Sinatra, Pythagoras and Morley Street all part of unique history

1 The Breeders' Cup was the brainchild of leading owner-breeder John Gaines, master of Gainesway Farm. At the Kentucky Derby Festival awards luncheon in 1982 he tabled the proposal for racing's answer to the Super Bowl via a new end-of-year championship series in which no race would be worth less than $1 million.

2 Eight racetracks bid for the first Breeders' Cup in 1984 before Hollywood Park got the nod. Frank Sinatra performed at the gala party on the eve of the event for a crowd featuring movie luminaries such as Elizabeth Taylor, Jimmy Stewart, Joan Collins and Gregory Peck. Sinatra's rendition of Cup anthem The Best Is Yet To Come is the best-known version of the song,

3 A black eye figured among the many reasons forwarded for the stunning defeat of Dancing Brave in the 1986 Breeders' Cup Turf, after which the colt reportedly emerged with a bruised left eye, hit by a clod of turf. Trainer Guy Harwood preferred to blame himself, suggesting the race was treated as an afterthought. "It was probably a mistake to run," he said.