Seven Days: Breeders' Cup Sees Out the Season in Style

So long has this column been disrupted by sales and travel that this final instalment for a Flat season that seems to have whizzed by faster than ever should perhaps be renamed 28 Days. That's not to say that we are giving you four times the value, however.

The last week or so has been spent in California at the 40th running of the Breeders' Cup. Any racing event which draws some of the best racehorses from a variety of nations is a treat, and with its 14 Grade 1 races, the Breeders' Cup is the leader in this field. 

Bill Mott held the bragging rights across the two days, winning the Juvenile Fillies with the elegant Just F Y I, one of two Grade 1 winners on the first day for Justify, followed by a double on Saturday. Of Mott's three winners, Cody's Wish, very much now the 'people's horse' in America, was the one who brought the house down when the stewards announced that the result would stand. The tragic postscript to this magic finale to Cody's Wish's career was the death the following day of Cody Dorman, for whom he was named and who has played such a major role in this extraordinary story. To Cody's parents, Kelly and Leslie, and sister Kylie we offer our sincere condolences. 

The horse's stable-mate Elite Power later effectively brought up a double-double in the final race of the Breeders' Cup, as both he and Cody's Wish were winning their Breeders' Cup races for the second year running. Those two sons of Curlin retire now, respectively to Juddmonte and Darley.

From a European perspective, this year's meeting had a bit of everything. We're accustomed to seeing the major stables represented around the world, and indeed, Aidan O'Brien took home two gongs, courtesy of Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Unquestionable (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), while John Gosden joined in with the mighty Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}), and Charlie Appleby maintained his extraordinary 50 per cent strike-rate at the Breeders' Cup when Master Of The Seas (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) got the better of Mawj (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) in a Godolphin-dominated photo-finish for the Mile.

The participation of the smaller stables of Mick Appleby and Adam West brought an extra level of interest, however, and there was a collective rooting for their runners. Big Evs (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}) got the meeting off to the best possible start for the visitors, and while Live In The Dream (Ire) (Prince Of Lir {Ire}) couldn't quite sustain his blistering early pace, he still ran with great credit in fourth. 

Speaking to Matt Chapman afterwards, Adam West's disappointment was palpable and moving. “The most expensive horse in my stable cost £24,000,” said the Epsom trainer, and how he and others must look on in frustration at the yearling sales to find that expensive lot after lot is sent to one of the super-stables. 

That's not to denigrate the success of those trainers of large strings, of course, but it really would be a breath of fresh air to see the equine population spread about a bit. At the very least, it increases the potential storylines in the sport no end, as the interest in Live In The Dream and Big Evs at Santa Anita showed. 

One final point to make is that the Breeders' Cup commenced with an air of trepidation. At Santa Anita in the week building up to the event, the deaths of potential runners Geaux Rocket Ride and Practical Move, from a fracture in training and a suspected heart attack, cast a shadow. 

There was already intense veterinary scrutiny on the track and in the barns each morning, and all Breeders' Cup runners were inspected on race morning, leading to the withdrawals of Juvenile Turf favourite River Tiber (Ire) and Juvenile Turf Sprint contender Givemethebeatboys (Ire) among others on Friday morning. This understandably caused some upset for those horses' connections, and it will mean that trainers think carefully before sending horses to major events. Witness the fact that there are only three European-trained runners in the Melbourne Cup when once there would have been up to four times that number. 

The enhanced scanning and veterinary protocols add to the uncertainty, but if they save even one horse, and the worldwide reputation of horse racing in the process, then they are worthwhile and to be welcomed. We all know that we cannot completely vanquish the element of risk involved in the sport, but we must do all we can to minimise injuries and, in the worst cases, fatalities. 

Menuisier's Cross-Channel Success

One of the trainers that owners really should be taking notice of is David Menuisier. The Frenchman is probably tired of answering questions as to why he would train in England when the prize-money in his native country is so much better, but his trips home with runners should be enough to show that it doesn't matter where he is based. 

Menuisier pulled off this latest Group 1 success on October 22 with Sunway (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) in the Criterium International. The full-brother to Haras de Beaumont stallion and G1 Champion S. winner Sealiway (Fr) races in a partnership which includes his breeder Guy Pariente, Thomas Lines and Qatar Racing.

The champion breeder in France in 2021, Pariente is never far away from the top of the table, and he looks to have something of a golden touch when it comes to recruiting less-than-obvious stallions to his Haras de Colleville in Normandy. The Group 1-winning brothers, whose sire Galiway stands at Colleville, are out of a mare by another of the stud's residents in Kendargent (Fr), the horse who put the farm firmly on the map. 

Galiway, by Galileo {Ire}), is a stallion worthy of close inspection. His eight group winners include the versatile Vauban (Fr), a Group 3 winner on the Flat and multiple Grade 1 winner over hurdles. By the time you read this, the Willie Mullins-trained Vauban may also be a Melbourne Cup winner. 

Returning to the achievements of Menuisier, Sunway's Group 1 win was backed up on the same day by his stable-mate Caius Chorister (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}) scoring in the G3 Prix Belle de Nuit. Five days later the trainer returned to France to claim another stakes double, winning the G3 Prix Miesque with Tamfana (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}) and Listed Prix Isonomy with War Chimes (Fr) (Summer Front). He has at least three classy juveniles to keep him dreaming through the winter, while the progressive Caius Chorister, bred by the effervescent Clive Washbourn, looks as though she should be a major player in top staying contests next year.

Anything You Can Do…

While Justify has received a number of column inches for the success of his runners this year, which include the Group/Grade 1 turf winners City Of Troy, Opera Singer and Hard To Justify, and Grade 1 dirt winner Just F Y I, his fellow Triple Crown winner American Pharoah also deserves some plaudits.

On Saturday, he was responsible for the G1 Victoria Derby winner Riff Rocket (Aus), one of five top-level winners on the turf for American Pharoah, who has another three Grade 1 winners on the dirt. Bred by Debbie Kepitis, who co-owns Winx (Aus) and is the daughter of former Woodlands Stud owner Bob Ingham, Riff Rocket is the first Group 1 winner in the southern hemisphere for Coolmore's American Pharoah, who shuttled for four seasons from 2018.

Another result of note down under over the weekend was the victory of Japanese-trained Obamburumai (Jpn) (Discreet Cat) in the Golden Eagle at Rosehill. As a relative newcomer to the calendar, the Racing NSW spoiler for Racing Victoria's Derby Day, the Golden Eagle is not a Pattern race but it is valuable. The purse on Saturday was A$10 million, with the winner receiving A$5,250,000.

Three-year-old Obamburumai, trained by Keiji Yoshimura, was beaten just over a length on his previous start when third in the G1 NHK Mile Cup in Tokyo. He also won the G2 Keio Hai Nisai S. on the same weekend 12 months ago. This time around, that contest was claimed by Corazon Beat (Jpn), who on Saturday became the first group winner for his freshman sire Suave Richard (Jpn). The son of Heart's Cry, who stands at Shadai, won the Japan Cup at the age of five under Oisin Murphy and had also been runner-up in the Japanese Derby. He has been represented by 17 individual winners so far this year.

The Japanese team went home empty-handed from the Breeders' Cup, though Derma Sotogake (Jpn) (Mind Your Biscuits) was a running-on second in the Classic on his first start since finishing sixth in the Kentucky Derby, and Shahryar (Jpn) brought up the one-three for his sire Deep Impact (Jpn) in the Turf when finishing a length and a quarter behind Auguste Rodin.

Europe's Loss, Japan's Gain

In the coming weeks, Japan will be welcoming to its stallion barns three European Group 1 winners, two by Frankel  (GB) and one by Sea The Stars (Ire).

Between them, Adayar (Ire), Westover (GB) and Hukum (Ire) have won a Derby, Irish Derby, two King Georges, a Coronation Cup and a Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. They retire at a time when Shadwell already has Hukum's full-brother Baaeed (GB) at stud and are about to welcome Mostahdaf (Ire) (Frankel {GB}). Juddmonte already has a Classic-winning son of Frankel of a more commercial bent in Chaldean (GB) retiring to stud, and Dalham Hall Stud is now home to new recruit Triple Threat (GB), a Group 1-wining miler by Frankel, meaning that Westover and Adayar are also somewhat surplus to requirements at what might have been their respective homes in years without such an intake of new sires.

Japan's recruitment of top stallion prospects from Europe is nothing new, and it is worth reflecting that current superstar Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) is out of a mare who has the Arc winners Dancing Brave and Tony Bin (Ire) as her two grandsires. Furthermore, his imported third dam is by the dual Arc winner Alleged (who did not stand in Japan). Classy middle-distance performers remain an easier sell to breeders in Japan, and often with quite spectacular results.