Our latest Breeders’ Cup update focuses on a plethora of potential European contenders – but they are unlikely to include Ace Impact to judge from Jean-Claude Rouget’s words
‘I am a fan of European racing – I am not a fan of American racing’
Er, well, fair enough, Jean-Claude, it’s up to you, of course. Each to their own, as they say, beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all that.
Nevertheless, Monsieur Rouget’s pith – as reported from the post-Arc press conference by my esteemed former Racing Post colleague Lee Mottershead – possibly wasn’t quite what Breeders’ Cup organisers were hoping for when they scheduled five ‘Win and You’re In’ races at ParisLongchamp last weekend.
Arc hero Ace Impact catapults to #2 on world rankings
To be fair, Rouget did elaborate with some flummery about preferring the wide open spaces of Europe to tight American ovals but whichever way you cut it, it doesn’t look much like the outstanding Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Ace Impact will be going anywhere near Santa Anita next month.
That’s if he goes anywhere near any racetrack again, since there’s a lucrative life at stud beckoning for the unbeaten son of Cracksman following his stunning burst to land Europe’s richest race on Sunday [Oct 1].
Fortunately for all concerned – not least Breeders’ Cup president Drew Fleming, manfully banging the international drum in Paris – not everyone on the European side of the pond entirely agrees with the estimable Arc-winning trainer.
In fact, far from eschewing the North American championships, no sooner had a number of horses crossed the line in the Bois de Boulogne than their connections were avidly eyeing a visit to Santa Anita (see list below, including the Arc second and third).
The one I’d really like to mention is Opera Singer, who stamped herself as clearly Europe’s top two-year-old filly with a five-length drubbing of her rivals in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac, a ‘Win and You’re In’ qualifier for the BC Juvenile Fillies’ Turf.
No wonder that the filly – trained by Aidan O’Brien, naturally – was cut to favouritism for next year’s 1,000 Guineas. Even allowing for the vagaries of transatlantic travel, the daughter of Triple Crown winner Justify will surely be a warm order at Santa Anita, immediately nominated as her end-of-season target.
O’Brien was busily nominating others for Santa Anita at the weekend – among them Unquestionable and Henry Adams, second and fourth in the G1 Jean-Luc Lagardere, plus former Classic favourite River Tiber, third in the G1 Middle Park behind star juvenile Vandeek.
Opera Singer, though, looks a different type of gravy. After a series of narrow defeats, O’Brien finally broke his duck in the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf 12 months ago with Meditate. Given a fair wind for Opera Singer, hopes will be high he won’t have to wait quite as long for his second winner.
Looking ahead, a clutch of potential European contenders for the Breeders’ Cup will be prepping in the US this weekend. Scratched on Saturday just gone owing to the heavy rain at the Big A, Dubai World Cup runner-up Algiers has been re-routed north of the border to Canada for the G3 Durham Cup.
The seven-day postponement of the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic also means we’ll now see BC Turf winner Rebel’s Romance this weekend instead; Godolphin stablemate Master Of The Seas will be well fancied for the $1m Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland.
The Kentucky venue also hosts shock Nunthorpe Stakes winner Live In The Dream for the unheralded trainer-jockey partnership of Epsom-based Adam West and apprentice Sean Kirrane.
After their giant-killing exploits at York, they’re trying to add another chapter in the fairytale via the G2 Woodford en route to the BC Turf Sprint. Be warned: by European standards, this gelding broke like a shot from a gun in the Nunthorpe.
Nothing truly startling emerged from a multitude of BC preps over the weekend in the US, where Cody’s Wish and Adare Manor were businesslike enough as 1-10 shots (or thereabouts) in their respective trials. Cody’s Wish, admittedly, encountered a degree of resistance from a horse he ought to brushed aside in the Vosburgh but it[’s not as if Junior Alvaraod was hard on him and he won convincingly in the end.
As for Adare Manor, it is interesting to muse that not so long ago she would have been going to the BC Distaff as a three- or four-time G1 winner. While the races she has been winning have rightly lost their top-level status, she’ll be at home again in four weeks’ time.
So much has been going on in the last week that it’s easy to forget Dubai World Cup winner Ushba Tesoro’s winning return to action in Japan after a six-month layoff. ICYMI, here he is scoring in G2 local G2 grade at Funabashi on the NAR second-tier circuit. Next up comes the BC Classic.
Woodward winner Zandon and Slow Down Andy also booked their tickets for America’s richest race over the weekend, though I couldn’t help grinning at Brad Free’s comment about the latter in his Daily Racing Form report on an all-the-way win in the G1 Awesome Again.
“The competition will be tougher, the pace scenario could be challenging, and the mile-and-quarter distance of the BC Classic might be a reach for Slow Down Andy,” he said. But apart from that, he’s got every chance, right?
From Paris to Pasadena: who’s on their way to Santa Anita?
Blue Rose Cen
WON Prix de l’Opera – BC Filly & Mare Turf
Christopher Head (trainer): “For sure she will stay in training at four. She’s nominated for the Breeders’ Cup, but we will have to discuss that.”
Highfield Princess
WON Prix de l’Abbaye – BC Turf Sprint
John Quinn (trainer): “She’s a mare in good form at the right time of the year. We’ll go home and we’ll look at her but I’ll be strongly suggesting to Mr Fairley [owner] we should be really thinking about it.”
Kelina
WON Prix de la Foret – BC Mile
Pierre-Yves Bureau (racing manager to Wertheimers): “She could tackle that [BC Mile] and she could stay in training next year if Carlos [Laffon-Parias, trainer] thinks she is in the right condition.” (speaking to Thoroughbred Daily News)
Kinross
2nd Prix de la Foret – BC Mile
Ralph Beckett (trainer): “We will see how he goes, I don’t know yet [about the BC Mile]. We were second best on the day and that’s it. We weren’t good enough.”
Onesto
3rd Arc – BC Turf
Fabrice Chappet (trainer): “He found himself a long way back but he had a good race in the slipstream of the winner. Unfortunately, older horses who carry three kilos more than the three-year-olds don't go as fast. For the futurem it would be logical to go and compete in the Breeders’ Cup.”
Opera Singer
WON Prix Marcel Boussac – BC Juvenile Fillies’ Turf
Aidan O'Brien (trainer): “It’s very possible, obviously it will depend on what the lads want to do, but she is by Justify and has plenty of experience if they want to go there.”
Shouldvebeenaring
3rd Prix de la Foret – BC Mile
Tom Palin (director of racing for owners Middleham Park): “This may be the last time that he encounters good ground this year, but the Breeders' Cup is also a possibility. Several stud farms have tabled offers to stand him as a stallion.” (speaking to Thoroughbred Daily News)
Westover
2nd Arc – BC Turf
Ralph Beckett (trainer): “I’ve always fancied the Breeders’ Cup Turf for him because he’s a horse who enjoys his time away as we saw in Dubai. The Breeders’ Cup Turf is shaping up to be the best ever but that’s life and I think we’ll probably go. One day he will win his big race.”
UPDATE: Arc second Westover suffers career-ending injury
… and also at Newmarket
Carla’s Way
WON G2 Rockfel Stakes (Newmarket, Sept 29) – BC Juvenile Fillies’ Turf
Ed Crisford (co-trainer): “She is in the Fillies’ Mile, but I think Santa Anita would suit this filly well and she likes quick ground, as we saw today so we have got to seriously think about that. Until I speak to the owner [Shaikh Duaij Al Khalifa], and we make a plan and a decision, I’m not sure what we do but I think she would suit Santa Anita for sure.”
Mutasaabeq
WON G2 Joel Stakes (Newmarket, Sept 29) – BC Mile
Charlie Hills (trainer): “We will certainly think about it. What do you do with a horse that has won three G2s? He is a good miler, and he likes fast ground. I’m sure he will handle the trip. He only needs to improve a couple of lengths with the travel and the conditions and you never quite know. A track like this the mile tests his stamina, but a two-turn mile will suit him ideally.”
Porta Fortuna
WON G1 Cheveley Park Stakes (Newmarket, Sept 30) – BC Juvenile Fillies’ Turf
Donnacha O’Brien (trainer): “She is a smart filly – we’ve had the Breeders' Cup on our agenda for some time as she's owned by an American syndicate, so it has always been the plan to go to Santa Anita. We’ll train her for the 1,000 Guineas next year and run her in a trial over seven furlongs. Then we'll make a decision whether she goes sprinting or goes a mile.”
NB: coming soon to a racetrack near you
Coppice
WON Rosemary Stakes (Listed) (Newmarket, Sept 29)
John Gosden (co-trainer): “There is a very strong possibility she will go to America now. We have discussed it before as she is a filly that will fit the racing well there. She will win Group races there on fast ground around a turning track.”
• Visit the Breeders’ Cup website and the Breeders’ Cup Challenge web page
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View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses / jockeys / trainers