War Chant (far left, red cap) blew by his rivals in the last eighth of the Breeders' Cup Mile.
Neil Drysdale may or may not win the Breeders' Cup Classic (gr., I) with Fusaichi Pegasus, but he won the Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT) with War Chant, who remained unbeaten in his only two starts on grass. Coming off slow fractions set by North East Bound, War Chant was steered outside by Gary Stevens, and came with a rush to give Drysdale his sixth Breeders' Cup win in 21 chances, an amazing 29% strike rate on racing's biggest day.War Chant finished ninth in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I), then returned to the races just three weeks ago, winning the Oak Tree Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IIT) in his first grass start. He is obviously bred for the surface, by Danzig out of the Kris S. mare Hollywood Wildcat.Drysdale won the 1993 Breeders' Cup Distaff with Irv and Marjorie Cowan's Hollywood Wildcat. They own War Chant, though Stonerside Stable and Three Chimneys Farm have made a deal to stand him at Three Chimneys following his racing career.Stevens, who returned to riding just a month ago after a nine-month retirement, won his third race on the card, also taking the two undercard stakes which began the day.War Chant ran the mile in 1:34.67 after fractions of :23.94, :47.98 1:11.42, and 1:22.75. He paid $9, $6 and $4.40 as the slight favorite. North East Bound held on for second and returned $29.60 and $13.80 and Dansili, who rushed up the rail to get third, was worth $8.60. The exacta was $486.20.War Chant completed a huge pick-three after upsets in the first two Breeders' Cup races. The payoff was $109,631.40.
