Racing Breeders' Cup preview: The track has already been likened to the inside of a barrel and/or a dog track. The heat is apparently enough to make the horses sweat by just looking out of their boxes and eight time zones separate home from California. Any way you look at it, the European raiding party at the Breeders' Cup is facing an uphill battle.
And for once there is actually a hill at the Breeders' Cup. Santa Anita starts its long distance turf races off the main oval. Except the hill goes down rather than up. Those who have already backed the likes of Oasis Dream and Six Perfections in the Mile only to see them saddled with coffin draws can only think, "typical".
Just four Irish horses have ever run at Breeders' Cup meetings in California and all have failed. The British have a zero from 30 score. Only the French, with five winners, seem to thrive in the heat. Nothing much seems likely to change, except that the French might get nothing from this either.
Aidan O'Brien runs four horses including Hold That Tiger in the $4 million Classic and High Chaparral, who tries to repeat last year's Turf success. Dermot Weld has three horses, headed by the Guineas winner Refuse To Bend in the Mile. But this will be new for them all, even High Chaparral.
"What will surprise the Europeans is how hard the tracks here are. There will be no good to firm about it. It will be hard," said the former Gold Cup winner Michael Dickinson yesterday.
That sort of surface on a track that measures just seven furlongs around is hardly ideal for High Chaparral but O'Brien still insisted yesterday: "The important thing is we are going left handed and he has handled fast ground much better this year." O'Brien may fare better at Doncaster where impressive Tipperary scorer Magritte should keep up his excellent record in the Racing Post Trophy.
Yet again the Turf looks Europe's best shout but it's worth betting that the Godolphin camp supply the loudest call with Sulamani. Last year's French Derby winner has stayed in America since winning the Turf Classic and the mile-and-a-half distance should give him the edge over Storming Home. Significantly, trainer Saeed Bin Suroor said: "This is the race we have been working towards with him all year. I'm not worried about the ground and he has everything in his favour."
One man in his element will be local trainer Bobby Frankel, who is currently tied with Aidan O'Brien on 24 Grade One winners in a season. It will be a surprise if he doesn't set a new mark tonight. It took Frankel 17 years to win a Breeders' Cup race but he has won at each of the last two and has eight top-flight runners this time around. His own view is that Sightseek, in the first, has the best chance of his eight challengers, but his Peace Rules is also an intriguing contender in the Mile. Drawn perfectly in one, Peace Rules is top class on the dirt. This will be his first turf start since winning a Grade Three at two but the switch back is a tip in itself. Frankel's Heat Haze is a course winner and has a first rate chance in the Fillies and Mares where Dimitrova could be Ireland's best chance of a winner on the night.
