horses in the nation pointing toward the Breeders' Cup Classic at Hollywood Park, but neither Gentlemen nor Siphon were able to clear those last crucial days before the race arrived. Then, as recently as 2023, Mandella lost another chance at the Classic when Geaux Rocket Ride, winner of the Haskell Stakes (G1), fractured a leg the week before the race. His death due to postoperative complications replaced disappointment with abject sorrow.
The sheer number of fast, classy Thoroughbreds descending each year upon the Breeders' Cup is both a glorious blessing and a potential curse, coming with a guarantee of not only great racing, but also almost inevitable setbacks. Diligence is mandatory when it comes to the health and welfare of the participants. Fortunately, resilience becomes the common denominator among those owners and trainers who keep coming back for more.
Mandella is a nine-time winner of Breeders' Cup events, all of them coming in California. He tried to add a 10th on Friday with Brave Deb in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) to no avail, but he is taking two serious swings on the Nov. 1 program with Tamara in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) and Kopion in the Breeders' Cup Sprint. All three fillies are owned by Spendthrift Farm.
Three of Mandella's Breeders' Cup trophies came courtesy of Beholder, the four-time champion and jewel in the modern Spendthrift crown. The late B. Wayne Hughes doted on Beholder as a father would a gifted child, so it is only fitting that Beholder's best daughter would be named for Hughes's daughter, Tamara Gustavson, who owns and operates Spendthrift with her husband, Eric Gustavson.
"She's a lot more laid back than Beholder, thank goodness," Mandella said of Tamara, who was injured while running in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) two years ago. "You had to watch yourself around Beholder. She could go off just like that."
Sometimes at the worst time. That was Beholder throwing a fit as the field for the 2013 Kentucky Oaks (G1) approached the starting gate, perhaps losing just enough of an edge to drop a tough decision to longshot Princess of Sylmar. In 2016, her final year of competition, Beholder succumbed to the effects of her monthly cycle to distract her in two losses before roaring back to win the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) in her final appearance.
As far as Mandella is concerned, however, Beholder lost her chance to add yet another Breeders' Cup victory to her remarkable career when she bled after a routine gallop at Keeneland shortly after arriving in Kentucky to run in the 2015 Classic. Beholder had earned her shot by winning the Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) at Del Mar that summer by a then-record 8 1/4 lengths. But Mandella had no choice but to scratch her from the field.
"She did it to herself," Mandella recalled this week as he put the finishing touches on his Spendthrift trio. "She came off the van breathing fire. I was handling her, and she reared up on me like a dinosaur. She was on edge from the minute she got there. She'd never bled before and never bled again. But for some reason that trip shook her up."
Beholder went on to enjoy another championship season and never owed anything more to the history of the sport. Still, it would have been something to have seen her in the ring at Keeneland, trading blows with American Pharoah at 1 1/4 miles. As Baffert had hoped, the colt had a pretty good spring.
A decade later, Tamara has a chance to add to Beholder's Breeders' Cup legacy, all the more fitting because of the family name. And yet, you couldn't help asking: The way she was going at the time, did Mandella think she could have beaten the Triple Crown winner that day? The answer came in a flash.
"She could have beaten anybody," he said.
