Breeders’ Cup 2024: Team Europe profiles ahead of Del Mar
Our Ben Linfoot profiles the main players from Team Europe at this weekend’s Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar.
Big Mojo (Timeform Rating 108)
Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint
He’s called Big something, he’s trained by Mick Appleby and he’s owned by RP Racing Limited – just like Big Evs who won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint 12 months ago. That’s not where the similarities end as Big Mojo has trodden a very similar path to his stablemate, winning the Molecomb Stakes at Glorious Goodwood before suffering defeat in a hot race at York and then rediscovering his best form in the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes at Doncaster’s St Leger Festival. While Big Evs won on Town Moor impressively, Big Mojo went down by a neck to Aesterius, a horse who could resume rivalry at Del Mar, by a neck. Big Evs had the slightly better form, but fast ground also looks a major positive for Big Mojo and he’ll go into the 2024 Breeders’ Cup opener with solid claims of doubling M. Appleby’s Breeders’ Cup tally. The worry is he gets outpaced, as he’s not the out-and-out speedball Big Evs is and, bred for further, he could be a six-furlong horse next year.
Bradsell (124)
Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint
It has been tough to dominate the sprinting scene in Europe, the way the six-furlong horses have been taking their turns in the Group Ones underlining that, but Bradsell has looked the standout performer over the bare five. Archie Watson has worked wonders to bring this horse back from serious injury, not once but twice, the fractured fetlock he sustained in February of this year ensuring he missed the King’s Stand Stakes and the first half of his 2024 campaign. The Nunthorpe Stakes at York became his focus after that and he won it nicely, via a win in Deauville, and then he exorcised his Curragh demons with an equally impressive victory in the Flying Five. Alas, soft ground didn’t play to his strengths in the Prix de l’Abbaye, but he still ran a blinder in second behind Makarova and likely much faster ground at Del Mar in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, his last dance before he retires to stud, will be much more his bag.
City Of Troy (130p)
Breeders' Cup Classic
The best horse in the world on turf this year, can City Of Troy beat the best that America has to offer on dirt in a compelling renewal of the Breeders’ Cup Classic? Aidan O’Brien and the Coolmore team have had 17 goes at winning the Classic now, without success, from Giant’s Causeway in 2000 to Mendelssohn in 2018, but they have waited for the right horse for their 18th crack and there are reasons to believe this Derby, Eclipse and Juddmonte International winner could be the one. By the Triple Crown winner Justify, from a sire line that goes back to Northern Dancer and includes O’Brien’s Johannesburg, who won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on the dirt track at Belmont Park in 2001, City Of Troy has American racing pulsing through his veins. His engine and his ability to sustain a gallop should stand in him good stead and his European turf form looks a notch above the best of his American rivals. He has to prove himself on the surface, but if he handles it he has a mighty chance of conquering two racing worlds.
Jayarebe (119)
Breeders' Cup Turf
Brian Meehan has previous in the Breeders’ Cup Turf having won it with Red Rocks in 2006 and Dangerous Midge in 2010. This year he has got another contender for the race in Jayarebe and excitement about his chance is building the more and more his form works out. His two-length second to Economics at Deauville was franked by the winner in the Irish Champion Stakes and though William Haggas’ horse didn’t perform to his best at Ascot, the QIPCO Champion Stakes was won by a horse in Anmaat who was put in his place by Jayarebe in the Qatar Prix Dollar. All of this underlines what his race record already says, Jayarebe is a good horse, and while the 1m4f trip is an unknown the tight turns of Del Mar on fast ground – which he bounced off when winning at Royal Ascot – should be right up his street.
Lake Victoria (119p)
Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies' Turf
It’s hard to believe that Aidan O’Brien was 0/15 in the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf before Meditate ran away with the 2022 renewal at Keeneland. It would be typical of O’Brien to go on a winning spree in the race now he has cracked it, and while his representative last year, Content, could only manage fourth, he looks to have unearthed another serious contender this time around in the shape of Lake Victoria. By Frankel out of the Group 1-winning sprinter Quiet Reflection, Lake Victoria has inherited enough of her dam’s speed to drop to six furlongs and win the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes by three lengths on her last start, but her previous three wins were over seven and there’s no doubt she looks to have all the tools to thrive around Del Mar’s mile. She bounced off the July Course summer ground in the Sweet Solera and she’s going to have a strong favourite’s chance of getting one on the board for Europe here.
New Century (108p)
Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf
It’s Aidan O’Brien 6-3 Charlie Appleby in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and while both are likely to be represented in the race again this year it’s Andrew Balding’s New Century that heads the early betting for Qatar Racing. A son of Kameko, a horse who won a Group 1 himself as a juvenile when landing the Futurity Stakes when it was run on the Tapeta surface at Newcastle in 2019, New Century has already proven his effectiveness at the top level in the Grade 1 bet365 Summer Stakes at Woodbine. Relishing the firm ground and every yard of the mile on September 14, he guaranteed his berth at the Breeders’ Cup by beating Godolphin’s Al Qudra, who could reoppose at Del Mar. Bred for middle-distances next year, he could be vulnerable to an out-and-out miler, but he’s impressed in the way he’s learning with racing and with conditions sure to suit he could well muscle in on the Ballydoyle-Godolphin party.
Notable Speech (126)
Breeders' Cup Mile
Talking of Godolphin, it’s a big meeting for them. Charlie Appleby’s Breeders’ Cup record now stands at an amazing 10 wins from 20 runners and this year he’s prioritised it over everything else with not one single representative from Moulton Paddocks running at Ascot on Champions Day. The Breeders’ Cup team, though, looks as strong as ever, headed by the QIPCO 2000 Guineas and Sussex Stakes winner, Notable Speech, who will head to the Breeders’ Cup Mile a fresh horse after almost two months off. Last seen finishing fifth in the Prix de Moulin, it’s reasonable to put that defeat down to the soft ground and he should be much better served by the quicker conditions at Del Mar. His peak performances at Newmarket and Goodwood give him a winning chance, but this is his first time going left-handed and it does look a deep renewal…
Porta Fortuna (121)
Breeders' Cup Mile
Notable Speech will have to give 3lb to some very good three-year-old fillies in the Mile including Donnacha O’Brien’s Porta Fortuna. American-owned and by the American-bred Caravaggio, Porta Fortuna is an obvious candidate for the Breeders’ Cup having barely put a foot wrong since last year’s meeting at Santa Anita. Beaten into second in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf by Hard To Justify, she has since finished a neck second in the QIPCO 1000 Guineas before she rattled off a Group 1 hat-trick in the Coronation Stakes, Falmouth Stakes and Matron Stakes. This looks her toughest test yet, in against males for the first time, but some famous fillies have won this race in the past and she’ll be bidding to become the first Irish-trained filly to land this race since John Oxx’s Ridgewood Pearl in 1995.
Ramatuelle (122)
Breeders' Cup Mile
Bidding to reverse the 1000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes form with Porta Fortuna will be Christopher Head’s Ramatuelle. Head’s father, Freddy, has a famous history with this race having won it as a jockey with Miesque twice in 1987 and 1988, before he trained Goldikova to trump that with her hat-trick of wins in the Breeders’ Cup Mile between 2008 and 2010. No wonder Head junior has designs on this given the family history and in Ramatuelle he has an in-form and fresh filly who has had just the four starts in 2024 after a three-month break from July to September. She wasn’t beaten far in her three defeats in the spring, but she left those performances way behind when streaking away with the Prix de la Foret at Longchamp on Arc weekend, scooting away from Kinross by three lengths. That seven-furlong zip could be a potent weapon in a Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar, even if her Foret improvement came over a shorter trip on testing ground.
Rebel’s Romance (125)
Breeders' Cup Turf
Charlie Appleby has won the Breeders’ Cup Turf twice in the last three years and it’s his 2022 Keeneland winner, Rebel’s Romance, that’s back for more after missing last year’s championships. Indeed, Rebel’s Romance had a poor 2023 by his standards, a Listed win at Kempton his sole victory from just four starts, but he’s bounced right back to his very best as a six-year-old this year. The international star has four wins from five races under his belt in 2024, his sole defeat when finishing third to Goliath in the King George at Ascot, and while a domestic Group 1 still eludes him he’s been mopping up the big prizes on his travels, the Dubai Sheema Classic the highlight. A winner of the Preis von Europa at Cologne for the second time when last seen, that form has been franked by the runner-up in Italy and he’ll likely be in prime condition as he bids to regain his crown in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Breeders’ Cup 2024 race times (GMT) and schedule
Friday, November 1
- 9.45pm: Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint
- 10:25pm: Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies
- 11:05pm: Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf
- 11.45pm: Breeders’ Cup Juvenile
- 12:25am: Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf
Saturday, November 2
- 7:00pm: Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint
- 7:41pm: Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint
- 8:21pm: Breeders' Cup Distaff
- 9:01pm: Breeders’ Cup Turf
- 9:41pm: Breeders’ Cup Classic
- 10:25pm: Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf
- 11:05pm: Breeders’ Cup Sprint
- 11:45pm: Breeders’ Cup Mile
- 12:25am: Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile
British and Irish Breeders’ Cup winners in last six years
2023 (Santa Anita): Auguste Rodin, Inspiral, Master Of The Seas, Unquestionable, Big Evs
2022 (Keeneland): Meditate, Mischief Magic, Victoria Road, Tuesday, Modern Games, Rebel’s Romance
2021 (Del Mar): Modern Games, Space Blues, Yibir
2020 (Keeneland): Glass Slippers, Audarya, Order Of Australia, Tarnawa
2019 (Santa Anita): Iridessa
2018 (Churchill Downs): Line Of Duty, Expert Eye, Enable
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