WATCH Breeders' Cup 2022: Richard Fahey Q&A on The Platinum Queen and Midnight Mile

We are building up to the 2022 Breeders’ Cup, just talk us through the horses you have taken over to the meeting in the past?

Richard Fahey: We’ve had two runners before and Birchwood went over there for the Juvenile Turf, at Keeneland. He was third, beaten a nose and a head, but I was delighted with him. It’s a great meeting to be involved with, the Americans take it very seriously and we go there with a couple of chances this year.

You have to have the horse to go over there and with a horse like The Platinum Queen, when did it first become on her radar (to get an invite over to the Breeders’ Cup)?

RF: To be honest, very early on. When she broke the track record at Goodwood really. If there is a speedy two-year-old you’d take over there, she’d be top of your list.

WATCH: The Platinum Queen video and interview with Richard Fahey

You’ve taken a horse to Keeneland before, the Juvenile Turf Sprint is over five-and-a-half furlongs there, do you think the track and the race will suit her style of racing?

RF: She won the Abbaye on heavy ground the other day and, having been a trainer for 100 years, I felt she wouldn’t have enjoyed the slower ground!

She’s a very fast filly, she skips off the ground and I can’t say she doesn’t like soft ground as she’s just won a Group 1 on it.

I’d still think faster ground would suit, although having said that it’s not guaranteed at Keeneland. But natural speed, she’s ticking all the boxes for America.

She’s never been round a turn before but she’s inclined to just go a little bit left-handed, she does at home the whole time, so if I was to pick one out that would be suited to America she’d be very high on the agenda.

When we saw her at Goodwood and when second in the Nunthorpe at York, she looked like a filly that just blasts out and goes, but in France when she won the Abbaye she had to do it a little bit differently and showed more versatility?

RF: I was delighted to see that and delighted you’ve picked up on that point.

She was happy to sit beside them the other day and prior to that she just wanted to run. When she won at York she literally carted Oisin [Orr]. She’s a typical breeze-up filly, she’s got two speeds.

At home they’re very keen the breeze-up horses and the best thing to do is to train them on the track. She’s had seven runs already and rather than gallop at home she goes racing.

With the racing she has learned to relax. I was a little bit worried in France, we wanted to take her down early and they wouldn’t let us but she lobbed down there, so she is growing up and maturing mentally and physically. It’s a good point about Longchamp, she was comfortable taking a lead and sitting upsides them which was great for us.

Her demeanour, her cantering, is changing, she would just hit the gallop and bolt, but now she’s starting to race properly and behave properly.

When I say behave her walking home is spectacular, it was just when she hit the gallops she wanted to run, but she is beginning to relax now.

We’ve just seen The Platinum Queen working on the treadmill, what are the benefits of that?

RF: She was very keen and we’ve trained her four times a week on the treadmill, two canters and it’s hard to change that. I’d be more comfortable cantering her a little bit more now but it’s controlled exercise.

It meant that she wasn’t bolting every morning and going flat out – when I say bolting she’s not head in the air, she’s just goes fast easily and wants to go fast – we are in more control with her cantering now but I don’t want to change much before America, maybe next year she won’t spend as much time on it.

You touched on The Platinum Queen having had seven runs already this year, how confident would you be that she can hold her form going into November?

RF: It’s always a worry, their coats are starting to turn now.

When National Hunt horses get hairy we clip them and she’ll probably go over there with a trace clip. In herself she seems in great order, physically she’s eating, she’s never left a nut, and on Saturday she had a canter, Oisin was delighted with her.

It’s a big ordeal going to America, a long flight and a long trip, at the back end of a very busy season for her. It’s fingers crossed, hopefully she’s not over the top.

You mentioned Oisin Orr there and unfortunately he won’t be riding her in America, but you haven’t got a bad substitute?

RF: I feel a bit sorry for Oisin, the weight is 8-7 and he can’t do it, Middleham Park were very keen to let Oisin ride.

Without being particularly rude I would say Oisin has had a big part to play with this filly, he’s one of the few people that can actually ride her out.

It’s the game, but Hollie (Doyle) has had two spins on her and won a Group One, so she’s not a bad substitute.

No and Hollie Doyle was second in the Nunthorpe on her and won the Abbaye, doing those light weights, so in that sense she’s the perfect fit for the horse?

RF: Absolutely and she doesn’t mess about, just lets her do the running and fingers crossed everything goes well for her in America.

How would The Platinum Queen compare to other sprinters you’ve had over the years as there have been plenty from Musley Bank that have been pretty quick?

RF: It’s difficult, she’s definitely the fastest two-year-old we’ve ever had.

She can go fast very easily and if I could pick I’d have some decent fast ground there. I remember when Oisin broke the track record at Goodwood and I said ‘you were clocking big numbers there’ and he said ‘I could’ve gone quicker’ so she is the quickest we’ve had, but it’s hard to compare to the older sprinters.

She’s disputing favouritism for the Juvenile Turf Sprint and we saw the celebrations from the Middleham Park boys at Longchamp, just what would it mean to you and the team if you could come away with a Breeders’ Cup win?

RF: We’ve never had one so it’s like everything else in our industry, if you haven’t had it you want it and if you’ve had it once you want it again, but to get a Breeders’ Cup winner would be fantastic.

She might not be the only going from Musley Bank as Midnight Mile could go for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf and she’s been a revelation really, unbeaten in two starts, and she did it nicely last time in the Group 3 Oh So Sharp Stakes at Newmarket?

RF: She’s a filly we’ve always loved and she’s been huge prices both times she has run. I was shocked by how big a price she was when she won at Doncaster first time and she’s a completely different filly to The Platinum Queen.

She’s a late-maturing filly that’s taken time. Fair dues to Richard Henry and the team that own her, they’ve been very patient with her.

From very early on I was extremely sweet on her, I thought an awful lot of her, I’ve given her plenty of time. She won her maiden and then I was very keen to go for black type and I thought she did it extremely well the other day, she would’ve been a very unlucky loser.

I think that race will put her 100 per cent right, she was a little bit green in areas at Newmarket but she picked up well and she’s a progressive filly who we like a lot.

She did well to come from off the pace at Newmarket (replay below), she had quite a lot to do in the last quarter mile?

RF: It was pure talent that got her out of trouble. She goes there a fresh filly with just two races under her belt, a completely different filly to The Platinum Queen.

She did a piece of work last week (Wednesday, October 19) and it was very good, but we’ll just see what sort of form she’s in and we’ll give the dice a roll and see what happens.

We’ve just seen her in the sunshine she looks a nice relaxed filly, does she take that into her races?

RF: She’s extremely laid back, no issues but not really fully wound up yet, but when she worked on Wednesday she showed improvement again. She’s progressive, really laid back and a quality filly.

She’s got a lovely pedigree hasn’t she, by No Nay Never?

RF: They are few and far between pedigrees like hers.

On her dam’s side she could even get further. Stepping up to a mile I think will help her, so it’s exciting if we decide to take her.

Over a mile at the Breeders’ Cup as a juvenile, but what sort of trip could she go over as a three-year-old?

RF: She’s not slow, she’s won a G3 over seven and picked up well from off the pace. On her dam’s side she could be a mile and a quarter mile and a half filly even, but she’s got enough speed for a mile.

I feel like Aidan O’Brien here, but she’s a quality filly and I’m just delighted to have her.

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