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The Breeders' Cup Classic will be run for the 25th time on October 25th, 2008. In the first 24 years of it's existence, there have been many exhilerating finishes. This is the first of a three-part series sharing some of those great finishes with you, in the hope that there will be another one in this years' renewal.

The first Breeders' Cup Classic, run in 1984, featured a finish that went a long way toward immediately estabishing the new event as the Super Bowl of horse racing. The 4-year-old Slew o' Gold was the heavy favorite to win the Classic and Horse of the Year over John Henry, who was unable to compete because of a ligament strain. Wild Again, at 31-1, was an uninvited guest, and crashed the party:

The 1987 edition came down to a showdown between the previous two Kentucky Derby winners, Ferdinand and Alysheba. The winner won Horse of the Year:

In 1988, Personal Ensign's dramatic nose-length victory over Winning Colors in the Distaff meant that the only thing that could keep Horse of the Year from the undefeated filly would be an Alysheba victory. On a sloppy track against a field that included Seeking the Gold and Forty Niner, Alysheba proved himself a Hall-of-Famer:

The 1989 Classic featured the final chapter in one the all-time great thoroughbred rivalries. Sunday Silence and Easy Goer had fought tooth and nail through the Triple Crown, Sunday Silence winning the Kentucky Derby, then nosing him out in the finish, and Easy Goer blowing him away in the Belmont. Coming into the Classic, Easy Goer was the odds-on favorite, while Sunday Silence the second choice. Watch as "patient" Pat Day waits to let Easy Goer have his head down the stretch in a desperate attempt to collar his rival at the wire:

The great horses you've seen in this entry are all available to ride in our fantastic online horse racing game; you should visit our online store and see which horses you'd like to ride to victory here at Horse Racing Fantasy!

Part II will feature the great Classic finishes in the 1990's.