Magician will lead Aidan O’Brien’s assault on the Breeders’ Cup as he bids to win the Turf for the second year running.
Ryan Moore, who rides the O’Brien-trained Adelaide in Saturday’s Cox Plate, was in the saddle when Magician defeated The Fugue at Santa Anita last year but O’Brien’s son, Joseph, is his likely rider on Saturday week.
Connections have had this race in mind for Magician following his second place behind Hardest Core in the Arlington Million in August.
“He’s in good form. He ran well in Arlington and after that we decided to keep him for this. It’s so far so good,” O’Brien said.
“We’ve had to sometimes run him in bad ground over here, but fast ground is what he likes.
“He’s been second in three Group Ones this season and we’ve freshened him up for this.”
Magician could be joined in the Turf by Chicquita, who threw away her chance of winning the Champions Fillies & Mares at Ascot on Saturday when she veered to the left and finished third.
“She ran well at Ascot and is in the mile-and-a-quarter ((2000m) race, but we might have the Turf as her first choice,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien is to represented in three of the races for two-year-olds, with Qualify going for the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf, The Great War for the Juvenile and War Envoy in the Juvenile Turf.
The Breeders’ Cup Turf is also the target of Telescope, second to Taghrooda in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot in July.
The Sir Michael Stoute-trained four-year-old was also third to O’Brien’s dual Derby winner Australia in the Juddmonte International at York in August.
