WATCH: 2015 Breeders' Cup highlights: Keeneland revisited as action returns to Lexington, Kentucky in 2020

Adele was bossing the UK music charts on the weekend of October 30-31, 2015, while it was a rather more upbeat ‘hello from the other side’ of the Atlantic as the Breeders’ Cup returned to spiritual home Lexington and, until this year at least, Keeneland played host for the one and only time in the meeting’s history.

Triple Crown hero American Pharoah took top billing and didn’t disappoint his army of fans, but America’s swaggering sweetheart wasn’t the only major story to emerge after no fewer than 120 Group/Grade 1 winners clashed across the 13 races in Kentucky.

As we continue to gear up for the first weekend in November, let’s look back at some of the standout moments from one of the most competitive championships in the history of the event.

American Pharoah seals legendary status

What a way to bow out.

In 2015 the Bob Baffert-trained American Pharoah ended the 46-year wait for an American Triple Crown hero, and even had the audacity to add the Belmont Stakes and Haskell Invitational to his bulging G1 resume, before suffering a shock defeat in the Travers heading into the fall.

Was he on the decline, and could he bounce straight back on his first Keeneland appearance in the Breeders’ Cup Classic?

Punters had clearly kept the faith, voting with their cash (he was sent off the 4/6 favourite), and right from the gate he went out to blitz his seven rivals.

Not for a second did the end result appear in any doubt.

The giant horse settled beautifully on the front end, led them a merry dance and simply crushed his rivals as Victor Espinoza said go heading into the final turn.

‘A Triple Crown winner. A Breeders’ Cup winner. A horse of a lifetime!’ Too right.

Found flies the flag for O’Brien

Found never won a race above Group 3 level on home soil but having wound up victorious in a Marcel Boussac, Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and Breeders’ Cup Turf, she must go down as one of Ballydoyle’s greatest ever globetrotters.

The year before she won the Arc on her eighth start of the campaign, the durable daughter of Galileo went to Keeneland and duly beat the 2015 Derby and Arc winner Golden Horn on – you guessed it – her eighth start of the campaign.

Golden Horn was sluggish from the stalls and, for a couple of strides, had to be bustled along by Frankie Dettori which just lit him up a fraction in the early stages.

That ultimately contributed to his downfall, but Ryan Moore was deadly on Found, biding his time as Shining Copper set a ridiculous gallop all by himself out in front.

Dettori was first to commit and chase the ‘rabbit’ down, but Moore and Found just stalked him effortlessly and picked him off inside the final furlong.

As an aside, Aidan O’Brien has still yet to win a Breeders’ Cup race restricted to fillies-only.

Hit It A Bomb defies wide berth

It was a good weekend for O’Brien, whose two wins were the only real highlights for the European contingent.

Hit It A Bomb got the raiders off to a flier with a most unlikely victory from stall 14 of 14 in what was then the Breeders’ Cup Friday card opener – the Juvenile Turf.

The first day is now reserved for the two-year-old races only and billed as Future Stars Friday – something Hit It A Bomb looked all over when flashing home late to deny local 4/1 favourite Airoforce by a neck.

It wasn’t to be, sadly, the son of War Front failing to register another win from four starts at three before heading into retirement.

But this was great drama and more evidence that Moore was without question right at the top of his game at the time.

Tepin assumes control of Mile division

If you’re seriously considering backing a hold-up horse in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Mile, take a look back at Tepin’s win five years ago.

The first turn comes up quick as a flash at Keeneland and the blistering gate speed shown by Mark Casse’s filly was to prove critical.

She ended up with the perfect stalk-and-pounce trip as Julien Leparoux allowed 33/1 outsider Obviously a soft lead, and it was going to take an outrageous stretch run for anything to gun her down after they’d crawled the opening half mile in 48 seconds.

In fairness to David O’Meara’s Mondialiste, who was buried away at the back early and still had seven horses in front of him approaching the furlong-marker, he couldn’t have done much more in the circumstances.

But the bird had flown and a star was born – Tepin went on to win her next six, including the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, in a remarkable sequence of nine wins on the bounce.

And she almost pulled off the Mile double when adopting the role of agonising closer, coming up half a length short behind Tourist, at Santa Anita the following November.

Kitten purrs one last time in Filly & Mare Turf

Chad Brown already had five Breeders’ Cup scores to his name heading into the 2015 edition, but it was arguably Keeneland where his reputation for top-level turf horses, and fillies in particular, really went up to the next level on a global scale.

That was, in part, down to Stephanie’s Kitten who was already a Grade 1 winner for Wayne Catalano but was moved to Brown’s barn with a view to landing the big one.

It almost immediately paid off, the daughter of Kitten’s Joy finishing second in the 2014 Filly & Mare Turf at Santa Anita on just her sixth start for the stable.

Her next campaign was executed to perfection, gradually building through the year and peaking on October 31 when she claimed the scalp of odds-on shot Legatissimo, David Wachman’s 1000 Guineas, Nassau Stakes and Matron Stakes heroine.

The favourite looked to have the upper hand halfway down the stretch as she got rolling on the outside, but Stephanie’s Kitten made relentless headway between rivals and was punched out by Irad Ortiz Jr in typical fashion to seal the deal.

It proved to be the Kentucky-bred filly’s final public appearance.

Nyquist gives huge hint at what’s to come

Nyquist wasn’t quite able to reach the same heights after peaking at three with a superb victory in the 2016 Kentucky Derby.

He had enjoyed the perfect prep going into the opening leg of the Triple Crown, having won the G2 San Vincente Stakes at Santa Anita and the G1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream earlier in his three-year-old campaign, but it all really began for the son of Uncle Mo at the Breeders’ Cup the previous year.

He’d bagged a couple of Grade 1s at short odds out at Del Mar and Santa Anita but was only joint-second choice for the 2015 Juvenile, where he faced Dale Romans’ local monster Brody’s Cause and the well-touted Greenpointcrusader, representing unofficial king of Kentucky, Todd Pletcher.

As has often been the case, the dirt horses shipping east ultimately dominated proceedings with Nyquist seeing off fellow west coaster Swipe, who he’d also been beating up in the Del Mar Futurity and the Frontrunner.

A trademark sweeping move at the quarter-pole stood Nyquist apart from the others and from that point he was clearly too tough, too classy and just too quick for the rest to run down.