1986 Breeders' Cup Turf

[danylson10]

In his 2006 book titled THE BEST and Worst of Thoroughbred Racing, author Steve Davidowitz of Daily Racing Form ranks Manila as the best long-distance turf horse in American racing history ahead of No.2, John Henry.He compiled a 12-3-0 record in the final 15 starts of his career and won nine consecutive races between June 7, 1986 and July 15, 1987.He won The United Nations Gr.1(twice)Early Times Gr.1,Arlington Million Gr.1,Turf Classic Gr.1, Breeders Cup Turf Gr.1, What a Horse!!!!!

[duhru4real]

GET OVER IT..........MANILA CHEWED UP DANCING BRAVE FOR FUN....

[danylson10]

I thought if your the best you beat them any were any time?? Brasil beats teams in soccer anywhere, Usa Dream team of 92 beat people in Spain, The best engineers are good anywhere, and why didnt Dancing Brave come back in 87???

[danylson10]

Manila was a Machine for you european friends he got closed up in the turn and still won, he should have won by 2-3 lengths, dont give excuses for Dancing Brave!!

[kezanator100]

who trained theatrical

[danylson10]

@kezanator100 bill mott

[MeMeMeMeMeMeMeMeAndU]

Dancing Brave was beginning to suffer from the effects of an equine variant of Ankylosing spondylitis (also known as Marie's Disease) which is a chronic, inflammatory arthritis and autoimmune disease. He was almost to die of it once at stud. It is thought that his long, hard season of winning multiple group 1 races competing in the UK, France and the USA may have affected his immune system which possibly led to him being more suseptible to getting the disease.

[sleeplessinsale]

Just responding to a couple of posts below : 1. Dancing Brave was the best horse Lyphard sired. 2. Excuses excuses? Well you may see it that way, but what are the excuses for middle distance American horses never taking a trip for the King George or the Arc? I'll sit back and get ready for the excuses (does a chicken impression). The Australians have more guts sending their sprinters to England to have a crack at Royal Ascot at least, and good luck to them, they win sometimes too!

[danylson10]

Andy, let me get this straight, Dancing Brave won in America???? I dont think so, Manila dethroned the wonder horse, Fact!!!!!

[danylson10]

Manila was a freak!!!

[andypandy252]

manila better than db dont make me laugh

[andypandy252]

i never seen manilla flying around the world to take on the other champions and winning, dancing brave did

[danylson10]

His Turf Classic was awesome, he went in an out of around 12 horses and won!!!

[danylson10]

Put him in the Arc, The result would be the same, Manila had deceptive long strides that would eat up his competition with in a flash, This horse would win in Europe, in Australia, in Dubai, This horse won 6 Gr .1 races, the Best horse Lyphard Sired!!! a locomotive!!

[danylson10]

Manila was a high class horse!!!

[duhru4real]

EXCUSES EXCUSES. MANILA beat DB fair and square. It wasn't like DB was dying at the stretch.

He just got beat by A BETTER HORSE. ENDOFSTORY!

[tarqogan]

If Dancing Brave had been able to reproduce his Prix de l'arc de Triomphe win there would only have been one result . Personally, I believe that DB was far superior to Manila. Sadly Dancing Brave was only a shadow of the superstar we all know that he was.

[shaffi1]

DB should have retired after the Arc, god knows he'd earned it! he was very lacklustre here, anyone with eyes can see that.

As for Manila! as good as he was, put him in the 1986 Arc and i would have a hefty wager he finishes unplaced!

God bless you DB. RIP.

[DANYLZON]

I am tired of this lame excuse by the Europeans that he was out of gas, Manila was out of Gas tooo! he races like 12 times that year, He was a MACHINE on the grass!!! long live the GREAT MANILA!!!! HE DETHRONED THE WONDER HORSE!!!

[DANYLZON]

Manila was a remarkable horse, maybe you can say that most European horses are better on the turf but DO NOT INCLUDE MANILA, he was a MONSTER....THE BEST GRASS HORSE THIS CENTURY IN THE USA....PERIOD END OF STATEMENT!!

[miragin7]

Sad to see the great dancing brave with no gas left in the tank .. I hope the same mistake isn't repeated with sea the stars .. Both legends ..

[DANYLZON]

Manila is no average horse, he beat Theatrical by seven lengths in the Arlington Million.

[fm3544]

Dancing Brave would have picked Manila up and carried him if they were racing in Europe. Who cares about the Breeders Cup anyway, far too late in the season. Horses have had enough by October, let alone November.

[cgambler864]

general agreement...most horses are shot by Nov if campaigning since April...(this concerns me regarding Rachel Alex's remaining starts)...but here, in this country, due to the damn syndication $ factor, many are just pointed for the BC and dont even train in earnest until the summer...BC has become a total joke...Manila was an absolute monster, but you may well be correct about DB facing him in Europe...in my Utopian society, racing would be limited to turf routes, everything else is nonsense

[SuperJIMENEZ10]

and yes i have seen all of Dancing Brave's races, Unfortunately most of you cant see Manila's races, because they aren't on you tube, but he was a remarkable horse. Jose Santos stated, "he was the bust Turf horse, if not the best horse he ever rode."

[Newworldman66]

Manila was only marginally better than Theatrical and Damister who were very ordinary horses in Europe. They both went to race in the US for an easier time as the standard of racing is generally lower there (excepting short sprints) than in Europe.

Manilla may well have been the US's best turf horse but for him to be the superstar you claim he really should have beaten Damister and Theatrical with ease.

FYI Dancing Brave still holds the highest rating in International classifications.

[SuperJIMENEZ10]

The best Arlington Million, Turf Classic, and Breeders Cup Turf winner for those races. What a horse. Should have been Horse of The Year in 1987 if not for his injury. and this one didn't need steroids like the Europeans cry about all time, just oats and hay!!!baby

[SuperJIMENEZ10]

Dancing Brave was the best horse in Europe and yes he was sick, but Manila was a great horse to and just because he didnt go to Europe, which I am sure he would have great success,shouldnt be lowered. Manila broke two records and won everything on the grass from 86-87. He would have been Horse of The Year in 1987 if not for his injury.

[SuperJIMENEZ10]

Manila was schedule to go to the Arc in 1987 after winning the arlington Million by 5 lengths, he was the favorite to beat Trempolino and he would have, a horse for the ages!!!

[someboyplay]

you cant have watched any of dancing braves races pel1can apart from this one. no one is making excuses up about this race only stating fact. dancing brave was only allowed in america about 2 days before the race, so had no time to acclimatise. watch the two thousand guinness, watch the king george, watch the arc, and even the derby when he was 15 lengths behind with 2 furlongs to go, and only just failed. then say people are making excuses for him.

[pel1can]

db supporters ignore their own eyes. could have won at any distance from 5f to 2 miles? where's the evidence for that statement. certainly not in the form book.

if the machine won so easily at longchamp, how come he was so tired here? oh yeah, the travel, the heat. yawn. ever heard of pebbles?

[21shergar]

Must say that I'd like to see more American horses come over to tackle the Europeans at Longchamps, Ascot, Sandown and Newmarket.

I presume you have your tongue in your cheek when asking where the evidence is that DB could win over any distance from 5f to 16f.

[147ard]

You are entitled to your opinion, but Theatrical and Damister were average in Europe. I dont think Pebbles ran a few weeks before she won the BC- she was well rested and in 86 the BC was in california which is the other side of usa-twice as far to travel. DB also lost 14 lbs in weight.

[nellie1912]

Pebbles raced and brilliantly won the champion stakes at newmarket two weeks before winning the BC

[147ard]

Quite right, my mistake.

[Newworldman66]

Are you serious? The evidence is in the form book!!! If you can't see it you're either galactically stupid or in denial.

As regards Pebbles she was a fantastic filly and her BC performance was outstanding over a trip that was beyond her optimum. They intended to keep her in training and campaign her throughout the 1986 season, however, after the emergence of Dancing Brave they bottled it and retired her as they did fancy her chances against him.

[susannreno]

Manila has died at the age of 26 of a ruptured aorta. He was living in Turkey at the time of his death.

[Newworldman66]

Racing in the Breeders cup should be part of a season long plan not an afterthought, to increase an already massive stud fee, as this was. Dancing Brave should never have run in this race as they knew the searing heat was a problem for him but greed impaired their judgement. This coupled with DB having dirt kicked into eyes, so racing in severe discomfort, meant his performance wasn't that bad. On his usual form he'd have won easily as he was at least a stone superior to the likes of Theatical

[mediastarguest]

Dancing Brave would give 10 - 12 lb to Theatrical and still finish 3lengths in front no exaggeration.

Considering he was a tired & out of form racehorse up against it in this race he wasn´t disgraced.

Any other raceday he would chew up Manila for breakfast.

[mjmarra1]

Anyone who knows racing will not only agree that Manila was possibly THE GREATEST TURFER of all time but also will consider the complete travesty that it took 11 years for his induction into the Hall of FAME!!!

[147ard]

Did you know that theatrical used to run in Ireland before he ran in the states and didn't win much, he was an average horse. Manila beat another average british horse called Damister in his previous race to this one. Manila would of only been average in Europe. Dancing Brave is considered to be at least 15 lbs better than Damister because they were both ridden by Pat Eddery. DB was not a well horse on this day. DB covered his final furlong in the Arc in about 10.7 seconds at the end of 1m 4f.

[Newworldman66]

You're being kind describing Damister as average and Theatrical wasn't any better - both would rate more than a stone below Dancing Brave. If Manila was 'the greatest turfer of all time' he'd have run in the Arc, the world's premier 12f race. However, US trainers never send their horses to race in Europe because they know they're not good enough.

[francilius]

Yet again the British "superhorse" well beaten by the yanks. I'm British but Dancing Brave was put firmly in his place by better horses.

[147ard]

What are you on about. The brave had to travel 5000 miles and lost 14 lbs in weight and racing on a circuit track where the inside drawer is an advantage and was not climatized. If Manila ran in the 86 arc he would of been left for dead. I know where your comment is coming from because you dont like Dancing brave.

[richiecallis]

Dancing Brave at Santa Anita was like Nijinsky at Longchamp, ran one race too many... Had he run to the form he showed in Europe he would have won. He had nothing in the tank come the final two furlongswhich was where he generally flew... Noone who follows UK racing will forget Dancing Brave making 15 lengths on Shahrastani in around a furlong and a half at Epsom... I backed Shahrastani that day, luckiest winner I ever had and I never bet against Dancing Brave again...

[francilius]

Hi richiecallis,

I was just stirring it up a bit when I made that comment. Of course you are absolutely right about Dancing Brave. I have never seen a horse produce such an electrifying turn of foot such as he did that day at Longchamps in the Arc. On that performance he would have given ANY horse problems. Unquestionably one of the greats.

[watfordtripod]

If Dancing brave had ran his normal race,the others would have been running for second place.I feel so lucky to have been around when that machine took to the track.He could have won over 5f to 2 miles,what a horse.

[bsd987]

Cannot believe the NYT picked this as one of the two races to single out when NYRA hired Durkin as a sign of him being a good replacement. It took until Manila was already a neck in front for Durkin to notice him. Now, that's expected, but back in 1986 that was un-Durkinlike.

[alecs4357]

Manila,best Turf horse in America this century.Cordero and Santos Agree.

[lutonclaret]

Its a shame Dancing Brave couldn't handle the heat out there....

[pel1can]

manila: best 3yo middle distance turf horse in the world in 1986.

[philmaywalt]

Thank you for uploading this video. The 1987 performance was even more astounding as Manila came flying from the next county to win at the wire. There is a God in heaven, for Manila, the best horse that I EVER saw run on the turf, is being inducted into the Horse Racing Hall of Fame at Saratoga on August 4th.

DaBiggdogg says...watch this....and learn