Drosselmeyer came flying down the center of the track to sweep past pacesetter Game On Dude just before the wire, winning the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) at odds of 14-1 on Nov. 5 at Churchill Downs, in Louisville, Ky.

The 1 1/2-length victory in the $4,545,000 event was a Classic redemption for winning jockey Mike Smith, who narrowly lost last year’s race on the same track with Horse of the Year Zenyatta in the only defeat of her career. Smith, who blamed himself for that loss, earned his 15^th Breeders’ Cup win, which tied him with Jerry Bailey for the most ever. Earlier in the day, Smith won the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I) earlier on the card aboard Amazombie.

"Compared to last year this is incredible. Last year still hurts like nothing ever before in my life," Smith told ESPN immediately afterward. "The key to this horse is you gotta’ keep him moving, gotta’ keep pedaling. He can run all day."

And for fans of the former reality television show "Jockeys," Smith, in defeating Game On Dude, edged his former girlfriend, Chantal Sutherland, who was aboard the hard-luck runner-up