Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien believes St Nicholas Abbey will find the sun-baked turf track at Santa Anita to his liking when he defends his Breeders’ Cup Turf title.
Last year at Churchill Downs, St Nicholas Abbey made O’Brien’s son Joseph O’Brien the youngest jockey to win a Breeders’ Cup race with victory in the $3 million, 1-1/2-mile (2400m) event.
Since then, the five-year-old has had just one win, in the Coronation Cup at Epsom, and was never a factor in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on October 7, finishing 11th on heavy ground.
“I think it is safe to say you can put a line through his last run in the Arc,” O’Brien said.
“Joseph knew after a furlong (200m) or so that the horse was in trouble on that ground and did his best to look after the horse as well as he could.
“Hopefully it will be a different story on quicker ground here.”
St Nicholas Abbey, who was set to get a glimpse of the track nestled in the hills northeast of Los Angeles after clearing quarantine on Thursday morning, drew barrier three in the 12-horse field for the race which is one of the Saturday (Sunday AEDT) highlights of the two-day, $US25 million ($A24.23 million) Breeders’ Cup championships.
The 1-1/4-mile $5 million Classic will cap the action on Saturday with the Ladies’ Classic highlighting Friday’s schedule.
While the Turf and the other Breeders’ Cup races run on grass traditionally draw a strong European contingent, New York-based Point of Entry provides a tough home challenge.
The four-year-old trained by Shug McGaughey has won his past five starts and will start from the inside alley under jockey John Velazquez.
Other Turf contenders include the Dale Romans-trained Dullahan and stablemate Little Mike, along with Shareta, trained at Chantilly by Alain de Royer-Dupre, and Slim Shady, who began his career in Europe but has raced primarily in California this year.
Romans sent both Dullahan and Little Mike out on Wednesday to give them some experience of Santa Anita’s downhill turf course and, in particular, the tricky spot where the footing changes as it crosses the dirt track.
“The main thing I wanted was for them to get a feel of the downhill and see the dirt course – so they don’t jump it,” Romans said.
Trailblazer, a five-year-old son of the Sunday Silence stallion Zenno Rob Roy, competed in Japan before travelling to California for his Turf bid.
“He has acclimated well,” trainer Yasutoshi Ikee said.
“He acts a bit immature on the grounds but once on the track, he’s all business.”
