Breeders Cup Round-Up

Breeders Cup Round-Up

There is only one place to start concerning the Breeders Cup meeting, and that is the Breeders Cup Turf - won by the John Gosden-trained wonder-filly Enable. She made history, becoming the first winner of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe to follow that up with a win at the Breeders Cup.

She beat Magical, who ran a fine race in second, having won the Fillies and Mare contest at British Champions Day last month. The two pulled well clear of the rest, however Enable was just too good, and fingers crossed, she will remain in training as a 5yo.

The feature race was the Breeders Cup Classic, won by Accelerate and Joel Rosario, for trainer John Sadler's first Breeders Cup success. The British raiders ran with credit in defeat, with the Saeed Bin Suroor-trained Thunder Snow in third, and Aiden O'Brien's Mendelssohn back in fifth. Roaring Lion and Oisin Murphy were never travelling - on a surface the Lion had never faced, and they wrapped up his sensational year by finishing last, but it was not in-vain.

Earlier in the day, Expert Eye capped off a much better year after disappointing in last year's Dewhurst, by landing the Mile contest - handing Frankie Dettori a double. The bookies have taken no chance with Expert Eye for next year, as he has been cut to the new favourite for the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot next summer.

Friday was all about the Juveniles, and Newspaperofrecord blew away her rivals in the Juvenile Fillies Turf. However, East - trained by Kevin Ryan faired best of the rest, and is now much more prominent for the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket in May, with Just Wonderful (the current favourite), only managing fourth.

Charlie Appleby continued his Grade 1 globe-trotting campaign with a winner at Churchill Down in the Juveniles Turf. Line Of Duty hung badly left when coming up the straight, but jockey William Buick knuckled down and managed to scrape the win. Appleby and Buick combined twenty-fours later, and were unlucky in the Filly & Mare contest with Wild Illusion, who was just denied by Sistercharlie and John Velazquez.

There was also an obligatory win for ever-present Breeders Cup victor Bob Baffert, who landed the Breeders Cup Juvenile on the dirt with Game Winner, who really was that, when storming clear of the field.

All in all, the Breeders Cup certainly lived up to his Grade 1 status.