Breeders’ Cup Legends: 1984 Classic

Wild Again, Gate Dancer and Slew o' Gold cross the wire together in the first-ever Breeders' Cup Classic. (Photo by HorsePhotos.com)
True to their current catchphrase, “the best is yet to come,” the inaugural Breeders’ Cup saved its best for last. After six championship races that November day in 1984, the Hollywood Park grandstand shook as Gate Dancer, Slew o’ Gold and Wild Again gamely gutted it out to the finish line in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The drama was amplified when stewards announced a disqualification in the richest race of the year.
Despite a win in the 1984 Preakness, Gate Dancer’s career was largely one of missed opportunities, hampered by his unique temperament and antics. His Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg experimented with bits, blinkers and even a hood with ear muffs to try to correct his erratic stretch runs, but they often cost him the race. The colt was disqualified from fourth to fifth in the Kentucky Derby and had a series of second- and third-place finishes later in his career thanks to his seeming inability to run straight. But heading into the 1984 Breeders’ Cup Classic the colt was in top form, having won the Omaha Gold Cup and Super Derby in succession.
Slew o’ Gold, meanwhile, was a model racehorse. The 3-year-old champion of 1983 aimed to bring his record to 6-for-6 on the year in the Classic and wrap up the Horse of the Year title having won the Whitney, Woodward, Marlboro Cup and Jockey Club Gold Cup. The son of Seattle Slew had a record nearly as impressive in his 1983 championship season, garnering wins in the Woodward and Jockey Club Gold Cup against older horses plus the Wood Memorial and Peter Pan, with second-place efforts in the Belmont Stakes, Travers Stakes and Marlboro Cup. He entered the Breeders’ Cup starting gate a heavy favorite in his first career start west of the Mississippi.
Wild Again was a wild card, sent off at odds of 31.30-to-1. After seven starts and a pair of wins as a 2-year-old, the colt only made one start, a seventh-place finish, as a sophomore in 1983. In 1984 he made a whopping 16 starts, unfathomable for most of today’s top-tier racehorses. With early-season wins in the New Orleans Handicap and the Oaklawn Handicap, he finished third in the Grade 1 Suburban and the Grade 2 Cornhusker before a pair of unplaced efforts. Wild Again then won the Grade 1 Meadowlands Cup and finished third in an allowance to set him up for a run at the first-ever Breeders’ Cup Classic. Wild Again hadn’t been Breeders’ Cup-nominated as a foal, and though the bettors were not confident in him, his owners had enough faith that they supplemented him to the tune of $360,000 so he could run in the race.
When the gates opened, Wild Again sprinted to the front, setting the pace in between Mugatea and Precisionist. Slew o’ Gold tracked the leaders in fifth, while Gate Dancer galloped along at the back of the pack. By the backstretch Wild Again was alone on the lead, completing the first quarter-mile in :22 3/5 and six furlongs in 1:10 3/5.
The field headed into the turn for home and Slew o’ Gold loomed to Wild Again’s outside. Gate Dancer began his run from last, quickly moving up into fifth position while rolling past his competitors. When they hit the top of the stretch, the stage was set for an unforgettable drive to the wire and fans were not disappointed.
Wild Again and Gate Dancer duked it out in front, refusing to give in. Gate Dancer bore down on the duo with every stride, his masked face haunting the leaders. Slew o’ Gold kept threatening to take the lead. Wild Again kept finding more. Gate Dancer kept coming, and in the final strides he surged past Slew o’ Gold to finish second, a head behind Wild Again, but his erratic stretch run caused an inquiry.
1984 BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC

Video courtesy Breeders’ Cup World Championships
In the end Gate Dancer was disqualified to third after lugging in on Slew o’ Gold, a disqualification many questioned. Nonetheless, Wild Again’s improbable victory capped off a stellar first Breeders’ Cup, earning the horse deserved respect and dethroning Slew o’ Gold, whose loss cost him a Horse of the Year title that was instead awarded to John Henry, a Breeders’ Cup absentee.
Wild Again made one stakes start as a 5-year-old, a second-place finish in the Grade 1 Meadowlands Cup, before retiring to stud duty where he sired eight millionaires, four champions and 84 stakes winners as a perennial leading sire. He was euthanized due to the infirmities of old age in December 2008, the oldest winner of an inaugural Breeders’ Cup race.
Slew o’ Gold was retired following the Breeders’ Cup and became Three Chimneys Farm’s first stallion in 1985, to be joined by Wild Again in 1991. He sired six Grade 1 winners from his first two crops and his progeny earned more than $27 million before being pensioned in 2002. Old age infirmities necessitated him being euthanized at age 27.
Gate Dancer continued racing in 1985 and 1986, when he once again struggled to find the winner’s circle but routinely finished in the money. From 13 starts in those two years, Gate Dancer won only one race, but finished second or third in eight of them including a runner-up finish in the 1985 Breeders’ Cup Classic. The Florida-bred was retired to stud duty at Good Chance Farm in the Sunshine State and remained in Florida until his death due to laminitis in 1998. Gate Dancer sired 27 stakes winners but never produced progeny with his level of talent.
Three horses with wildly different backgrounds found their fates intersect in November 1984, creating what became one of the most memorable Breeders’ Cup Classics ever and cementing the Breeders’ Cup’s place as a thrilling championship event. Their legend lives on.