StableTalk

So then to the review of Saturday night’s Breeders Cup meeting at Santa Anita. A huge card stretching over some eight hours, twelve races and nine Group 1 races on Dirt and Turf.

The first European interest was the rank outsider AMBASSADORIAL in the Dirt Mile but he never showed and came home ninth of the ten behind the all-the-way winner SPUN TO WIN.

On then to the Filly & Mare Turf in which the Europeans have enjoyed past success but the 2018 winner SISTERCHARLIE was favourite to keep this one for the locals. The European challenge was headed by IRIDESSA, the 2018 English 1000 Guineas winner BILLESDON BROOK and the 2019 Pouliches winner CASTLE LADY running for France. VILLA MARINA and JUST WONDERFUL looked to have something to find but FANNY LOGAN was an interesting runner for the Gosden/Dettori combination although this was also a big step up in class.

The local outsider MIRTH opened up a ten length lead down the back straight and was chased by VASILIKA with IRIDESSA. CASTLE LADY and SISTERCHARLIE all tracking the speed. MIRTH had gone plenty hard enough and while she led entering the stretch she was running on fumes and both VASILIKA and IRIDESSA closed her down at the 200m and went on.

SISTERCHARLIE made up ground on the home turn but couldn’t do it again in the stretch as FANNY LOGAN and JUST WONDERFUL ran on from the rear. It was Wayne Lordan on IRIDESSA who saw it out by a neck from VASILIKA with SISTERCHARLIE two and a quarter lengths back in third ahead of FANNY LOGAN and JUST WONDERFUL.

CASTLE LADY weakened tamely and BILLESDON BROOK along with VILLA MARINA never got involved.

FANNY LOGAN ran a fine race and I think she could be a nice prospect if kept in training for next year. IRIDESSA won the Matron and didn’t stay in the Irish Oaks. I think this turning track suited her so much better than the straight 1600m at Newmarket last time. I don’t know if she will stay in training but she’s a broodmare who will, I suspect, be visiting one of the Coolmore stallions before long.

The Turf Mile is another race the Europeans have farmed over the years and Expert Eye won well last year. CIRCUS MAXIMUS arguably brought the strongest form with wins in the St James’s Palace and the Moulin. LORD GLITTERS won the Queen Anne but perhaps wasn’t the strongest along with HEY GAMAN while I fancied SPACE TRAVELLER, the Jersey winner.

From the start, Frankie Dettori got HEY GAMAN rolling from his outside stall and he was soon leading with Woodbine Mile winner EL TORMENTA with the pair ahead of BOWIES HERO and then the pack.
Off the home turn HEY GAMAN was on fumes and while CIRCUS MAXIMUS was rolling forward, it was the local pair of UNI and GOT STORMY and the former prevailed by a length and a half. WITHOUT PAROLE, formerly with John Gosden, ran on for third a further length and a quarter back with CIRCUS MAXIMUS just behind in fourth.

The likes of SPACE TRAVELLER and LORD GLITTERS finished midfield without looking like getting involved along with the fading HEY GAMAN.

This was a real coup by the Americans and Canadians who put some reasonable Europeans to the sword here. UNI had raced in France as a juvenile before coming to America early in her 3-y-o career and she’s been a work in progress ever since for Chad Brown. CIRCUS MAXIMUS is better at stiffer tracks and lacked the tactical speed at the top of the stretch to be competitive.

The other race which the Europeans traditionally win is the Turf over 2400m. The challenge was s not as strong as last year when ENABLE beat MAGICAL and consisted mainly of OLD PERSIAN who had looked back to his best in the Northern Dancer and the Ballydoyle pair of MOUNT EVEREST and the Epsom Derby winner ANTHONY VAN DYCK who hadn’t really gone on from that success suggesting the race had bottomed him though he had run a fair third last time in the Irish Champion.

The best of the locals was BRICKS AND MORTAR who had won his last six including the Arlington Million but was unproven over the trip.

For an American race they went a sensible pace with ACCLIMATE towing the field along and all the fancied horse sitting in midfield seemingly travelling well.

The pace lifted sharply exiting the back straight and both OLD PERSIAN and ANTHONY VAN DYCK were immediately under rides. BRICKS AND MORTAR struggled to get a position on the home turn as outsider UNITED went up to lead entering the stretch.

Irad Ortiz Junior got BRICKS AND MORTAR rolling off the turn and ran down UNITED in the final 100m to preserve his unbeaten record and win a head. ANTHONY VAN DYCK ran on really well for a highly creditable third with his stable companion MOUNT EVEREST sixth and OLD PERSIAN fading into tenth.

The winner is a serious racehorse and dominates American middle distance turf racing – how he’s have gone with ENABLE in opposition is a moot point but it was good to see ANTHONY VAN DYCK back to some better form and I believe he will be campaigned as a 4-y-o.

Not to put too fine a point on it but this was an awful night for the Europeans who sent perhaps their weakest squad for some years and had their worst meeting since 2014 with just IRIDESSA flying the flag. It’s always tough to go to America (or indeed Australia) and run against the locals in their back yard but the style of racing round Santa Anita didn’t seem to work for the Europeans at all who seemed short of tactical speed throughout the meeting.

Keeneland hosts next year for the first time since 2015 and the cooler conditions may well help the Europeans as might the slightly later date and the gap from meetings like the Arc and British Champions Day.

Off to Bloodstock Corner for a moment:

https://www.racingpost.com/bloodstock/b ... gns/407486

Coolmore's three new stallions are CALYX, MAGNA GRECIA and TEN SOVEREIGNS. The attached price schedule doesn't have too many surprises but NO NAY NEVER is seemingly the successor to GALILEO and his prize of 150,000 Euros reflects that. NO NAY NEVER is the sire of TEN SOVEREIGNS, ARIZONA and WICHITA and while not the most successful progeny of the late Scat Daddy seems to be the one Coolmore like as the future stallion prospect.

Heavy rain in the north of England means the finale to the English turf season at Doncaster might well be lost. There's an inspection at 8am tomorrow and checks that early don't usually end well. I don't know if the meeting will be re-arranged as there's only a couple of Listed events. If not, that's all for England and ireland this year but France staggers on for a couple of weeks.

MAGIC WAND is in the MacKinnon field on Saturday and TRUE SELF goes in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes over 2600m having missed the cut for the Melbourne Cup where MAGIC WAND found the trip too far despite the slow gallop. Back to 2000m will help but she comes up against the Kiwi superstar MELODY BELLE who is a class act. TRUE SELF would love any more rain but on his second to PRINCE OF ARRAN in the Geelong Cup he looks the one.

With Doncaster cancelled, the flat turf season in Britain came to a rather quiet end. Ireland is also finished and France jogs on for a few more days before they go on to the artificial surfaces which will keep us going.

The Racing Post published the stats for the 2019 season - Oisin Murphy ended champion jockey with 166 winners up to Champions Day while John Gosden survived a late challenge from Aidan O'Brien to regain the champion trainer prize.

The top sire was GALILEO whose progeny, led by MAGICAL, earned over £11,675,000 in win and place money - second was SEA THE STARS with just over four million so a huge lead. GALILEO was also top sire of 2-y-o while CABLE BAY beat NIGHT OF THUNDER to be the top freshman sire.

The circus moves to Tokyo for the Japan Cup on November 24th but it looks as though there will be no overseas runners this year. With no ALMOND EYE either, the race looks wide open but the credential trial last Sunday at Kyoto saw Christophe Soumillon score on LUCKY LILAC but the Japanese Oaks winner LOVES ONLY YOU ran a huge race in third off a layoff and could be the one for the big race.

From there, we have the Hong Kong International meeting at Sha Tin on December 8th with the four races open to international competition and that will pretty much do it for me for the year.

The Meydan Carnival kicks off 2020 on January 2nd.

Seems odd to be talking about Sandown in an Australian context but the Charlie Appeby trained SETTING SAIL goes in the Group 3 Eclipse (another Sandown reference) overnight.

SETTING SAIL is beautifully bred - by Dansili out of West Wind who was a decent middle distance performer in 2007 ending up running second in the Vermeille. The 1800m should be ideal and he looked decent at Epsom at the end of August winning a small race with authority. PACODALI raced in Ireland and the UK as a two and three year old and was borderline Listed grade competing in some decent events but that was a time ago.

Catching up on a few snippets after a chilly and frustrating afternoon watching the jump racing at Lingfield.

Confirmed there will be no European challengers for this year's Japan Cup at Fuchu on Sunday but horses like REY DEL ORO and CHEVAL GRAND look to be strong contenders though KISEKI and ALMOND EYE are both missing.

Last weekend saw some key trial races at Sha Tin for the December International meeting which is three and a half weeks away. Sunday was meant to be a tale of two superstars triumphant but ended up with one triumphant and a new kid on the block emerging. EXULTANT, who was once third in an Irish 2000 Guineas, has thrived in Hong Kong and especially since being united with Zac Purton and he won the 2000m Group 2 comfortably and will be very difficult to beat in the Hong Kong Cup.

BEAUTY GENERATION was the star of 2018 and early this year but the autumn has seen the champion's lustre fade - one defeat on the seasonal re-appearance could be excused but he was turned over again over the 1600m on Sunday fading tamely when headed by WAIKUKU and the Mile looks wide open.

The Sprint seemed not to have an obvious leading contender but that changed with the impressive success of the 3-y-o AETHERO who followed up a 1000m Group 2 win with this huge success. He's a son of Sebring and could be the new sprint star going forward.

Again, just a couple of snippets from me this evening. The Japan Cup is run at 6.40am (UK) so presumably that's 7.40pm (NZ) Sunday evening - being shown on Trackside 1.

It looks a wide open race further complicated by considerable rain in the Tokyo area. The ground is usually Firm but has been downgraded to Good and may go softer. That won't help a number of the runners and while WAGNERIAN and YOU CAN SMILE head the market, DANBURITE would be my idea of my winner as he has proven form on soft turf and will stay the 2400m well.

Friday also saw the first race in Bahrain open to international horses. Now, if you don't know about racing in Bahrain, I don't blame you - I didn't either. The racecourse is called Sakhir and the feature on yesterday's card was the Bahrain International Trophy over 2000m which carried a first prize of £250,000. A number of European runners went after this pot headed by the John Gosden trained TURGENEV who went off favourite but ended up second to ROYAL JULIUS who had run consistently in Group 3 company in France this summer

That probably tells you the class of the race - TURGENEV is rated 112 in the UK and is a decent Group class performer. AFAAK was fourth, beaten only a length in a bunch finish. He's rated 107 and plies his trade in the top handicaps in the UK. INTELLOGENT and PIVOINE were fifth and sixth and had run sixth and fifth in the Arlington Million behind BRICKS AND MORTAR who took out the Breeders Cup Turf.

I get the sense Bahrain are looking to get in on the act of staging big races to lure horses from Europe and further afield. As we know, the inaugural Saudi Cup takes place on February 29th next year in direct competition with the Meydan races and the Pegasus in the US so you have a huge Dirt race at the end of January (the Pegasus), another at the end of February (the Saudi Cup) and another at the end of March (the Dubai World Cup).

The Saudi Cup will be run over 1800m and has a first prize of $10 Million (US). The under-card features a 3000m handicap on the grass worth $1.5 million (Melbourne Cup of the desert?) with other turf races over 2100m and 1300m.

Interesting snippets on a Sunday evening over here.

Donnacha O'Brien has retired from race riding and will follow his brother Joseph into training next year at just 21 years of age. He's going to have a small string of horses in Tipperary and I suspect he'll be calling on his brother and father for advice. Another retirement from race riding is the American legend Corey Nakatani.

There's a story developing here about the founder of Phoenix Thoroughbreds and his alleged involvement in a money laundering scam. Phoenix have horses in Australia I believe.

British champion jockey Oisin Murphy is, as the song has it, "big in Japan" and he rode SUAVE RICHARD to win the Japan Cup this morning. SUAVE RICHARD was third in the Sheema Classic at Meydan back in March and was fifth in the Japan Cup last year but relished the yielding turf to defeat the Japanese Oaks runner up CURRAN BOUQUET D'OR with WAGNERIAN third.

Sunday sees the final chapter in the racing calendar up here with the Hong Kong International Meeting at Sha Tin which is four races on a ten race card.

The Vase is over 2400m and has attracted the largest and strongest European challenge. Aidan O'Brien runs two - MOUNT EVEREST and Epsom Derby winner ANTHONY VAN DYCK. One or two people have been a bit unkind to the Derby winner and he was clearly outpointed by stable mate SOVEREIGN in a tactical Irish Derby and then flopped badly in the King George but his third in the Irish Champion and the Breeders Cup Turf don't read too badly and the application of blinkers for the first time is a fascinating move. He's drawn 12 which isn't ideal but has a chance.

YOUNG RASCAL was once thought Derby class an beat subsequent Epsom runner up DEE EX BEE in the 2018 Chester Vase before finishing seventh to MASAR. After a decent 3-y-o campaign he ran two uninspiring efforts earlier this year but looked back t o his best winning a Listed race on the Kempton Polytrack. It's a big ask in this grade but he could outrun his odds. ASPETAR finished second when YOUNG RASCAL was fifth at Newbury back in the year but Roger Charlton has campigned this 4-y-o carefully and he won the Group 2 Grand Prix de Chantilly before finishing a close fourth in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint Cloud. He came back off a break to win the Preis von Europa in September but I just wonder if this will all happen too quick for him.

PRINCE OF ARRAN and TRUE SELF both come here from campaigns in Australia. The former won the Geelong Cup before a magnificent second to VOW AND DECLARE in the Melbourne Cup. TRUE SELF missed the cut for the big one but won a handicap over 2600m in good style.

The Japanese raider DEIRDRE had an excellent summer campaign in Europe winning the Group 1 Nassau at Goodwood before two fine races in defeat behind MAGICAL in the Irish Champion (just behind ANTHONY VAN DYCK) and the Champion Stakes (didn't like the heavy turf). She has a huge chance here at a track and with a racing style which will suit. LUCKY LILAC also runs for Japan and stayer CALLED TO THE BAR runs for France but both have plenty on.

In truth, they all have to beat EXULTANT who bids to follow up last year's win when he beat LYS GRACIEUX who won this year's Cox Plate. The main problem is the favourite has been drawn in the car park and it's going to be an issue for Zac Purton how he gets track position. For that reason, I've had a few pounds on DEIRDRE at 7/1 to spring a surprise.

No European interest in the 1200m Sprint and AETHERO looks the next big thing. He beat HOT KING PRAWN in a Group 2 last time and the latter has a much better draw but AETHERO has shown himself to be an improving quality sprint and he will take all the beating.

The Mile sees last year's spectacular winner BEAUTY GENERATION seeking to rebuild his reputation after a couple of shock reversals this season. INDY CHAMP looks a serious opponent - he's best of the three Japanese contenders and comes off a Group 1 win at Kyoto last time. ZAAKI is the sole European runner and he's a solid Group 2 performer in the UK and the fact he is equally effective at 1400 and 1600m puts him in good stead here but it's hard to think his bare form would be good enough. To be fair, he's drawn well and 25/1 isn't an unattractive price if all the cards fall right.

The Cup over 2000m is worth £1.6 million to the winner but just eight go to post. Aidan O'Brien leaves MAGICAL at home and runs MAGIC WAND who run fourth in the Cox Plate, tenth in the Melbourne Cup and then won the MacKinnon. - that's not bad and clearly this mare loves her racing. She has a huge chance against what looks a very weak local challenge and in the absence of ALMOND EYE. Her main rival might be the French 3-y-o EDISA. We know she travels because she won the Jockey Club Oaks at Belmont Park before returning to France to run second in a Group 2 on heavy turf. Back on this better ground she has serious claims.

There were two Listed races on the card at Meydan yesterday (Carnival starts on January 2nd). The first saw World Cup runner up GRONKOWSKI make his return but he faded into third behind the 33/1 shot MILITARY LAW. Veteran IBN MALIK won the 1200m Listed race - for those with long memories, he once ran fourth to RIBCHESTER in the Jersey at Ascot - that was back in 2016.

I wouldn't normally bother with a Saturday evening maiden on the Tapeta at Wolverhampton but the 1900m 3-y-o race saw a sparkling debut from the John Gosden trained WALDKONIG who hacked up by six lengths.

Why do I mention this - WALDKONIG is half brother to this year's Arc winner WALDGEIST.