In horse racing, margin of victory is usually measured in lengths, which might seem like an imprecise measure but over time has come to be standardized as the length of a horse from nose to tail, about eight feet. Ten lengths then is 80 feet, just a couple of feet longer than a tennis court. In 2006, 80 feet was the measure of a star, a 2-year-old colt who would make history on the first Saturday in May a few months later.

Street Sense was the first racehorse to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and then the Kentucky Derby, his career bolstered by a win in another traditional sophomore feature and a stud career that echoes his on-track excellence.

Homebred Hope

James Tafel came into owning Thoroughbreds later in life, but his exposure to horses came much earlier. As a young man, he exercised polo ponies for a family member before serving in England during World War II. From there, he went to the University of Pittsburgh to study business and then took a job as a salesperson for the Technical Publishing Company, which published a variety of professional magazines. He retired as the company’s president and CEO in 1983 and turned to investing in horse racing via Cot Campbell’s Dogwood Stables that same year.

Street Sense's owner-breeder Jim Tafel (Anne M. Eberhardt/BloodHorse)

With Dogwood, Tafel was a part of the ownership behind Nassipour, who won several graded stakes, including the Grade 1 Rothmans International Handicap at Woodbine and later became a leading sire in Australia. After a few seasons with Dogwood, he went out on his own, investing in fillies to race and then breed

“What typically happens is you get into the racing side of the game, and you end up with some nice fillies or mares, and their value is greater as breeding stock than selling them as empty mares,” Tafel said in 1998. “You kind of back into the breeding game, which happened to me, and very fortunately so. I’ve owned a dozen or so stakes winners, and some of the best of them have been homebreds.”

Among those were the filly Banshee Breeze, whom he co-owned with Jayeff B Stables and was trained by Carl Nafzger, who trained her sire, Unbridled, to a victory in the 1990 Kentucky Derby. The filly was second to Keeper Hill in the 1998 Kentucky Oaks then won three Grade 1 races to earn the Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old filly.

Another homebred Tafel raced in his colors was a filly named Bedazzle. Though she was not a stakes winner, she was a daughter of Pennsylvania Derby winner Dixieland Band, which made her grandsire Northern Dancer, an excellent top half of her pedigree. For her first mating, Tafel chose an unproven sire in his first season, Street Cry, who would later sire superstars Zenyatta and Winx. Owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum’s Godolphin, the son of Machiavellian had won the 2002 Dubai World Cup as well as the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap. Though he was a new stallion, his pedigree made him an ideal fit for the maiden mare.

On Feb. 23, 2004, Bedazzle foaled a gorgeous dark bay colt with a smudge of white on his forehead. Tafel would name him Street Sense.

Always a Runner

Nafzger and Tafel had been working together for two decades already when Bedazzle’s first colt came along. The pair not only had worked together with Banshee Breeze, but also with Vicar, who won the 1999 Florida Derby, and Unshaded, winner of the 2000 Travers Stakes. They knew what a good horse looked like and the first foal out of his homebred mare by a first-crop stallion proved exactly that.

When owner and trainer first visited Bedazzle’s Street Cry colt at Chesapeake Farm in Kentucky, where Tafel kept his breeding stock, the farm’s Drew Nardiello told them: “The only thing wrong with this foal is he’s too perfect. He doesn’t have anywhere to go but down.”  

Simply dominant in Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (Anne M. Eberhardt/BloodHorse)

Street Sense showed quality from the word go. He finished second in his debut at Churchill Downs and then broke his maiden in his next start at Arlington Park. For his first two stakes tries, the Arlington-Washington Breeders’ Cup Futurity and the Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity, he was third both times but still qualified for the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs. There, he would meet some of the year’s best 2-year-olds, including Scat Daddy, Circular Quay, and Great Hunter. With regular rider Calvin Borel in the saddle, Street Sense was 13^th of 14 starters early in the race and then made his move on the far turn. As the leaders went wide off the turn, Borel found running room on the rail and sent Street Sense to the lead, powering away to that 10-length win.

The 2006 edition of the Juvenile was the 23^rd, and to that point no winner had been able to add the Kentucky Derby to their résumé. Not Chief’s Crown (3^rd in 1985) or Arazi (8^th in 1992) or Timber Country (3^rd in 1995, though he did win the Preakness Stakes) had been able to take the run for the roses. Street Sense, though, had shown a liking for the track’s dirt surface and Nafzger already knew what it took to win the big race. Additionally, the Breeders’ Cup win earned talented Street Cry colt the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male. Things were looking up for team Street Sense.

Derby Fever and an Elusive Double

Tafel’s colt started 2007 at Tampa Bay Downs with a nose victory over Any Given Saturday in the Tampa Bay Derby. He then went to Keeneland for the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, where finished second in a blanket finish on the all-weather surface. On Derby day, Street Sense faced a full field of 20, again with Borel in the saddle on a dirt main track he relished.

Toward the back of the pack early in the 1 ¼-mile classic, Borel was unhurried behind Hard Spun on the lead. Six furlongs in, he was 17^th with a half-mile to go.

Street Sense under Calvin Borel wins 2007 Kentucky Derby (BloodHorse Library)

On the far turn, Borel split horses and went three wide to find a clear path for the lead. Street Sense accelerated powerfully and caught Hard Spun with ease, winning by 2 ¼ lengths. The Street Cry colt became the first to complete the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile-Kentucky Derby sweep, a feat duplicated by Nyquist in 2015-’16.

Third in the Derby was Curlin, who then turned the tables on both Street Sense and Hard Spun in the Preakness, reeling in Street Sense late to win by a nose.

Tafel and Nafzger elected to skip the Belmont Stakes and point to the Jim Dandy followed by the Travers, two of the more valuable late summer sophomore features. In the Jim Dandy, he returned to the winner’s circle with ease, saving ground near the back of the pack and then turning it on in the stretch to win by 1 ½ lengths. In the 1 ¼-mile Travers, Borel had Street Sense midpack for the first half of the race and made his move on the far turn, sweeping into the stretch and passing Grasshopper late to win by a half-length.

He started two more times, finishing second to familiar foe Hard Spun in the Kentucky Cup Classic Stakes at Turfway Park and then fourth in monsoon conditions behind eventual Horse of the Year Curlin in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on a sloppy Monmouth Park track.

On June 2, 2007, Tafel sold his Derby winner’s breeding rights to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's Darley Stud. Upon retirement, Bedazzle’s son, her first foal, went to stud at Darley’s Jonabell Farm, where he has sired 50 group or graded stakes winners through June 4, 2026, including McKinzie, First Mission, Maxfield, La Cara, Sweet Reason, Wedding Toast, Speaker’s Corner, and more.

Ultimately, Street Sense cemented his legacy as a true champion by becoming the first horse to ever pull off the elusive Breeders’ Cup Juvenile-Kentucky Derby double. His electric, rail-skimming acceleration under the Twin Spires plus his exciting turn in the Travers remain a milestone in racing history and a testament to his enduring greatness.