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Breeders' Cup Video Flashback: 1993 Classic

My discussion of today's video flashback is short and sweet due to the simple fact that there's not a whole lot of analysis to perform when a 133/1 shot wins the Breeders' Cup Classic.  Sometimes that's just the way it falls.

I'll tell you what I love about watching the replay of the 1993 Classic - it's the way the crowd goes completely silent as Tom Durkin starts to call out the name of Arcangues in the final furlong.  It's a sound you can hear at any race track in the country when a huge, huge long shot is about to come in.  I'm not talking 30/1 or 50/1 shots.  I'm talking the 100/1 shot that nobody and their grandmother had bet on.  The one that has only  a handful of backers and most of those are players that continually throw darts at the longest shots on the board in the hopes that they'll get lucky.

In every race, the cheers from the crowd being to build as the field gets closer and closer to the finish line.  If you have money on a horse in contention, the excitement increases through every furlong.  But those same cheers from hopeful players quickly vanish as soon as each person realizes the horse they bet on has no chance to win.  When that horse is 133/1...well, there aren't too many left to carry the noise.  

Arcangues is the longest shot winner of a Breeders' Cup race in the event's history.