Trainer Lupini Confirms New Owner For 1,000 Guineas Contender Kitty Rose 

Natalia Lupini has confirmed that stable star Kitty Rose (GB) (Invincible Army {Ire}) has been sold to owner Tim Porter but will remain in the care of the County Down-based trainer until after the Qipco 1,000 Guineas at least.

Porter's colours were carried in Ireland last season aboard the Joseph O'Brien-trained Honey Girl (GB) (Mayson {GB}). It is understood that Kitty Rose, who won the Listed Ingabelle S. at the Irish Champions Festival before finishing second in a Group 3, will continue her career in Australia later this summer.

Before then, Lupini, one of the most upwardly mobile trainers in Ireland, says she is dreaming of a breakthrough Classic victory with a filly who can be backed at odds of 33-1 for the Newmarket showpiece. 

Lupini told TDN Europe, “Kitty Rose has been sold [by former owner Nigel O'Hare] to a new owner but she stays in the yard. She will stay with us for the spring but she might head to Australia towards the end of the year. It is great news that she will stay with us for a few runs at least before heading to Australia. We're really excited and very grateful to the new owners for giving us the chance to train her for her next couple of races at least.”

She added, “We were just speaking with the owners during the week and they are keen to run in the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket. We are aiming for the Irish 1,000 Guineas Trial on April 7 at Leopardstown first. After that, we can make a decision on Newmarket.”

Kitty Rose | Racingfotos.com

Lupini enjoyed her greatest ever tally of domestic winners last term. The Milan native sent out 16 winners from 102 runners. The figure stood at 14 wins from 56 runners the previous year. Prior to that, Lupini's greatest number of five wins was posted in 2021. 

Things have been progressing nicely and top-notch breeze-up handler and respected pre-trainer Robson Aguiar was showered with praise by the trainer for pointing her in the direction of Kitty Rose.

Lupini explained, “We bought Kitty Rose from Robson Aguiar last year. We try to work closely with him and, for the past few seasons, we have bought a few horses from him. We get great feedback from Robson and we usually go to him with a plan. We have some new owners who have really embraced this new venture with us. He's a very good person to deliver exactly what an owner wants, be that a handicapper or a Group performer. He's able to say exactly what he thinks about each horse and then to put a price on it. Thankfully, Kitty Rose turned out to be very good. The relationship is working well.”

Away from Kitty Rose, there is plenty to look forward to for Lupini and her team, with a record number of juveniles in the system and high-class older horse Dunum (Ire) (Ivawood {Ire}) pencilled in for a trip to Royal Ascot. 

She said, “It's been really exciting and we are working with the biggest number of horses we have ever had this season. We're still a small yard but we have a good number of two-year-olds and we're growing. We're thrilled with the team of horses that we have to work with this season. Not only the two-year-olds, but horses like Dunum as well. He will be aimed at the Emerald Mile on Irish Guineas weekend at the Curragh. We could look at Royal Ascot for him as well.”

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‘I Came To Ireland With Nothing – Now, Winning A Classic Is The Dream’

Out from the cloudy backdrop on a morning borrowed from winter comes a sight so good that it serves to remind that spring has in fact sprung and the Flat season is not as far away as it seems. 

There is Group 1 winner Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) leading Derby entrants Mr Hampstead (Galileo {Ire}) and Padesha (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}). And who's that lobbing along in behind? Potential Dubai World Cup runner Elegant Man (Arrogate) and Qipco Champion S. hero King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}) add to what is a star-studded string. 

There are days where you might head to the racecourse and not see one horse as good as any of those mentioned above. But this is just a normal day in the life of Robson Aguiar, leading breeze-up handler, pre-trainer and more recently assistant trainer to Adrian Murray. 

A man of many hats is Aguiar, who is in no way short of ambition. He came to Ireland in 2006 with nothing and, after cutting his teeth at Ballydoyle followed by Tally-Ho Stud, quickly established himself as one of the best judges of equine talent in the business. 

The buying and selling of horses like The Lir Jet (Ire) (Prince Of Lir {Ire}), Star Of Emaraaty (Ire) (Pride Of Dubai {Aus}), Summer Sands (GB) (Coach House {Ire}), Queen Jo Jo (GB) (Gregorian {Ire}), Shantisara (Ire) (Coulsty {Ire}) and more got Aguiar's name in lights. It didn't take long for Kia Joorabchian of Amo Racing to take stock of those achievements and, in a little over three years working together, the pair has achieved Royal Ascot success with G2 Norfolk S. winner Valiant Force (Malibu Moon) and a breakthrough Group 1 victory with Phoenix S. scorer Bucanero Fuerte. 

The best may yet be come for the operation with Bucanero Fuerte facing a crucial gallop in a fortnight's time to determine whether he goes straight to Newmarket for the 2,000 Guineas or reverts in trip for races like the Commonwealth Cup, while the team is well-stacked in the fillies' department with Ornellaia (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) and Persian Dreamer (Calyx {GB}) firmly on course for the 1,000 Guineas. 

“The money I got for him and then Star Of Emaraaty is the money I used to buy this farm. Those two horses paid for this place,” – Robson Aguiar

Aguiar said, “I brought Bucanero Fuerte away to the Curragh last Sunday. It was only a light canter but he went well and we will bring him back there in about two weeks' time where he will work on the grass. After that, we will make a decision on whether he goes for the 2,000 Guineas or the Commonwealth Cup but I think he will get the mile no problem. That's what I hope. If we think he's a Guineas horse, he will go straight there.

“The favourite City Of Troy (Justify) is a very good horse and will be hard to beat. But, if you look at Bucanero's best form, it is very good as well. He beat genuine Group 1 horses in Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio) and Unquestionable (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) in the Phoenix Stakes. City Of Troy hasn't beaten a Group 1 horse by four lengths but Bucanero has. But I respect City Of Troy a lot. To be honest, he looks like he will be hard to beat.”

On the fillies, Aguiar added, “I think Ornellaia and Persian Dreamer will run in the 1,000 Guineas. The 1,000 Guineas looks a bit more open than the 2,000 Guineas and we are happy with both fillies.”

There are so many lots to be ridden this morning that Aguiar says he's lost count but the number is said to be somewhere between 10 and 14. That's before making a mad dash to Dublin airport in order to catch a flight to England where he will meet up with Joorabchian for dinner before having a sit on some of the youngsters coming through the Amo Racing system in other yards the following day. 

Along with Murray, Aguiar may be overseeing the careers of a galaxy of young stars at his base just outside Mullingar, but there is nothing fancy about how he gets the job done with Dunlop wellies the order of the day.

“When you go to Newmarket, you will find a lot of fancy riding boots, but they cannot ride,” Aguiar jokes about his footwear of choice. “Yes, they have nice boots, but they cannot ride. It's like a soccer player with fancy football boots. They're not the good players.” 

That's not the only football reference throughout the morning with Joorabchian, who first shot to prominence in the sporting pantheon as the agent who looked after Argentinian soccer stars Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano, being said to be sometimes guilty of viewing racing as “one big football game.” 

However, Aguiar is quick to point out that even in football, the amount you spend in the transfer market does not have a direct correlation to getting results on the pitch with big spenders and serial underachievers Paris Saint-Germain put forward as the most glaring example of that.

One thing Aguiar cannot be accused of is spending over the odds. It was the small-money buys that got his business off the ground and, while he does not plan on sending many horses to the breeze-up sales this year, there is no shortage of trade being done at this place with Natalia Lupini, Middleham Park Racing and Nick Bradley buying privately from him in the past couple of weeks alone. 

“I will have a few horses in the Craven Sale and we will see how that goes but I won't have as many for the breeze-ups this year. I am able to get good money for horses on the private market and I have a lot of my own clients that I need to keep happy every year. Some people will ring me looking for a 75-rated filly and I will ask for a 75-rated filly's price and other people will ring asking for a good colt and I will charge what I think the horse is worth. You need to earn people's trust but we've sold a lot of nice horses privately-Kitty Rose (GB) (Invincible Army {Ire}) to Natalia Lupini, Oscula (Ire) (Galileo Gold {GB}) to Nick Bradley and Brave Emperor (Ire) (Sioux Nation) to Middleham Park Racing. They've all bought horses off me this year again.”

Back out on the gallops, it's Aguiar in the plate aboard Bucanero Fuerte while his brother-in-law Jose-a dead ringer for David Loughnane-who has the pleasure of steering King Of Steel through his morning paces. Aguiar reports the Group 1 winner to be “very strong” and suggests he will be ready to return to trainer Roger Varian in the coming weeks.

He explained, “King Of Steel looks well. He did very well for us last year and he has come back very strong. He should return to Roger Varian very soon and he can decide what he wants to do with the horse this year.”

Fellow four-year-old Elegant Man, who has been earning his stripes quietly on the all-weather during the winter, could be another older horse to follow this season, according to the 42-year-old.

Aguiar said, “He is entered in the Dubai World Cup but I don't know if he will get in or not. His form is working out well. He was second to Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) at Kempton in December and that horse has won a Group 3 in Qatar since. Elegant Man is still a big baby but I think he could be a very special horse in time. If he doesn't go to Dubai, we might run him in the Devoy Stakes at Naas at the end of March and start his campaign for the year on grass. I think he will handle the grass. If he does, he could end up being a Group 1 horse. Arrogate is dead so, if Elegant Man could win a Group 1 race on the grass, he could be a very interesting stallion prospect. That's the dream.”

It wasn't always this way for Aguiar. He's had to work hard to get to where he is now, working closely with stallion prospects and black-type fillies, but there were times where he doubted if it may happen at all. 

He explained, “I came to Ireland in 2006 with nothing. It was not easy and it took a lot of hard work. I had to go to the sales and buy whatever it was that everybody else didn't want and then try to make a good horse out of what was left over. Now, I go to the sales and buy whatever I think is the best horse at the right money. But before, I could only buy the ones that other people didn't want. 

“The Lir Jet and Star Of Emaraaty, they changed everything for me. I think I would have been f****d without them because I sold them during Covid. There were no sales, barely any racing and I had 25 horses who I had to pay rent for and everything else on top of that. I got The Lir Jet going and sent him to Michael Bell. We got him sold privately before he made his debut but he failed the vet. I said to myself, 'oh my God, this can't be happening.' 

“We entered him at Yarmouth and I asked Silvestre [de Sousa] to ride him for me. I told him to treat the horse like a three-year-old and he did. He broke the track record first time out. Two minutes later, I have about five missed calls from agents trying to buy him because in that year, you had to nominate your horses for the two-year-old races at Royal Ascot. Michael Bell nominated him and he was one of the favorites for the Norfolk Stakes, which he went on and won for Qatar Racing. That was very important for me. The money I got for him and then Star Of Emaraaty is the money I used to buy this farm. Those two horses paid for this place.” 

The one constant in Aguiar's progression has been his close association with Tally-Ho Stud's Roger O'Callaghan. The Brazilian native refers to the O'Callaghans, whose famous farm is less than 10 minutes of a drive away, as being “like family” to him.

He said, “Roger O'Callaghan helped me a lot, I have to be honest about that. At that time, when there was no racing, no nothing, I told him I had no more money left. He told me not to worry about that and to put my head down and get to work. He told me, 'whatever you need, I'll support you.' That was a big help to me, to have someone like Roger in my corner helping me. It gave me a lot of confidence. The O'Callaghans are like family to me and have helped me a lot. 

“I learned a lot at Ballydoyle but Tally-Ho is where I got a lot of confidence to go and practice what I learned. Every day you are learning in this game. Aidan O'Brien was the same. Every year, he would train the horses a different way. He changes every year. He is learning as well as us. As soon as you think you know everything about a horse, you are gone.”

That's the sort of drive that sustains an operation as big as this. The hunger in Aguiar is palpable, borderline inspirational, and you have to take your hat off to a man who has grabbed every opportunity that has ever been presented to him and left nothing but crumbs on the table. 

He said, “I have always been ambitious but the younger generation don't want to work nowadays. They want to sit on their phones all day. When I was younger, we didn't have phones, we had to play outside. Nowadays, all we get is lazy people and soft people. Everybody is getting this and that. We never had time to think about such problems. We had to work to survive. Things come too easy to people now. If you give a person of 14 or 15 years of age a job, you'll get jail.”

What age did you start to work?

“When I could walk! When I was six or seven years old, I was already helping out on the farm. Seriously. My Dad used to milk cows back home in Brazil. At that time, everything was done by hand. You could get 150 litres of milk every day by hand. It was a lot of work. In the evenings, I used to go and separate the calves from the cows with my brother. Even at six or seven, you needed to use your brain because, if you made a mistake, there was trouble.”

Through his association with Amo Racing and now Murray, Aguiar has had a taste of what it is like to dine at the top table. Make no mistake, he's hungry for more. 

“I have a very good relationship with Adrian,” he says. “We trust each other and, at the moment, his strike-rate is very good so I'd like to think I have been able to help him because he came to me a few years ago saying that he was thinking about not renewing his licence but I told him not to panic and to sit tight. I have known Adrian for a long time now. I bought Shes Ranger (Ire) (Bushranger {Ire}) for him at the breeze-ups back in 2016 and I rode her to win for him on the Flat at Dundalk. Before that, he didn't even have his Flat licence. Shes Ranger went on to finish third in a Group 3 at Leopardstown before being sold.”

He added, “I think we are only just starting. We need to start selling a few more at the horses-in-training sales and qualifying horses better as well. A lot of horses will go to the horses-in-training sales in July and October. There is no point in us having a horse rated 90. What are you going to do with a 90-rated horse? We want Group 1 colts and black-type fillies. We don't want handicappers. We will have between 50 and 60 two-year-olds in training in Europe and America this year. My big aim is for us to become more competitive in Ireland. You look at the Group races in Ireland and it's Aidan O'Brien, Joseph O'Brien, Donnacha O'Brien and then Paddy Twomey. My ambition is to help Kia and Adrian to take our horses to those big races.”

And what will it mean to them if they achieve that Classic dream?

“One day we will do it,” he says without flinching. “When I first started working with Kia, the main thing he wanted was a winner at Royal Ascot. He also wanted a Breeders' Cup winner and a Group 1 winner. We nearly got all three last year. Now, we want a Classic winner. That's the dream and hopefully one day we can do it.”

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An Endless Pursuit Of ‘A Bit Of Magic’ For The O’Callaghans At Tally-Ho Stud

When Michelangelo sculpted David, you'd imagine he took the time to stand back, blow the dust off of his brow and marvel at his masterpiece, wouldn't you?

Like David, Tally-Ho Stud has taken years of hard chiseling but you must be living in Lalaland if you think Tony O'Callaghan is a man for slowing down and taking in all that has been achieved. 

If there's one thing O'Callaghan hates more than arrogance it's idleness. With 200 mares on the farm, considerably more yearlings and foals coming through the system, a sizable breeze-up consignment and, of course, the bread and butter that are the stallions to tend to, there isn't a whole pile of time left over in a day for slacking. 

But what drives a man, who has an uncanny knack of avoiding questions he doesn't want to answer–including those about his age–to attack each morning the same as his sons Roger, 43, and Henry, 41?

“I like action,” he says, unapologetically. “I do. They say there are two chairs you should never sit in; the electric chair and the armchair. They're not putting me into a bin any time soon! Why do some people live to do nothing? I can never understand it.”

The O'Callaghans live for the game. When Kodiac, the horse Roger describes as being “the man who paid for the place” strides out of his box, the lads wear a smile that neither sex nor drugs could supply. 

Tony O'Callaghan: “When the bad year comes, suck it up and move on.” | Tattersalls

Apparently “there's a queue of breeders” wanting to use Kodiac's Group 1-winning son Good Guess, who is new to the roster for 2024, but it wasn't always like this. Before Kodiac, Mehmas, Cotai Glory, Inns Of Court, Persian Force, Starman and now Good Guess, there were tougher times at Tally-Ho.

Blues Traveller and Mac's Imp are some of the earliest hard luck stories. Both stallions met a premature end just as their stock were starting to get going. Danetime, too, was on the cusp of becoming a proper stallion when he died whilst covering on Southern Hemisphere time in Australia. Red Clubs and more recently Society Rock are others who never got a fair crack.

“Danetime was when things started to happen for us,” Tony explains. “Then we got a list of them. Society Rock was doing well when he died and Sir Prancealot did okay as well, but Kodiac was the one who really took off.”

He added, “Danetime might have done the same thing, you know. He was only nine when he died. He had the winner of the Prix Morny two years running—Myboycharlie and then Bushranger. That was a shock when he died.”

So you could say it has been a triumph of perseverance?

“Oh we've kept at it. We've never changed direction. When the bad year comes, suck it up and move on.”

For many people in this industry, 2023 will go down as a bad year. The smaller breeder, who has been a huge part of the success story here, struggled on the whole. But if it's sympathy you're after at the O'Callaghan family's kitchen table, or as Tony's wife Anne describes it, “the engine room,” you've come to the wrong place. 

“It's up to you as a breeder to correct things and not go around blaming everyone bar yourself,” Tony says. “Some people will switch off and become disillusioned. I never get disillusioned no matter how bad the sales are. I never come home disillusioned. I come home blaming myself.”

There may be a lack of sympathy on offer but there's no shortage of encouragement. The business model is simple; try to make everyone–big or small–a winner.

Henry explains, “We're in this for the long haul and we don't take shortcuts. We try to treat people right and, if we both win, that's how you really succeed. There can be repeat business if that happens.”

It is an honourable way of conducting business. And it is one of the reasons why Ger Lyons named Tony The Gent after the man himself. A Whatsapp message to the trainer confirmed as much.

“He was, because in the dictionary beside the word gentleman, you see a picture of Tony O'C,” comes the reply from Lyons, swiftly followed by, “lovely family that.”

There can be a price to be paid when only dealing in facts, though. Some will confuse the no-nonsense approach to business as being cold but the reality is the complete opposite. 

It was this scribe's great pleasure to kill more than a few hours with Roger in Cincinnati Airport during a layover on the way home from the Breeders' Cup a couple of years back.

When a young couple across the bar endured a nightmare episode when both of their cards declined, it was Roger who thought nothing of jumping into action to settle the bill of the two people he'd never set eyes on before in order to prevent further blushes.

'That's my good deed done for the year,' he chirped, before sitting back down at the table. A chip off the old block.

The similarities between Roger and his old man was clear to be seen at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale last year as well. Less than 48 hours after Tally-Ho and Archie St George turned a $550,000 Into Mischief colt foal purchase into a $1.8-million yearling, O'Callaghan was back to the grindstone.

A simple, 'well done in America, Roger,' was met with a, 'now on to the next one,' in that inimitable droll tone. Insatiable. 

Tony and Anne O'Callaghan | Tattersalls

Anne comments on what drives her boys, “We're the lucky ones. We're the ones who have something to achieve and to look forward to every day. Imagine grinding your way to work behind the wheel after having dropped your kids to creche. You're having your cup of coffee, or maybe a cigarette, and listening to the droning bad news on the radio. We get out of bed, roll down the hill, step out into the yard, and bingo. Light on. Let's get at it.”

Henry concurs and provides his own insight into the motivation behind this winner-producing machine, when saying, “You have a chance of a bit of magic. That's the great thing about this business. When you're involved with a good horse, there's no better feeling.”

The hope is that Good Guess, who claimed the notable scalp of 2,000 Guineas winner Chaldean when storming to Prix Jean Prat glory at Deauville last summer, can be the latest good horse that the O'Callaghans will be associated with. 

The horse had been on Tally-Ho's radar ever since Cheveley Park Stud flagged that they had a good Kodiac at the Tattersalls October Book 1 Yearling Sale in 2021. They were right. 

Good Guess went on to make 420,000gns to Sebastien Desmontils and the O'Callaghans have been tracking his progression ever since. In fact, so sure they were that Good Guess would be a good fit at Tally-Ho, a deal was done not long after he had crossed the line in front in that Group 1. 

“Sure he'd be whipped from underneath you,” says Tony, explaining why there wasn't even time to hop on a plane to get the deal done. Instead, it was trashed out on the phone. “These things are done quickly.”

Good Guess | Scoop Dyga

Good Guess | Scoop Dyga

It has been well-reported that, in order to secure Good Guess, a lot of money needed to change hands. 

“You've got to try and win the lottery. Pay your money, take your chance,” is how Roger sums up the transaction. Henry adds, “It's grand when you're right. There's never a bad time to buy a good horse but then there's never a good time to buy a bad horse. If you can buy a good horse, what you pay for it ultimately doesn't matter. The economics of this game, it's unique, isn't it?”

He adds, “Given how much stallions are costing at the moment, you need them to work in order for the whole thing to make economic sense. It's a big test of how bad you want a horse if you are prepared to send it a clatter of your own mares.”

Good Guess, along with the rest of the stallion roster at Tally-Ho, won't be lacking in that department. 

Tony explains, “When the stallions do well, it's huge. But, when the stallions do bad, it's an absolute nightmare. When they don't click, you suffer. There's a queue up for Good Guess but we'll support him as well. It's very simple; back your own.

“The way it works is, you look after everyone else first. Whenever we can get a slot for him, we'll send him a mare. We'll send him between 30 and 50 of our own mares but we won't know how many until the end of May. “

On what makes Good Guess an attractive stallion proposition, he adds, “Sure you could see below, his action and his physique. The bone structure is there and he has a nice big eye and a nice head. He floats around the yard there. Those are his strong points. Everyone who has come to see him, they all love him.”

Could he be the heir to the throne?

“Never,” says Tony, half-insulted. “I don't think we'll ever get an heir to that horse. We'd love one. But I don't think we'll ever find another Kodiac.”

And with that, the master of Tally-Ho leaves the table to tend to more pressing duties in the yard. He's not one for sitting, you know. But was he always like that?

“I'll never forget I was covering a mare with Dad,” Roger recalls. “He was holding the mare and I had Danetime. When Danetime went to get up on the mare, she reared. Dad had the lead rope wrapped around his thumb and the thumb went with the lead rope. Severed it. Straight off. 

“I'll never forget it. And then, when he went into the hospital, all he was telling me was, 'I'm really sorry.' I was saying, 'what are you sorry for?' 

“Anyway, he did a night in hospital but was back in the yard the following morning. He had a big bandage on his hand out cleaning water troughs that day. But what happened next? Didn't the f**king bucket fall over and of course he went to grab it. Bang. It bounced off the thumb. 

“Oh Jesus, I'll never forget it. The poor f**ker nearly died with the pain. But as soon as he could get back going, he was out in that yard. You can count the number of days on one hand that Dad has taken off work in his life. Seriously. He just loves it.” 

And that, ladies and gentleman, is the difference. 

Tony O'Callaghan on…….

Caught U Looking

I'd been watching her going around the back ring at the Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale and was wondering whether or not I should bid for her. Next thing, she went into the ring and Peter Nolan bought her for Noel Meade. I said I'd take her. They told me the most I could have was a half, so I took half. She's a nice filly. I'm hoping she will go on this season but we'll see, won't we? I'm hoping she'll stay a mile plus. We could have sold her 10 times over but we'll roll the dice. I'd be hoping she can stay a mile-and-a-half. That's what I'd like. She has plenty of size and scope. It would be nice to have a runner in the Oaks. 

Working the sales

There are people giving out about the industry but, when they go to the sales, they are fiddling around and they wouldn't do any homework. A lot of the trainers are like that. Willie Mullins started with eight or nine horses. Gordon Elliott started with one or two. When you go to the sales, do you go to zone in or you go to be sociable for the day? You can only do one or the other. You can't do both. If you want to buy something, you have to pay attention, not be in and out of the bar. I've nothing against that but it's gone a bit like that. The sales are competitive. We're there to work.

National Hunt

We always had National Hunt horses going back years ago. I quite like National Hunt horses. As the fella says, what do you do in January? I always felt the first day of Spring was Thyestes Day. Long ago, when we were young, Thyestes Day marked the start of Spring. 

Polarisation

It is gone polarised but you can always sell a nice horse. It's always been the model first for me. If you can get the sire as well, then you are away. The model will always get you out of trouble, though. 

 

The post An Endless Pursuit Of ‘A Bit Of Magic’ For The O’Callaghans At Tally-Ho Stud appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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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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