Wild Again Capped Off Wild Breeders’ Cup

For many of the 64,254 at Hollywood Park 15 years ago today, it was the wildest finish to a horse race in decades.

In the first $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic, Wild Again, Gate Dancer and Slew O’ Gold engaged in a furious stretch run, nearly bumping and knocking each other off the track.

And when it was over . . . it wasn’t over.

The 31-1 shot, Wild Again, finished a head in front of Gate Dancer. The 3-5 favorite, Slew O’ Gold, was third, half a length behind Gate Dancer.

Then, to no one’s surprise, it was announced there would be an inquiry. The stewards considered disqualifying Wild Again and Gate Dancer, who appeared to put the squeeze on Slew O’ Gold in the stretch.

After eight minutes of interviewing jockeys and viewing reruns, the stewards confirmed Wild Again’s victory, bumped Gate Dancer down to third and put Slew O’ Gold second.

Slew O’ Gold had run his last race. The horse was undefeated for the year before the race and the favorite for horse-of-the-year honors.

But Slew O’ Gold was running with a cracked hoof and his jockey, Angel Cordero, said when Wild Again and Gate Dancer applied the squeeze play, his horse hesitated a split second.

“At his best, my horse wins this race in a gallop but . . . I think because of his injuries he hesitated,” he said.

The race brought redemption for Wild Again. There were snickers when his owners--Terry Beall, Ron Volkman and William Allen--paid $360,000 to enter him in the race--a horse for which they had paid $35,000.

Wild Again couldn’t even win an allowance race at Bay Meadows before the Breeders’ Cup.

But the owners’ dividend this day was

$1.35 million. Wild Again paid $64.60 to win and trainer Vincent Timphony had bet $200 across the board for a $9,340 payback.

Also on this date: In 1981, Dodger pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, 21, became the first rookie to win the National League’s Cy Young Award. . . . In 1946, the Los Angeles Rams, in their first season in the Coliseum, broke the NFL one-game attendance record when 68,381 saw them lose to the Chicago Bears, 27-21.