AFTER THE English-trained Raven's Pass led home Ireland's Henrythenavigator for a European one-two in Saturday night's €4 million Classic, it is fair to say the Breeders' Cup may never be the same again.
Considering the overall Saturday night score at Santa Anita was five to four in Europe's favour, and that was managed without a single victory for Aidan O'Brien's powerful team, the reverberations were always going to be powerful.
But since three of the initial four were on grass, and the opener, Pat Smullen's maiden Breeders' Cup victory on Muhannak, came in the new Marathon, there was a justifiable sense of entitlement on behalf of the visiting Europeans.
However, while Americans might regard Goldikova's Mile, Conduit's Turf and Donativium's Juvenile Turf victories as no more than they might be expected to concede, the same cannot be said of the Classic.
In a quarter century, only the French outsider Arcangues had landed the US's most valuable horse race. That came 15 years previously on Santa Anita's old dirt track, which by this weekend had morphed into a new, synthetic surface called Pro-Ride.
The old complaint about racing on alien dirt was the kickback: but flying muck is likely to be the fluttering of angels' wings compared to the fall-out from Saturday's Classic and the defeat of the home superstar Curlin.
Despite being backed into odds-on, America's biggest moneymaker had earned his €8 million-plus career takings on good old fashioned dirt and was unproven on the new surface. Curlin's one foray onto grass earlier in the season resulted in a defeat.
Pro-Ride was billed as the ideal meeting point between turf and dirt. For those Americans determined to pursue the line that artificial surfaces do more for animal welfare than punishing dirt, the ideal result would have been a Curlin rout, just to bolster the hope that galloping fast is the same whatever the environment. They didn't get their wish.
Curlin made his usual move before the top of the stretch but this time it wasn't a race-winner. Instead, Frankie Dettori followed him through on John Gosden's top-miler Raven's Pass, who ended up beating his old rival Henrythenavigator by a couple of lengths.
The latter's run was intriguing considering he was passed by Curlin a full half a mile out and appeared to be struggling. Yet instead of fading out, the double Guineas winner did nothing but stay on, leaving one to wonder what he might have done if actually committed to the Epsom Derby last June after all.
For Dettori, though, it was a sweet moment a decade after his lowest point when conspiring to lose a Classic chance on Swain.
It was also evocative for Gosden, who used to train in Los Angeles, while Sheikh Mohammed can be expected to relish the memory of his wife's colours finishing in front of his great Coolmore rivals for some time over the coming winter.
It will be a different story for many Americans who are dismayed at the move away from dirt racing and the consequent changes on racing as it was known across the pond.
"It was a turf race," fumed Curlin's trainer Steve Asmussen. "It was absolutely the Pro-Ride (that beat him.)"
Jockey Robbie Alborado added: "He was paddling. These horses are great turf horses and it seemed like the synthetic track played like a turf course. Curlin's been in that position turning in before and he has never lost."
