Only one trainer on either side of the Atlantic has had more runners at the Breeders’ Cup than Aidan O’Brien over the years, and the Irishman has had his share of good luck and bad. But he will head into this year’s edition on Friday having suffered a series of setbacks before a single runner has even seen a starting stall. Magical, his obvious team leader, was ruled out a few days ago and Monday’s draw was also unkind to many of his entries, leaving Anthony Van Dyck, the Derby winner, as possibly his best chance of a 13th Breeders’ Cup winner this weekend.
It is now well over three years since a Derby winner won a subsequent race, and Anthony Van Dyck has come up short in three starts since his narrow success at Epsom in early June. He has disappointed only once, however, when second-last in the King George at Ascot, and steady support for Anthony Van Dyck has forced his price down to 5-2 for the Turf on Saturday.
“He only had one little blip and that was in bad ground in the King George and I shouldn’t have run him,” O’Brien said here on Thursday. “All his other form is excellent and we’ve been delighted with him since [the Derby]. He had a great run in the Irish Champion and we’d have run in the Arc if the ground had been nice but it wasn’t, so we stayed [at home] and did a piece of work at Dundalk.
“We’re looking forward to it. The trip, ground, track, draw, everything looks right for him.”
Circus Maximus, the favourite for Saturday’s Mile despite a wide draw in stall nine, is another big contender for Ballydoyle this weekend, but O’Brien’s team leader on Friday faces a huge task from the widest stall of all. Arizona, the runner-up to the brilliant Pinatubo in the Dewhurst Stakes last time, is the best horse in the Juvenile Turf by some distance on ratings but he is out in stall 12 in a race that is quickly on the turn on Santa Anita’s tight turf course.
“Obviously things have to fall a little bit more in your favour when you’re out there,” O’Brien said. “He’s in very good form, we’ve always thought that he’d love fast ground and he’s never had it until now, so that will help him.”
Friday’s best bets
The first British Group One race to be run on a synthetic track is the feature event of the domestic action on Friday and while the Vertem Futurity is only at Newcastle because last weekend’s meeting at Doncaster was abandoned, it is a better and deeper race as a result.
The Futurity-which-wasn’t featured five juveniles from O’Brien’s stable up against one – Andrew Balding’s Kameko – from somewhere else. The re-arranged race has twice as many runners, and a very interesting supplementary entry in Ralph Beckett’s Kinross (6.00). He arrives at Newcastle with just one run to his name, but it was a deeply impressive win in a maiden that has already produced two subsequent winners and Kinross could prove to be something special.
Divine Spirit (1.40) and Rainbow Dreamer (2.50) both have plenty to recommend them on the card at Newmarket while Battleofthesomme (12.55), who looked like a new horse when successful on his chasing debut at Southwell last time, should take advantage of his lower hurdling mark at Uttoxeter. Ardlethen (1.55) could give the top-class hurdler Sam Spinner something to think about in the novice chase at Wetherby.
Newmarket
12.00 Keats 12.30 Tuscan Gaze 1.05 Raasel 1.40 Divine Spirit 2.15 Regular Income 2.50 Rainbow Dreamer 3.25 Fly The Flag 4.00 Ouzo
Uttoxeter
12.55 Battleofthesomme (nb) 1.30 France De Reve 2.05 Steady Away 2.40 Captain Moirette 3.15 Heavenly Promise 3.50 Lady Master 4.20 Adicci
Wetherby
1.20 North Star Oscar 1.55 Ardlethen 2.30 Crealion 3.05 Happy Diva 3.40 Robinshill 4.10 Le Grand Fromage
Newcastle
3.45 Mr Buttons 4.15 Gottardo 4.50 Aberffraw 5.25 Be Proud 6.00 Kinross (nap) 6.30 Glenties 7.00 Bobby Shaft 7.30 Harvest Day 8.00 Red Allure
