Round up the usual suspects. Once again, the European footprint on pre-entries for the 36th Breeders' Cup finds its principal match in the familiar shoes of Aidan O'Brien; and they are found almost exclusively on the turf. For even those commendably adventurous gentlemen who employ O'Brien appear reluctant to stem the modern trend–despite some famous rewards for rolling the dice in years past–not to try European horses in the dirt races.
True, the Ballydoyle team has entered a colt and filly, both by War Front, for the respective 2-year-old races on the main track. In both cases, however, the horse in question has been nominated with a first preference for an alternative on grass: King Neptune favouring the GI Juvenile Turf Sprint; and Etoile, the GI Juvenile Fillies Turf.
One straw remains to be clutched, in that the stable's formal preferences are not necessarily definitive. For while its flagbearer Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) has been given a paper preference for the GI Turf, the intention is actually to line her up against her own sex–not least defending champion Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire})–in the GI Filly & Mare version.
This “Iron Lady” has already bounced out of one gruelling Group 1 test in taxing ground–when fifth to Waldgeist (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) in the Arc–to win the G1 Qipco Champion S. just 13 days later. But the culpably parochial timing of that race, just a fortnight before the Breeders' Cup, means that she must reiterate the toughness she showed in overcoming an identical programme last year, when she won the distaff race at Ascot and then gave Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) such a fright at Churchill Downs. That followed a rather lighter campaign, however: Santa Anita will be her eighth consecutive start at the highest level since resuming with Group 3 and 2 wins back in the spring.
Her reward is now imminent, as Magical is booked to visit her owners' flourishing young stallion No Nay Never in the spring. In the meantime, O'Brien reports that she has come out of her Ascot exertions with all her usual resilience.
“She has an unbelievable constitution, and an unbelievable mind,” the trainer said yesterday. “She's very powerful and strong, and it's incredible what she's done all the way through from her 2-year-old days. She has progressed all this year, we just had her ticking over early with the autumn in mind, and we couldn't ask her to do more than she's doing now.
“She loves it, every morning you meet her she has the same attitude. She doesn't hold any grudges, she's always willing to know what you want her to do that day. A horse can change a lot in 12 or 24 hours at this time of year, but everyone who rides and looks after her says they are very happy with her since Saturday.”
Should Magical's fuel gauge finally enter the red, O'Brien has an interesting back-up following the same hectic schedule as Magical. Fleeting (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) is arguably unlucky not to have won both on Arc day, when narrowly failing to get up in the G1 Prix de l'Opera, and at Ascot last Saturday, again meeting traffic when fourth in the Qipco British Champions Fillies & Mares S.
“She ran a great race again and just hasn't always been getting the clearest of runs,” O'Brien said. “Donnacha [O'Brien] was just looking for a clean run on the inside but that's racing. She ran well in America too, earlier on, and she's very versatile. Just Wonderful (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) will probably run too, she loves fast ground and travels well through her races.”
Magical and O'Brien are both well accustomed to finding John Gosden obstructing them at the top level, and he has given Fanny Logan (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) the opportunity to crown her improvement since being fitted with a hood–she made her group breakthrough with a fourth consecutive success at Newmarket earlier this month–in this race. Curiously, however, Britain's premier trainer has not mustered any other entries at a track that he called home for 10 years.
The other raider accompanying Magical is Billesdon Brook (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}), who won her second Group 1 prize on returning to the course and distance of last year's 66-1 Classic success in the Sun Chariot S. earlier this month.
With Magical keeping female company, her stablemate Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) will top the bill in the Turf as he bids to restore a Classic lustre of his own. He has been beaten three times since Epsom, but started to rebuild after a disappointing run in the King George when third to Magical herself in the G1 Qipco Irish Champion S. and has been freshened up with this target in mind.
“The only blot in his copybook was in the soft ground at Ascot, where we shouldn't have run him,” O'Brien said. “I don't think he has to have the mile and a half but the ground is key and he should get the conditions he wants out there.”
Mount Everest (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) represents an intriguing option for the stable in this race. The son of GI Breeders' Cup Mile winner Six Perfections (Fr) (Celtic Swing {GB}) was a smart juvenile but only resumed in September, regaining the winner's enclosure in a listed race at Leopardstown a few days ago.
“We always liked him as a 2-year-old,” O'Brien said. “He just had a setback and it has taken a while to get him back. But he's a great mover and wouldn't have liked the ground at Leopardstown. The plan is to keep him in training and we feel the whole experience will do him good.”
Quite apart from the indigenous champion Bricks And Mortar (Giant's Causeway), Anthony Van Dyck and Mount Everest will be accompanied from Europe by a formidable rival in Old Persian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). He returned to the form of his big win in Dubai earlier this year when making a successful reconnaissance of the North American opposition in the GI Northern Dancer Turf S. at Woodbine.
Old Persian's trainer Charlie Appleby has excelled at the Breeders' Cup and is again majoring in quality not quantity, his only other entry being the colt who contributed to his record at the meeting when winning the Juvenile Turf at Churchill last year. Line Of Duty (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) has not won since, but ran well when third to Circus Maximus (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G1 Prix du Moulin and now follows that Ballydoyle colt to the Mile.
“We were delighted with Circus Maximus the last day,” O'Brien said. “The plan after that was always the Breeders' Cup Mile, and we think the track will really suit him. He's a very consistent horse who'll never win very far, which is a good thing, he doesn't overdo himself.”
Like Mount Everest, Circus Maximus carries the silks of the Niarchos family, who have such a wonderful record in the Mile. They also have Albigna (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), whose G1 Prix Marcel Boussac success contributed to another fine Flat season for Jessica Harrington, in the Juvenile Fillies' Turf.
Overall there is plenty of European representation across the juvenile turf races, with Simon Crisford notably saddling a plausible pair for the GI Juvenile Turf Sprint in A'Ali (Ire) (Society Rock {Ire}) and Al Raya (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}), while G1 Dewhurst S. runner-up Arizona (Ire) (No Nay Never) brings top-class form to the GI Juvenile Turf.
The addition of races like this to the series in recent years last year culminated in a record 37 European runners over the two days, and the pre-entries suggest the raiding party may not fall much short this time. Besides the two Ballydoyle juveniles, the only raiders to have been given an entry on the main track are both reserves for the Dirt Mile. Of these, Trais Fluors (GB) (Dansili {GB}) is also on the bench for his priority, the turf equivalent; while Ambassadorial (Elusive Quality) appears to have a lot to find.
Craig Fravel, the outgoing Breeders' Cup president and CEO, sounded reconciled to the loss of ambition in Europe since the days of Arazi (Blushing Groom {Fr}), Arcangues (Sagace {Fr}) and Johannesburg (Hennessy), not to mention valiant near-misses like Giant's Causeway (Storm Cat), Sakhee (Bahri), Swain(Ire) (Nashwan) and Declaration Of War (War Front).
“When you talk to European horsemen about the Breeders' Cup, their first reaction is always that they'll be there if they have something good enough,” he said. “But that question just becomes that bit harder to answer, when it comes to the dirt races. We all know that training and racing on synthetics, as they do, is very different from dirt. It just becomes that much more uncertain, though who knows what the future may hold in terms of the surfaces here. That's something the industry here continues to examine.”
In that connection, he is confident that European horsemen will buy into the enhanced welfare protocols at Santa Anita in view of its troubled start to the year.
“No jurisdiction in the world has been safer than Southern California since the beginning of June,” he said. “There's been some extraordinary work done, and no stone has been left unturned. Dora Delgado and her team have been very active and we think European horsemen are well aware of what restrictions and protocols are now in place. I don't think they will find it at all difficult, to be compliant, a lot of it will be very familiar to them already.
“We know everyone is doing their best,” agreed O'Brien. “I'm very confident everything will be as good as it can be.”
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