Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy) looks likely to prep for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in the U.S., with trainer Aidan O'Brien nominating the GIII Dwyer S. at Belmont Park on July 7 and the GI Pennsylvania Derby in late September as targets.
“We're training him for a race at Belmont–a Group 3 on the dirt–which is the same day as the [G1 Coral-Eclipse],” O'Brien said. “He'll either go for the Eclipse or Belmont and it looks like he'll go to America. We're thinking that's where he'll go, then the Pennsylvania Derby before the Classic. Come the Classic, he'll hopefully be there all guns blazing.”
For the Classic, Mendelssohn will be returning to the scene of his last-place finish in last month's GI Kentucky Derby, where he received a severe bump in the slop leaving the starting gate and was later eased.
“We knew before that on the slop it would be a different world,” O'Brien said. “Ryan [Moore] always felt he was a dirt horse but he'd never been on the slop before. It was over very quickly and he just looked after him. It was a good experience for us.”
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