Aqueduct Produces a Surprise : Breeders’ Cup Classic Won by Proud Truth; Pebbles a Winner, Too

NEW YORK —  Late Saturday afternoon, trainer Jack Van Berg had his back to the wall in a narrow hallway off the jockeys’ room in the basement of Aqueduct Race Track.

The Breeders’ Cup races are only two years old, but Van Berg’s back has been against the wall in both of them. Last year, at Hollywood Park, that wild and crazy colt named Gate Dancer came careening down the stretch and bumped into Slew o’ Gold, costing both horses a potential win in the sport’s first $3-million race.

On Saturday, in the second running of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Gate Dancer again appeared to be in the driver’s seat as the eight-horse field roared through the stretch. This time, there was nothing wrong with his behavior. This time, those garish earmuffs he wears were working.

Gate Dancer, the ex-gate crasher, had passed Imperial Choice, but maybe he should have tripped Proud Truth. Running fastest of all, Proud Truth wore down Gate Dancer near the finish line and won the Classic by a head before a crowd 42,568, and minutes later, Jack Van Berg was up against the wall again.

Van Berg kept shaking his head. “I was trying to push my horse to the finish line,” he said. “Can you believe it? I beat Chief’s Crown and Track Barron and Vanlandingham by how many lengths, and then a horse jumps out of the woodwork and still beats me.”

Proud Truth, a son of Graustark who was bred and owned by John Galbreath of Columbus, Ohio, had been in the woodwork for a long time. Winner of the Florida Derby in March, he had finished fifth in the Kentucky Derby. And then, in late May, while winning the Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park, he broke a bone in his left front leg.

Proud Truth didn’t run again until Oct 7, winning an allowance race at Belmont. Just last Saturday, trainer John Veitch ran Proud Truth again, and the 3-year-old responded with a win by a neck in the Discovery Handicap at Aqueduct.

“He really needed that last race,” said Veitch, standing around the corner from Van Berg, without the benefit of a wall. “It has been proved in races like the Kentucky Derby that it makes all the difference in the world to have a race over the course. The horse was fresh, and I knew he could win this race in a big way.”

Proud Truth paid $16.80, the largest win payoff on a day that also saw:

--The filly Pebbles live up to her trainer’s extraordinary advance billing with an electrifying stretch run for the win in the $2-million Breeders’ Cup Turf Stakes.

--Owner Gene Klein and trainer Wayne Lukas win two races, first with Twilight Ridge in the $1-million Juvenile Fillies and later with Life’s Magic in the $1-million Distaff. Jorge Velasquez, who rode Twilight Ridge and Proud Truth, became the first jockey to have two winners on a Breeders’ Cup day.

--Precisionist, who hadn’t run since June 23 because of sore feet, overtake Smile in the stretch to win the $1-million Sprint Stakes by three-quarters of a length.

--Tasso, who had been supplemented to the race at a cost of $120,000 to his owners, nose out Storm Cat in the $1-million Juvenile to give trainer Neil Drysdale a victory to go with his win with Princess Rooney last year.

--Cozzene score a 2-length win over Palace Music, who was disqualified to ninth place for bothering Rousillon and Tsunami Slew in the stretch, in the $1-million Mile Stakes.

Rousillon and Tsunami Slew, who were unlikely to have caught Cozzene, anyway, weren’t the only Breeders’ Cup horses to have troubles. In the Classic, Turkoman got none the best of it on the turn for home but still wouldn’t have been a threat to Proud Truth as he wound up third, four lengths behind Gate Dancer.

Chris McCarron, encouraged by his wife Judy’s dreams and the way Gate Dancer was running, had won earlier in the day aboard Precisionist.

Judy McCarron had dreamed that her husband would win at least one race on Breeders’ Cup day. From the winner’s circle on Precisionist after the third race, the jockey shouted down to Judy: “Is this the dream?”

Judy yelled back: “I don’t know.”

“Well, I hope it’s not,” McCarron said, “because I want to win at least one more.”

McCarron couldn’t fault Gate Dancer’s race. “We had no problems early or late,” the jockey said. “He ran super. He was moving good all the way to the wire, but we just couldn’t hold off the other horse.”

Don MacBeth, who had ridden Chief’s Crown to wins in the Flamingo, the Blue Grass and the Marlboro Cup, couldn’t fault his colt. He just saluted the side that beat him.

“It’s a tribute to the horse (Proud Truth) and the trainer (Veitch) that they won this race,” MacBeth said. “He came back fresh from that layoff, and that had to have a lot to do with the way he ran today. My horse ran well--he just didn’t win. We had a hell of a time beating that horse all year.”

Mainly, MacBeth was alluding to the controversial Flamingo, in which Chief’s Crown finished first, was disqualified by the stewards in favor of Proud Truth and then was reinstated by a state review panel that voided the decision.

Saturday, Velasquez and the other jockeys did what they had to do: Let the speedsters Track Barron and Vanlandingham vie for the early lead in the 1-mile race. After six furlongs, with Track Barron and Vanlandingham setting the pace, Proud Truth was last, but a reasonable 7 1/2 lengths back.

On the far turn, Proud Truth found his high gear and began circling horses. Near home, Gate Dancer was the last one he had to pass.

“This horse keeps on winning and doesn’t seem to impress anyone, but he’s better than what people think,” Velasquez said. “Winning two of these races, this is one of the proudest moments of my life. What a race. What a horse.”

Jack Van Berg might even admit as much about Proud Truth. But you might have to push him up against the wall to get him to say it.