Tag: Frankie Dettori

‘The One We All Want To See’: Auguste Rodin Delivers Epic Turf Win

ARCADIA, USA — They got what they came for. Breeders' Cup Saturday delivered two storybook results right off the bat: victory for the fabled Cody's Wish (Curlin) and a 15th win at the championships for Frankie Dettori, whose thoughts of retirement are now firmly consigned to the past. And that was just in the first two races.

Amid a huddle of reporters by the tunnel entrance as the runners went to post for the GI Breeders' Cup Turf, one of the most seasoned of American racing writers muttered, “The suspense is officially killing me. This is the one we all want to see.”

As it transpired, in the race with true world championship claims, we weren't far off seeing an American winner in the race traditionally dominated by visitors from Europe. Todd Pletcher's Up To The Mark (Not This Time) posted a valiant best-of-the-rest effort but there was no pegging back Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), who became the first Derby winner since his fellow Coolmore campaigner High Chaparral (Ire) to go on to win the Turf.

With two duck eggs in the 2,000 Guineas and King George, Auguste Rodin had something of a will-he-won't-he reputation coming into this, but there is no denying the significant body of work he has compiled since winning the G1 Futurity Trophy a year ago. The Derby, Irish Derby, Irish Champion S., and now a Breeders' Cup, on three occasions beating King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who had created such a buzz on Champions' Day at Ascot only a fortnight earlier and who finished best of the other European-trained horses in fifth.

At the post-race press conference, Coolmore's MV Magnier referred to the ease with which Auguste Rodin had handled the dirt in training this week, as outlined in TDN on Friday, and he dangled the tantalising prospect of the colt staying in training next year to return for the Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar.

“He's a remarkable racehorse and he's very well bred,” Magnier said. “We could stand him in Ashford [Kentucky]. We could stand him in Europe. Or we could keep him in training next year.

“I have this lovely romantic idea about maybe bringing him back for the Classic next year. Like Aidan said on Thursday, he was floating over the dirt. So there's a lot of options open. We'll have to decide in the next week or so.”

Aidan O'Brien, whose record seven wins in the Turf began with the aforementioned dual winner of the race, High Chaparral, lauded Ryan Moore's “incredible ride” and he wasn't the only one. In fact the only person playing it down was Moore himself, who hopped on third-placed Aesop's Fables (Ire) in the Turf Sprint after his victory and then hotfooted it to the airport for a 16-hour flight to Australia, where he will ride Melbourne Cup favourite Vauban (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) on Tuesday.

“I'm just delighted that a horse like him, he's vindicated himself now,” he said of Auguste Rodin. “Ending up on the rail was Plan F really. I just had to make the best of the opportunities as they came. He was getting a bad trip and I think he won because he's so good. I made the right call but it could have been the wrong call as well, but because I had so much horse he was able to overcome things. To me, he won despite things not going as smoothly as they should have done, and I think that marks him out to be a good horse.”

Moore had earlier been only inches away from another victory when thwarted by a dazzling stretch run by Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the Filly & Mare Turf. Any lingering doubts as to whether the four-year-old would see out the 10 furlongs were quashed as she tanked on round the bend after catching Warm Heart (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the shadow of the post. The lady was not for stopping after gathering her sixth Group/Grade 1 win, but she will be stopping at the Gosdens' Clarehaven Stables, with her owner/breeder Richard Thompson of Cheveley Park Stud swiftly declaring that Inspiral would remain in training at five.

That's great news for racing fans, who, if Inspiral makes it back to Royal Ascot, will almost certainly see Dettori back there too. He may not have confirmed it himself in the aftermath but it is clear that he is the one whom connections will want back in the saddle next year. 

A champion at two, a champion at three and surely this year's champion older filly, Inspiral's defection from Ascot on Champions Day was very much Santa Anita's gain.

“She was pointing for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot but the rain arrived and we didn't even declare her to run,” said her co-trainer John Gosden. “She's very opinionated and very strong-minded. You go with the flow with her, there's no point getting in an argument.”

He added, “I think what is particularly fulfilling is that she's owner-bred.”

Indeed, it was a good day for homebreds, especially those in the royal blue. After Godolphin America's early triumph with Cody's Wish, its two Newmarket stables delivered the closest finish of the day when Mawj (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) was cruelly denied on the line by Master Of The Seas (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the Breeders' Cup Mile. Saeed Bin Suroor had got Godolphin's European campaign off to a great start in 2023 when saddling Mawj to win the 1,000 Guineas. After her Grade I win at Keeneland three weeks ago, she failed by the flimsiest of margins to emulate her half-brother Modern Games (Ire) in winning at the Breeders' Cup, with Master Of The Seas completing a rallying late charge from Charlie Appleby's stable, which also won last weekend's G1 Kameko Futurity Trophy with Ancient Wisdom (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}). 

Appleby's Breeders' Cup record is quite extraordinary: he recorded his first ever Grade I winner here a decade ago when Outstrip (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) won the Juvenile Turf, and he maintained his 50% strike-rate by notching his tenth victory with Master Of The Seas. And, who knows, we could yet see Master Of The Seas and Mawj back again in 12 months' time as both are remaining in training and heading next to Dubai.

It was perhaps too much to hope that Live In The Dream (Ire) (Prince Of Lir {Ire}) could offer up the perfect finale and clean sweep for Europe in the turf races on Saturday. The bonny little chestnut has been a pleasure to watch in the mornings, sauntering around Santa Anita as if he's been there all his life. He has already perhaps surpassed the wildest dreams of owners Steve and Jolene De'Lemos and trainer Adam West by winning the G1 Nunthorpe S. in August, and he has brought them all on the journey of a lifetime to California. The bullet-fast four-year-old broke as sharply as ever but just couldn't sustain his early exertions, finishing an honourable fourth, a length and a quarter off the winner Nobals, a gelded (obviously) son of Frankel's brother Noble Mission (GB).

There was no Hollywood ending for the most enthusiastic set of connections to arrive in LA this week, but the dream lives on.

 

 

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Dettori Magic Grants Frankel First Breeders’ Cup Winner With Inspiral In Filly & Mare Turf

Cheveley Park Stud homebred INSPIRAL (GB) (Frankel {GB}–Starscope {GB}, by Selkirk) became the first Breeders' Cup winner for her Juddmonte sire with a narrow victory over dual Group 1 winner Warm Heart (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the $2-million GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf on Saturday. It was the second win in the race for Cheveley Park's Thompson family, who also took the 2016 edition with Queen's Trust (GB) (Dansili {GB}).

One of the back-markers crossing the dirt in the 1 1/4-mile contest, the 5-2 favorite found plenty of friendly cover in the master hands of Frankie Dettori who was looking for his 15th Breeders' Cup success. Glued to the rail into the clubhouse turn behind a half-mile in :46.90 as four-time Grade I winner and last year's runner-up 'TDN Rising Star' In Italian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) showed the way, the filly was in a good rhythm on the backstretch. Creeping closer on the far turn, Dettori shook his filly up at the quarter pole and she produced a killer burst of speed to win coming over the top of the field in the lane to just pip stretch leader Warm Heart, who had saved all the ground, by a neck in the final two jumps. The Coolmore runner was a length better than the remainder. 2022 Canadian Horse of the Year Moira (Ghostzapper) just nosed out G1 Hong Kong Vase heroine Win Marilyn (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}) for third.

Dettori, who will not be retiring as originally planned and has instead relocated to the Southern California jockeys' colony, said, “She jumped good. I got squeezed out [after the break]. I really wanted to be where William [Buick on With The Moonlight (Ire) (Frankel {GB})] was, but he got there before me.

“She needs a quarter of a mile to get really in top gear. She was flying. For the team, this was always the plan. Give credit to everyone — John, Thady, and the Cheveley Park team that supplemented for this race. Coming in here this week, I thought she's my best ride, and she proved me right.”

Said John Gosden, “They [Cheveley] bred her, and the whole team there with Richard Thompson here, Patricia's son, it's a wonderful achievement for them.”

Added Cheveley's Richard Thompson, “This is such a special feeling, obviously, winning the Breeders' Cup with Inspiral. Chris is sitting next to me here. He runs the stuff for us, the family, my mother, et cetera. To have a homebred filly win the Breeders' Cup is just–six in Group 1, it's the pinnacle of everything we strive for at Cheveley, to breed a filly like this.”

Said Cheveley Park Stud's manager director Chris Richardson, “Pleased to say she stays in training, which is very exciting. I think her last performance in the Sun Chariot S. at Newmarket was one of the most impressive up until today.

“John has done a magnificent job in getting the filly, who is quite a high-strung filly — always has been, ever since she was a foal — to perform today at the highest level is a huge accolade to Patricia Thompson and the Thompson family.”

Unbeatable as a juvenile and named the Cartier Champion 2-Year-Old Filly after four victories by a combined 11 1/4 lengths including the G1 Fillies' Mile, Inspiral picked up right where she left off with another Group 1 victory, this time in Royal Ascot's Coronation S. in June of 2022. Second in the G1 Falmouth S. last July, she claimed her first of two G1 Prix Jacques Le Marois in France in August. At year's end, she became only the third filly to also be named the Cartier Champion 3-Year-Old Filly. This term, Inspiral missed in the G1 Queen Anne S. by a neck in June, and resumed with another Prix Jacques Le Marois score in August. Most recently, she landed the G1 Sun Chariot S. at Newbury on Oct. 7. Saturday's contest was her first start beyond a mile. Earlier in the day, the Cheveley colors had been borne by Regal Jubilee (GB) (Frankel {GB}) to victory in the Listed Montrose Fillies' S. at Newmarket.

Already a five-time Group 1 winner, the filly had been due to run on QIPCO British Champions Day last month, but the heavy ground put paid to that plan. Next year's Breeders' Cup at Del Mar is a possibility, as well.

Added Gosden, who trains with his son Thady, “She was poising for the Queen Elizabeth II S. at Ascot, but the rain arrived, and the terrain came too deep. She was in the race and we didn't even declare her to run. We said, right, we're coming here.

“The way she came and finished and the way she galloped out, she's probably saying that the trainer has been running her over the wrong distance the last year.

“Whether you go for the like of the [G1] Lockinge or the Queen Anne or she's meant to stay in training. I could see the [G1] Juddmonte International being a very key race for her next year. I think, if she's in great order next year, there will be no question but to consider Del Mar very seriously. Particularly since the trainer and his wife love coming back to California.”

Pedigree Notes:

Through the Filly & Mare Turf, Juddmonte's Frankel has only had five Breeders' Cup starters. She is one of his most decorated progeny, however, and one of 33 top-tier winners. With her victory on Saturday, she is tied with Frankel's 2022 G1 Prix de l'Arc de Tromphe winner Alpinista (GB) for most top-drawer victories at six.

Runner-up in the G1 1000 Guineas and G1 Coronation S. in the Cheveley red-white-and-blue, Inspiral's dam Starscope is a half-sister to listed winner Solar Magic (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) and has also foaled the stakes-placed Celestran (GB) (Dansili {GB}). Starscope's Ulysses (Ire) yearling colt brought 160,000gns from Stetchworth and Middle Park Studs out of Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale and has since been named Stetchworth Friend (GB). Her winning 8-year-old daughter Lunar Corona (GB) (Dansili {GB}) will be consigned by Cheveley in foal to Twilight Son (GB) (lot 1431) as part of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale next month.

Third dam Mystic Goddess, who won the Listed Sweet Solera S. and was placed thrice in Group 3s, is a half-sister to Italian champion and Group 1 winner Sanam (Golden Act), while she threw two-time Group 1 winner and eventual Cheveley Park stallion Medicean (GB) to the cover of Machiavellian. The Thompsons first got involved with the female family when they purchased Inspiral's fourth dam Rose Goddess (Ire) (Sassafras {Fr}) for $450,000 out of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale carrying to Diesis (GB) in 1988.

Saturday, Santa Anita Park
MAKER'S MARK BREEDERS' CUP FILLY & MARE TURF-GI, $1,840,000, Santa Anita, 11-4, 3yo/up, f/m, 1 1/4mT, 1:59.06, fm.
1–INSPIRAL (GB), 124, f, 4, by Frankel (GB)
                1st Dam: Starscope (GB) (MG1SP-Eng, $251,626), by Selkirk
                2nd Dam: Moon Goddess (GB), by Rainbow Quest
                3rd Dam: Mystic Goddess, by Storm Bird
O/B-Cheveley Park Stud Limited (GB); T-John H. M. Gosden; J-Lanfranco Dettori. $1,040,000. Lifetime Record: MG1SW-Eng, MG1SW-Fr, 13-9-2-0, $3,639,932. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Warm Heart (Ire), 120, f, 3, by Galileo (Ire)
                1st Dam: Sea Siren (Aus) (Hwt. Older Mare-Ire- at 5 – 7 f., MG1SW-Aus, SW & MGSP-Ire, $1,743,772), by Fastnet Rock (Aus)
                2nd Dam: Express A Smile (Aus), by Success Express
                3rd Dam: Hold That Smile (Aus), by Haulpak (Aus)
O-Westerberg, Mrs. John Magnier, Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor; B-Coolmore (IRE); T-Aidan P. O'Brien. $340,000.
3–Moira, 124, f, 4, by Ghostzapper
                1st Dam: Devine Aida (MSW & GSP, $273,215), by Unbridled's Song
                2nd Dam: Passion, by Came Home
                3rd Dam: Rajmata, by Known Fact
($150,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Madaket Stables LLC, SF Racing LLC and X-Men Racing; B-Adena Springs (ON); T-Kevin Attard. $180,000.
Margins: NK, 1, NO. Odds: 2.50, 4.20, 13.50.
Also Ran: Win Marilyn (Jpn), In Italian (GB), Lumiere Rock (Ire), With The Moonlight (Ire), Lindy (Fr), State Occasion (GB), Didia (Arg), Fev Rover (Ire), McKulick (GB).
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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Homecoming King Bids to Rule California

ARCADIA, USA — We may be biased over here in the European edition, but for the turfistes out there, the race of this weekend is the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf.

Primarily there's the scintillating prospect of a rematch between the first two home in the Derby, Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who between them have picked off the Irish Derby, Irish Champion S., King Edward VII S., and Champion S. since Epsom. 

To that duo we can add the top-rated horse still in training in Europe, Mostahdaf (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), whose victories in the Prince of Wales's S. and Juddmonte International have made a significant contribution towards Sheikha Hissa's Shadwell operation being named champion owner in Britain in 2023. 

Then, for France, there's Onesto (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), who featured in these pages on Tuesday, plus the Japanese Derby winner of 2021, Shahryar (Jpn), another son of Deep Impact who added victory in the Dubai Sheema Classic to his travelling portfolio and has looked picture of poise and contentment these last few mornings during trackwork. 

If he handles the step up to a mile and a half for the first time, the hugely consistent Up To The Mark (Not This Time) shouldn't be overlooked as the best of the home-based challengers either, coming into the race off three straight Grade I wins for Todd Pletcher.

Of these leading contenders, arguably the horse who brings the biggest buzz with him is King Of Steel, who left the United States as a yearling but appears to be enjoying his homecoming of sorts as he strolls and struts about Santa Anita Park in the morning. The man who helped create the buzz on Champions Day, Frankie Dettori, has not been allowed back aboard him yet: that pleasure belongs to Robson Aguiar, who oversaw King Of Steel's early days of pre-training and has been in the saddle the last two mornings since the horse was released from quarantine. 

King Of Steel's trainer Roger Varian and his wife Hanako arrived in California on Tuesday evening and were out at the track early on Wednesday to watch him exercise just 11 days on from his epic mud-spattered victory at Ascot.

Varian, cautious by nature, said that his stable star gave him no reason not to travel to the Breeders' Cup for one last spin this year ahead of a winter break.

“He's really well,” the trainer confirmed. “We'll probably have to wait for the gates to open on Saturday to see for sure, but he's just had the five races this year, nicely spaced out, and he came out of Ascot so well it was hard not to bring him. 

“Obviously you have to listen to the horse but he was giving off very positive signals at home after Ascot and from what I've seen this morning he looks fantastic. He hasn't left an oat since Ascot, he hasn't left an oat since he arrived, he's drinking well and he looks a picture. He looks like he wants to race and it's a long winter so why not have another go?”

Why not indeed. While his Epsom conqueror Auguste Rodin is nestled in among his nine stable-mates out on the track each morning, King Of Steel has been going out solo and is certainly a quieter fellow than Mostahdaf, who left the quarantine barn moments before him on Wednesday and is clearly rehearsing for his future career in the stallion barn. 

Varian said, “He's got a great constitution and he takes it all well. It was his second morning out on the track and he didn't turn a hair.

“It's a good race with some good horses, but it's a $4 million race so it should be a strong contest. These are the races we want to be involved in, and in every run this year he's never run a bad race and he's looked a Group 1 horse. It's fair to say that he's still improving. A return to a mile and a half will suit him and I think a return to better ground will suit him.”

King Of Steel initially had two Breeders' Cup entries, with the Classic having been ruled out last week in favour of the Turf option, which will be a much firmer surface than he encountered at Ascot.

Varian continued, “He probably doesn't have the gate speed to consider the dirt at the moment but he might have the constitution for it, so I wouldn't rule it out one day. 

“He found a way to win at Ascot but I'm not sure he enjoyed the conditions. He never looked that happy from when the gates opened but Frankie was so good on him and left him alone. On a day of racing when pace was favoured throughout he was brave enough to leave the horse alone and let him find his feet and find a way to win. I think he's a better horse on better ground. He's a beautiful-moving horse, very well balanced, and he handled the undulations of Epsom on fast ground on Derby day. He shouldn't mind the ground here and he should improve for going around here.”

King Of Steel's owner Kia Joorabchian had signalled his keenness to bring the horse to California but Varian said that the decision was ultimately left to him.

“Kia wants to be here, yes, there is no hiding that fact,” he said. “But, equally, he was saying that unless I was 100 per cent happy with the horse then we shouldn't come. In a conservative way, I suppose I was looking for a reason not to come. Was he flat? Was there any reason? We could have finished on a high, waited for next year. But the horse has ticked every box since Ascot. We talked about it every day, myself and Kia. We could have easily said 'let's not go'. But he just got better and better through the week.

“We could have waited for next year but this is horse racing and next year doesn't always come. They can stand on a stone, they can get hurt in their stable, they can not be in as good form. But, in my opinion, he looked like he could run again, and that's why we are here. We won't be proven right or wrong until the day.”

Despite the build-up to what was in theory Dettori's final ride in Britain aboard King Of Steel in the Champion S., Varian admits that he was caught off guard by the rousing reception given to horse and rider as they returned to the winner's enclosure.

“Of course I knew it was his last ride but I hadn't prepared myself for what it would be like on the day. Maybe nobody had,” he said. “Who knew it would build into that final crescendo? I was caught out in the paddock. I didn't speak to Frankie. Of course I had spoken to him on the day but in the paddock I was 10 deep behind everyone else. I was just worried that the noise in the paddock would set the horse off. There were camera guys running up alongside him, I was trying to keep people quiet. Really, everything I did was on instinct as it could have unraveled. 

“The horse kept himself under control, the jockey kept himself under control – just about! Thankfully it all ended well and the aftermath was something I will never forget. Nobody will. It was incredible.”

 

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Europeans Unleashed as Santa Anita is Struck by Tragedy

ARCADIA, USA–Against the most stunning backdrop in world racing, just as the pre-dawn sky started to pinken with promise, a metaphorical dark cloud was cast across Santa Anita racetrack. Practical Move (Practical Joke), a leading contender for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack on his way back in from exercise in front of onlookers on the apron. The screens arrived eventually, but not soon enough to remind those present of the occasionally desperate nature of the sport we love, and how such a scene threatens its very future.

This fatality, coming on the back of Saturday's serious injury to supposed Classic runner Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}) and the withdrawal on Tuesday morning from that same race of Arcangelo (Arrogate), one of this season's feel-good stories, means that the 40th running of the Breeders' Cup will take place in less than auspicious circumstances.

Work continued on the track after a pause. It had to, of course. This was the morning when the international shippers were released from quarantine and into the big wide open expanse of the Santa Anita dirt, wrapped around the turf. Take your pick.

John Gosden, striding down the track alongside his long-term lieutenant Tony Proctor, chose the green grass of home for the first spin of Mostahdaf (Ire) and Inspiral (GB). It made perfect sense, as the son and daughter of Frankel (GB) are the leading lights in their respective targets, both on that surface. Gosden is of course more familiar with Santa Anita than his fellow travellers, having been based here for a time during the 1980s and among the winners of the inaugural Breeders' Cup at Hollywood Park in 1984, when Royal Heroine (Ire) landed the Mile for Robert Sangster. 

With the post-work debrief drifting from his own horses to the outstanding performance of Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) at the weekend, Gosden cast his mind back to that champion's great grandsire. 

“He is an absolute freak, isn't he, an extraordinary horse,” he said of Sunday's GI Tenno Sho winner. “When you look at him, he looks almost like a Stubbs painting, or a JF Herring Sr painting. He's not what we are used to. He's just one of those extraordinary athletes who can go at an incredibly strong pace and maintain and maintain it.

“The Japanese breed for this. Deep Impact went two miles, and what a star he was. Sunday Silence, such a great horse, trained by Charlie [Whittingham] right over there,” he added, gesturing across to the barns beyond the quarantine facility. “This aversion to horses who can win over a mile and a half, a mile six, we've gone too far the other way, and we have to be careful. Suddenly a mile and a half becomes a marathon.”

Of his own pair, Gosden added, “They're very happy, they were pleased to get out. They've been behind those screens [of the quarantine area] and they were thrilled to get out and have some fresh air. They flew on Saturday and they cleared quarantine at six o'clock last night.”

Frankie Dettori was aboard Inspiral for her morning exertions, ponied on and off the track by a companion, while Mostahdaf followed at a distance on his own, each of them having an easy stretch of a canter on the turf before taking several turns of the paddock. 

Once they and the trio of Japanese turf workers, Win Marilyn (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}), Shahryar (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Jaspar Crone (Frosted), had made their way back to the barns, another wave of Europeans took to the track. The O'Brien clan was out in force. Led by Joseph and Lumiere Rock (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}), Donnacha took to the saddle of a quarter horse to accompany Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio) and the Juvenile Turf Sprint reserve Asean (Ire) (Ten Sovereigns). Finally Aidan, along with a group including his wife Annemarie, owner Paul Smith and vet John Halley, made his way along the apron close to the winning post to watch his team of ten trot the reverse way round the track before turning and hack-cantering back. The dual Derby winner Auguste Rodin (Ire), himself from the final crop of the aforementioned Deep Impact, took in his surroundings with a keen eye, with the sturdy juvenile Mountain Bear (Ire) (No Nay Never) a little on his toes some way behind him, and the neat and composed Warm Heart (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) further back still and looking every bit as delightful as her name suggests. 

Ralph Beckett, who has enjoyed a tremendous season back home and notched another stakes win only a day earlier at Saint-Cloud, was on foot between his duo of State Occasion (GB) (Iffraaj {GB}) and the youngster Starlust (GB) (Zoustar {Aus}) as they proceeded to the main track for an easy exercise. 

The riding skills of Robson Aguiar were on show aboard the Norfolk S. winner Valiant Force (Malibu Moon), a horse plucked from the Keeneland September Yearling Sale by him and Roger O'Callaghan and now trained by Adrian Murray for a partnership involving their two wives and Amo Racing. Aguiar has also been associated with Champion S. winner and Breeders' Cup Turf runner King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}) since his early days, having broken him in for the Amo team, of which he is a key part. He was back on board the giant grey on Tuesday morning and reported that he felt in good order after the exertions of Ascot less than a fortnight ago. “It is a short straight though,” he cautioned of the Santa Anita turf track.

When the sun has risen fully over Santa Anita, defining the contours of the San Gabriel mountains that set the stage for the unmistakable “Great Race Place”, the visual assault is so striking that it is hard to feel that there is much wrong with the world. Young Thoroughbreds appear from every which way, the equine players adorned here and there with colour-coded Breeders' Cup saddle cloths to identify the 'special ones'. But anyone involved closely with horses should know that they are all special, whether they make it to this exalted level, or perhaps just run with great heart in a bog at Catterick, as this correspondent's shared horse was doing, watched from a small screen in the palm of a hand, with the almost bizarre juxtaposition of Auguste Rodin striding alongside in the Californian sun. 

Even with such brilliant beauty close at hand, it was hard to revel in what should have been a joyful morning as the image of the prone Practical Move lingered on in the mind's eye.

 

 

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