Charlie Appleby is confident that Notable Speech (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) has all the attributes to thrive at Del Mar when the G1 2,000 Guineas and G1 Sussex Stakes hero attempts to become his trainer's fourth straight winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Mile.
Appleby certainly knows what is required to win the $2 million-prize, having struck with Space Blues (Ire) in 2021, Modern Games (Ire) in 2022 and Master Of The Seas (Ire) in 2023.
Notable Speech will need to bounce back from a below-par effort in last month's G1 Prix du Moulin at Longchamp if he is to continue that winning sequence, but Appleby is taking the positives from his trip to the French capital, with the return to a sounder surface at Del Mar expected to be in his favour, too.
“America is still the aim and he's in good order,” said the trainer. “We're just going through the motions at the minute, but we'll start to wind him up over the coming weeks.
“Until you have actually been on one of those trips, you don't really know, but we were pleased at Longchamp by the way he conducted himself on the travelling side of it. We had to try the ground to know whether we were going to go to Ascot [for the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes] or not, but the one box he did tick is he travelled well.
“Going to America, you would say he is tailor-made for the mile. He will be going a couple of turns and he travels well. All we do need on the day is a good draw.”
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