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Beckett Back For More At Breeders’ Cup

LEXINGTON, KY–This year’s European contingent at the Breeders’ Cup includes a handful of accomplished trainers sending out their first runners at the meeting-the likes of Michael Bell, James Fanshawe, Nigel Tinkler, John Quinn and Ger Lyons. They will, no doubt, all be hoping to follow in the mould of trainer Ralph Beckett, who won with his first ever Breeders’ Cup starter, Muhannak (Ire) (Chester House), in the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Marathon at Santa Anita Park.

The Andover-based Beckett has exhibited a special touch with fillies over his 20-year career as a trainer; his three Classic wins have come with Look Here (GB) (Hernando {Fr}) and Talent (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) in the G1 Oaks of 2008 and 2013, and with Simple Verse (Ire) (Duke of Marmalade {Ire}), who in 2015 became the first filly in 22 years to win the G1 St Leger. Beckett’s last runner at the Breeders’ Cup was Qatar Racing’s filly Secret Gesture (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) when the meeting was last at Keeneland in 2015; she finished seventh in the GI Filly & Mare Turf, having been disqualified from first to third in the GI Beverly D. S. in her prior run.

Beckett returns to the Breeders’ Cup after a five-year hiatus with a pair of 2-year-olds for the GI Juvenile Turf: Amo Racing and Arjun Waney’s Devilwala (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) and Marc Chan’s New Mandate (Ire), a gelded first crop son of New Bay (GB).

Beckett has supervised his two charges’ exercise the past two mornings astride a pony on Keeneland’s all-weather training track, and he said they will take their first spin over the turf course on Thursday.

“They’ve traveled over very well and handled it all very well so we’re in good shape,” Beckett said. “They look well, they’ve been on the training track yesterday and today and they’ll breeze on the turf on Thursday morning around the bend and just get a feel of it.

“I walked the course on Tuesday night and it’s in excellent shape. They both handle fast ground; it isn’t what you’d call fast here but it’s quick enough for what they’re used to at home.”

Devilwala and New Mandate endured contrasting fortunes at the draw; Devilwala will exit gate 13 under Rossa Ryan, while New Mandate jumps from gate two under Frankie Dettori.

Beckett was straightforward in his assessment of Devilwala’s draw in light of the fact that he will have a short run into the first turn going a mile.

“Devilwala goes forward, so that’s a problem, but there’s not much we can do about that,” the trainer said. “He’ll have to take his medicine or land close to the pace, whichever way it is. But we’ll certainly ride him positively; he needs that.”

Devilwala, a 220,000gns purchase by Alex Elliott and Blandford Bloodstock at the Tattersalls Craven breeze-up sale on June 25, broke his maiden at first asking at Haydock in August for trainer Archie Watson before finishing second in the G2 Gimcrack S. and seventh in the G2 Mill Reef S. He was transferred to Beckett prior to running fourth over the soft ground in the G1 Dewhurst S. on Oct. 10, far outrunning his odds of 100-1.

“It was an extraordinary run in the sense that it was certainly the owner’s decision to run there rather than mine,” Beckett reflected. “I was going along for the ride, effectively. He ran way above my expectations based on what he’d shown at home. He doesn’t show very much at home; he hides his light under a bushel so we were delighted with his effort and he’s trained very well since.”

New Mandate, meanwhile, has been in Beckett’s care for some time: he was part of a group of five staying-bred yearlings bought at the yearling sales last year for a group spearheaded by Beckett and agent Alex Elliott with the intention to sell on later in their careers. Being by G1 Prix du Jockey Club winner New Bay and out of a mare by Derby winner Authorized (Ire), it is easy to see why New Mandate fit that bill, and he was picked up at Arqana’s August Yearling Sale for €35,000. Beckett said, however, the gelding came to hand much faster than anticipated and was thus sold on to new Hong Kong-based owner Marc Chan after breaking his maiden in a Sandown handicap at third asking in September. New Mandate has subsequently won his two starts for Chan: the Listed Flying Scotsman S. on Sept. 11 and the G2 Royal Lodge S. on Sept. 26.

“We set out last year to buy five yearlings with staying pedigrees for the market at the end of their 3-year-old careers,” Beckett said. “We weren’t expecting him to show the speed he has, and when a good offer came in from Jamie McCalmont, who used to employ Alex and is an old ally of mine as well, it made very good sense for a trading syndicate. We were delighted to do a deal for Mr. Chan and it’s worked out well so far, so let’s hope that continues on Friday.”

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Rossi Aims To Seal Best Season With BC Win

For several centuries, Chantilly has been considered the heartland of the French racing industry and the hub for the country’s major trainers. But in recent years, a number of names have proved that it is possible to dine at racing’s top table while maintaining the bulk of your stable away from the Paris region.

Currently leading the trainers’ list and set to be crowned champion for the third time is Jean-Claude Rouget, whose main stable is in Pau but who also has a fairly major satellite operation farther north in Deauville. He leads the Chantilly duo of Andre Fabre and Francis Graffard, and in fourth, after a breakthrough season, is Marseille-based Frederic Rossi.

Rossi is a familiar name in the French provinces, where the trainer’s father Henri carved a hugely successful niche in the saddle, mopping up the major provincial races in which the Parisian jockeys would rarely be sighted. Henri turned his hand to training and was followed in this profession by Frederic and his brother Jacques, who now no longer trains but has in turn been followed by his two sons Charley and Cedric.

For Frederic, this strange year following racing’s spring shutdown could hardly have started in better fashion when Dream And Do (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) became her trainer’s first Group 1 and Classic winner in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches. The season has ended pretty well, too, with juvenile Sealiway (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) posting one of the most impressive performances of the Arc meeting in winning the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere by eight lengths. In a year of firsts, Rossi will next week make his Breeders’ Cup debut as Sealiway attempts to round off his year in style in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

He says, “Sealiway left France on 30 October and it’s very exciting for us to have our first runner in America at the Breeders’ Cup. It could be the perfect end to what has so far been a very good year.”

That very good year could have been an extraordinary one had Alkuin (Ire) (Maxios {GB}) not been run down close home by Princess Zoe (Ger) (Jukebox Jury {Ire}) in the G1 Prix du Cadran 24 hours before Sealiway’s memorable triumph. As it was, the meeting will long be remembered by the extended Rossi family as Frederic’s nephews Charley and Cedric saddled the winner and the third in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac, Tiger Tanaka (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire}) and Rougir (Fr) (Territories {Ire}). The latter followed up that performance with victory in the G3 Prix des Reservoirs at Deauville on Oct. 20.

“It has been a bit of a strange year because it was the year of Covid, so for most people it has been a bad year but for me it has actually been very good,” says Rossi, who, like his nephews is based at Calas training centre near Marseille in the south of France. “I knew I had a good 2-year-old last year when Dream And Do won the Prix Miesque, and she went through the winter perfectly and managed to confirm how good she was in the Guineas.”

Only Rouget has trained more winners this year than Rossi, whose tally at the time of writing was 95. It is a figure all the more remarkable given that the 52-year-old has had something of a stop-start career since he took out his training licence in 1992. For ten years he was employed as a private trainer for one of France’s leading owner-breeders, Jean-Claude Seroul, and, though that arrangement ceased in 2017, Rossi currently trains three horses for Seroul.

“I started again four years ago with four horses and I now also have a team of about 25 at a satellite stable in Chantilly,” says Rossi, who has raced 144 different horses this season. “I received a few new horses, like Alkuin, and the 2-year-olds came in and they were a good bunch.”

He continues, “When you start working as a trainer you dream of having runners at the Arc meeting. It was an unbelievable day. To have Charley winning with Tiger Tanaka and Cedric being third, as well as Alkuin being second in the Cadran. It was just amazing.”

Dream And Do was sold privately to Katsumi Yoshida’s Northern Farm not long after her Classic success and is no longer with Rossi. Sealiway has swiftly taken her place as stable star and races for a partnership of two of Rossi’s major patrons, the colt’s breeder Guy Pariente, who also stands Sealiway’s sire Galiway at his Haras de Colleville, and the Chehboub family’s Haras de la Gousserie, which has 13 horses in training with Rossi.

The trainer says, “When I worked for Jean-Claude Seroul I had very good horses in training and that gave me great experience in learning how to travel horses. Then when I got new owners and the Calas training centre was improved it was a huge help. We used to have 30 yearlings in training every year and now we have 50 and the quality has also gone up. Haras de la Gousserie have started to invest and sent me better horses and the timing was perfect.”

Rossi continues, “But all of us [who train in the south] have to thank Jean-Claude Rouget for showing us what was possible. He made us think bigger. In the old days when you were in Marseille or the west you didn’t move from there unless you had a really good horse, and then it was likely that the horse would be sold. Now it doesn’t matter where you are based. You can train in Calas or in Chantilly and go to places like Royal Ascot.”

The trainer now pays a weekly visit to his smaller team in Chantilly, where he once served as assistant trainer to John Hammond.

“This is the second year I have had horses there and I go up on Wednesday evening and then watch them at exercise on Thursday morning,” he explains. “I send up the horses who I feel are better suited to the Parisian programme and the only way that works is to have someone you really trust. Juando Chavarrias runs the yard there and he works so well with me.”

In Sealiway, Rossi is of course entitled to dream of further Classic success in 2021, but first there is one final important engagement this year in Kentucky.

He says of his first Breeders’ Cup challenger, “To begin with Sealiway was regarded as a fast horse, a six-furlong horse, but then I realised that was maybe not the case, so we went to the Prix Roland Chambure and he got a bit lost over seven. Though he’s fast he needs some time to find his momentum. As he has matured he has got better with his early speed but he still needs time to work his way into a race.”

Sealiway, who won one of the first 2-year-old races of the season in France when racing resumed on May 12, has now triumphed in four of his six starts, with all his wins coming on ground ranging between good to soft and heavy, as it was at ParisLongchamp for Arc weekend.

Rossi continues, “It looks like the ground at Keeneland could be softer than usual. The soft ground at Longchamp may have helped him a bit but perhaps not as much as one might think. He has been maturing all season and he peaked at that time.”

The trainer is also unconcerned about Sealiway stepping up to a mile for the first time at the Breeders’ Cup.

“Next year we will probably start him in the Prix de Fontainebleau before the Guineas, but I think he will stay farther so I wouldn’t rule out the [Prix du] Jockey Club,” he says. “But first we will see what happens at the Breeders’ Cup. This is a great way to end this year we are very excited about going to America.”

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Cox-Trained ‘Future Stars’ Log Final Workouts Ahead Of Breeders’ Cup

With one week remaining until “Future Stars Friday” at the Breeders' Cup World Championships, trainer Brad Cox's 2-year-old trio of Abarta (Juvenile Turf), Aunt Pearl (Juvenile Fillies Turf) and Essential Quality (Juvenile) logged their final works on Friday morning at Churchill Downs.

Godolphin's undefeated $400,000 Breeders' Futurity (Grade I) winner Essential Quality was the first of the Cox workers at 9 a.m. (all times Eastern). With Florent Geroux aboard, Essential Quality worked five furlongs in 1:01 outside of Flurry Racing's multiple graded stakes winner Mr. Misunderstood. The duo clipped through early fractions of :12.2 and :24.1, according to Churchill Downs clocker John Nichols.

Moments later, Donegal Racing and Newton Anner Stud Farm's $200,000 Bourbon (GII) runner-up Abarta worked a half-mile in :47.60 outside of Juddmonte Farm's stakes winner Set Piece (GB). Abarta breezed through splits of :11.60, :23.80 and :35 with a five-furlong gallop out of 1:00.40.

Geroux returned to the track about 10 minutes later aboard Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, Peter Deutsch, Michael Kisber and The Elkstone Group's $150,000 Jessamine Stakes (GII) winner Aunt Pearl (IRE) and worked a half-mile in :48.60 outside unraced 2-year-old filly Palm Cottage. Aunt Pearl started two lengths behind her workmate and worked through fractions of :24.80 and :36.80.

“We have some really nice 2-year-olds in our barn this year,” Cox said. “A lot of them have already shown early promise. Essential Quality is growing up well. He's continuing to learn and I'm very pleased with how he's progressing. He has a ton of raw talent which he's shown in both of his starts. We added blinkers to him over the summer to help him focus a little bit more and they've really helped. We have experience around two turns and we have experience at Keeneland, which is always helpful. It's 1 1/16 miles, so it's a short stretch. You need to be in position when you turn for home.

“Abarta had a really nice late kick in the Bourbon to run second. He didn't have the best of trips but really showed some adversity that afternoon. I think it's good he has already run well over that course.

“Aunt Pearl acted like she could really run at the start. She and Essential Quality were two of them that really jumped out to us early in their training and showed they have some ability. The good ones kind of do that – they'll let you know there is a lot of talent there. Given the pedigree we were optimistic she'd be able to carry her speed around two turns. We thought about taking her to Saratoga over the summer but when Churchill's condition book came out I thought it might be better to keep her at home. It's turned out really well so far.”

Also on the Friday work tab was trainer Dale Romans trio of juvenile contenders: Girl Daddy (four furlongs, :48.20), Sittin On Go (four furlongs, :47.40) and Smiley Sobotka (four furlongs, :47.60). Trainer Mark Casse also worked Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (GI) contender Spanish Loveaffair four furlongs in :48.60.

More than two inches of rain fell in the Louisville area on Thursday and it caused several trainers to alter their training for their Breeders' Cup contenders. There are 27 Breeders' Cup contenders scheduled to work Saturday at Churchill Downs (with race): Arklow (Turf), Art Collector (Dirt Mile); Beau Recall (Mile), Bell's the One (Filly & Mare Sprint), By My Standards (Classic), Casa Creed (Mile), Crazy Beautiful (Juvenile Fillies), Factor This (Mile), Global Campaign (Classic), Got Stormy (Turf Sprint), Harvey's Lil Goil (Filly & Mare Turf), Hog Creek Hustle (Sprint), Knicks Go (Dirt Mile), Lady Kate (Distaff), Manny Wah (Sprint), Monomoy Girl (Distaff), Mr Freeeze (Dirt Mile), Mr Money (Dirt Mile), Owendale (Dirt Mile), Sally's Curlin (Filly & Mare Sprint), Sconsin (Filly & Mare Sprint), Silver Dust (Dirt Mile), Simply Ravishing (Juvenile Fillies), Swiss Skydiver (Distaff/Classic), Title Ready (Classic), Tom's d'Etat (Classic), War of Will (Dirt Mile).

In total, there are 43 Breeders' Cup contenders based at Churchill Downs and Trackside Louisville. That is the most of any location pre-entered into this year's event. Next is Keeneland with 39 contenders followed by 38 international runners, 25 from Belmont Park and 21 based at Santa Anita.

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Royal Ascot Winner The Lir Jet To Step Up In Trip, Give Michael Bell First Breeders’ Cup Runner

Winner of the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot, The Lir Jet will be aimed at the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland on Nov. 6, reports the Racing Post. The 2-year-old son of Prince of Lir has only competed over six furlongs this year, but trainer Michael Bell announced that connections plan to run him over the 1 1/16-mile trip at Keeneland due to his strong finish when fifth last out in the G1 Middle Park Stakes.

It will be Bell's first Breeders' Cup runner.

“In all his races his last furlong has been his best, which suggests he's worth a try over further,” Bell told racingpost.com. “His pedigree doesn't say he will definitely stay, but his style of racing suggests he might, especially going around a two-turn mile like they have at Keeneland.”

Owned by Qatar Racing Ltd., The Lir Jet is out of the Green Desert mare Paper Dreams. He was a $9,775 yearling at Goffs, and owns a record of two wins and two seconds from five starts for earnings of $116,914. Other top finishes this year include a second in the G2 Prix Robert Patin at Chantilly and a second in the G1 Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh.