Breeders' Cup 2018 profiles: Ben Linfoot looks at all of the European hopes on Saturday's card

It’s a case of quality and quantity for the Europeans at the Breeders’ Cup on Saturday. John Gosden’s star duo Roaring Lion and Enable head the team and they are backed up by a fine supporting cast including the likes of Polydream, Magical and Wild Illusion.

With 23 European-trained horses in action on the main day of the Breeders’ Cup it’s a numerically strong squad as well and the forecast rain that could fall in large quantities on Thursday suits some of the raiding party but not others.

Here, Ben Linfoot assesses all of the European Saturday raiders, allotting his star ratings to each and every one, as the away team bid for a night of success at Churchill Downs.

Roaring Lion - Breeders’ Cup Classic

Trainer: John Gosden

Sky Bet odds: 8/1

It’s unusual for the European Team Captain to be a 20/1 shot on the Morning Line odds but that’s what we have with Roaring Lion in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Yes, he’s won four Group Ones on the trot, but the Dirt surface is alien to him, he’s not bred for it and this is very much an afterthought. Such races are not won on a whim and a prayer. However, he has displayed courage and class throughout the season in Europe and those two qualities could serve him well.

Euro Stars: 🌟🌟🌟 He’s not quite Newcastle United to win the league odds, but I would love it, LOVE IT, if he beat the Americans in their own back yard for the man partly responsible for them ripping up the synthetic surface they used a couple of times nine years ago.

Mendelssohn - Breeders’ Cup Classic

Trainer: Aidan O’Brien

Sky Bet odds: 9/1

Unlike Roaring Lion, Mendelssohn’s whole year has been campaigned around this one race. Since his remarkable UAE Derby romp at Meydan in March, Aidan O’Brien has pointed the son of Scat Daddy at this contest, although things didn’t go so well the last time he was at Churchill Downs in the Kentucky Derby. A sloppy track contributed to his last-place finish that day, so the forecast thunderstorms are not good news for this fellow, even if he has slowly built on his Dirt form on his three trips to the United States since July. Runs on Lasix, as all of O'Brien's horses will.

Euro Stars: 🌟🌟 If you could trust the Dubai form he’d have another star or two, but his subsequent American Dirt efforts are some way off the required standard and a supporting role at best looks most likely once again.

Thunder Snow - Breeders’ Cup Classic

Trainer: Saeed bin Suroor

Sky Bet odds: 10/1

Saeed bin Suroor’s charge shouldn’t be a bigger price than Mendelssohn. While Aidan O’Brien’s horse won a Group Two at the Meydan Carnival, Thunder Snow was strutting his stuff in the Dubai World Cup and beating West Coast, a major BC Classic player, by almost six lengths in the process. After a break he reappeared with a blowing-the-cobwebs-away-last in Roaring Lion’s Juddmonte International and then he beat Mendelssohn, by almost two lengths, when second in the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes at Belmont Park.

Euro Stars: 🌟🌟🌟 His Dirt form is good (form figures are 11P21212 on the surface), but, like Mendelssohn, he has some Churchill Downs demons to exorcise. While Mendelssohn was last in this year’s Kentucky Derby, Thunder Snow wasn’t even that good the year before, bucking and kicking his way to being pulled up after a furlong. No horse has ever won the Dubai World Cup and BC Classic in the same year.

Enable - Breeders' Cup Turf

Trainer: John Gosden

Sky Bet odds: 4/7

Even if you’re not quite sure about John Gosden’s claim that Enable won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe 85 per cent fit, there’s no getting away from her European Banker status at this year’s extravaganza. She’s quite clearly the best horse in the race, her draw in two is a kind one and any easing of the ground is in her favour, too. In fact, a rattling quick-ground Turf might’ve asked her a question or two, but now, well, it’s very difficult to envisage anything but a Frankie Dettori flying dismount.

Euro Stars: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 The Queen of European racing, no horse has ever won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the Turf in the same season, but Enable looks highly likely to quash that trend here. After just two runs this year she’s as fresh as she can be on the back of an Arc win and there will be some long faces if Enable is unable to do the business.

Talismanic - Breeders' Cup Turf

Trainer: Andre Fabre

Sky Bet odds: 12/1

A 14/1 winner of the Turf a year ago at Del Mar, he looked a natural around the tight turns in Southern California. Out of a mare that won at the track, he loved the fast ground, as well, so it hasn’t been a great surprise he hasn’t replicated that form back in Europe since. He did finish a good second in Hong Kong on his final start last year, though, further evidence he thrives on international racing, so a season’s best could well be forthcoming.

Euro Stars: 🌟🌟🌟 Talismanic is the sort of horse that looks made for the Breeders’ Cup and in an ordinary year he would probably be fancied. But this ain’t no ordinary year with Enable in opposition, and if the rain falls that would be a detriment to his chance as well.

Waldgeist - Breeders' Cup Turf

Trainer: Andre Fabre

Sky Bet odds: 5/1

A stablemate of Talismanic, he beat his yard pal in a slowly-run edition of the Prix Foy, a dress rehearsal for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, back in September. That was his fourth win on the bounce and he ran a respectable fourth in the Arc itself, proof that his master trainer had squeezed more ability out of him since his promising, but, ultimately, winless campaign as a three-year-old. He had a wider draw than Enable in the Arc and was a little short of room a quarter of a mile from home, but, even so, it’s difficult to imagine him reversing the form.

Euro Stars: 🌟🌟🌟 There are no convincing reasons as to why he should reverse Arc form with Enable, especially given he’s drawn in 12 here with the market leader favourably berthed in two.

Magical - Breeders' Cup Turf

Trainer: Aidan O’Brien

Sky Bet odds: 6/1

Now, Magical. She could be the one to give Enable most to do. The only other filly in the race, she’s thriving at just the right time and put in a career-best performance last time out to beat another Gosden hotpot in Lah Ti Dar in the Fillies & Mares on Qipco British Champions Day at Ascot. Beaten just over five lengths by Enable in the Arc prior to that, she had a wide draw in France and it was very much a building block being her first go at 1m4f.

Euro Stars: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 She’s at the top of her game right now and has a nice draw in five so will be much better positioned to threaten Enable than she was at Longchamp. If the favourite is off her game for whatever reason, Magical could well be the one to take advantage.

Hunting Horn - Breeders' Cup Turf

Trainer: Aidan O’Brien

Sky Bet odds: 40/1

A Royal Ascot winner by over four lengths and relatively lightly-raced for a Ballydoyle three-year-old at this stage of the campaign (had just 11 career starts), there are reasons to consider Hunting Horn in your exotics. Reasons to leave him out of calculations include him never winning over 1m4f from three goes, a poor 16-length 16th in the Arc last time and a draw in 13 that makes the hardest of tasks even harder.

Euro Stars: 🌟🌟 Wide draws in the Turf have been overcome before including by Highland Reel, an ex-stablemate of Hunting Horn, who made all from stall 12 at Santa Anita a couple of years ago. However, Hunting Horn doesn’t have the form to reasonably expect such a manoeuvre, especially against a behemoth like Enable.

One Master - Breeders' Cup Mile

Trainer: William Haggas

Sky Bet odds: 10/1

A shock winner of the Prix de la Foret last time, William Haggas’ filly shouldn’t be underestimated because of her big odds in France. A 33/1 winner at Longchamp, she admittedly benefitted from Polydream having nowhere to go up the rail, consequently meaning her wide draw in 15 became more of a positive than it was deemed before the race. However, that was just her eighth career start, she shaped as though another furlong could bring about further improvement and she certainly won’t mind the thunderstorms.

Euro Stars: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Well drawn in one and any ease in the ground will be an advantage. She has to step up on the bare form but is unexposed enough to do so and she has to enter calculations, for your combo trifectas at least.

Polydream - Breeders' Cup Mile

Trainer: Freddy Head

Sky Bet odds: 9/4

Freddy Head is a man synonymous with success in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. He won it as a jockey twice aboard Miesque in 1987 and 1988, and then three times as a trainer with Goldikova from 2008-2010. It might just be his favourite race. So it’s not really a surprise to see Polydream routed here, running in the same Wertheimer silks that Goldikova carried to glory, this her first go back at a mile since she was last in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches back in May.

Euro Stars: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 She’s had just seven starts, one of which was a tremendous win in a hot renewal of the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville in August. That proves she’s got pace and lots of it, something that could be a crucial weapon in this race. She got no luck in the Foret last time, but a kinder passage from stall four could well see her gain the ultimate recompense.

Lightning Spear - Breeders' Cup Mile

Trainer: David Simcock

Sky Bet odds: 16/1

Gained a deserved top-level success in the Sussex Stakes in August, breaking his G1 duck at the 16th attempt. However, well beaten in two subsequent goes at the highest level and his optimum conditions include faster ground than he’s likely to get at Churchill Downs on Saturday. Draw 11 doesn’t help his cause, either.

Euro Stars: 🌟🌟 Didn’t really cut the mustard on his international travels to Sha Tin at the end of last year and he’s not fancied for his Breeders’ Cup debut on the back of two below-par runs, especially with rain in the air.

Expert Eye - Breeders' Cup Mile

Trainer: Sir Michael Stoute

Sky Bet odds: 7/1

Another that looks ideal for a normal California-type Breeders’ Cup where the sun is shining on rattling fast ground. That’s what he wants. So any rain wouldn’t be ideal. He hasn’t won in three previous attempts at a mile, either, but again, he looks to have the necessary speed for a normal American mile. He’s actually run well his last two efforts over the trip and he should get the strongly-run race that suits him so well. Frankie Dettori is on board, and he won on him the only other time the duo were paired together in the Sky Bet City Of York Stakes at the Ebor Festival.

Euro Stars: 🌟🌟🌟 If it wasn’t for the thunderstorms he’d rate higher, but he needs everything in his favour to win over a mile and any rain would certainly be a negative to his chance.

Mustashry - Breeders' Cup Mile

Trainer: Sir Michael Stoute

Sky Bet odds: 20/1

This is the 16th run of Mustashry’s career but his first at the top level. However, he’s deserved a crack at a Group One on the back of two recent Group Two wins at Doncaster and Newmarket, a pair of career-best efforts. Whether he’ll be nippy enough for a Breeders’ Cup Mile is a reasonable enough question given he’s won over 10 furlongs, and that’s before we’ve asked whether he’s good enough. He probably isn’t.

Euro Stars: 🌟🌟 In the form of his life recently but it still looks below the required standard and it’s to be expected that three or four of these will be too quick for him around the turns.

Happily - Breeders' Cup Mile

Trainer: Aidan O’Brien

Sky Bet odds: 9/1

This time last year Happily was sent off the 9/4 favourite for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf but she finished last of the 14 at Del Mar and hasn’t won since. However, that doesn’t quite tell the full story. She was twice a Group One winner at two and she’s run consistently well all of this year, finishing placed in a couple of top-level races including when a head second to Laurens in the Sun Chariot last time. She’s versatile ground-wise and more of a concern, like with Mustashry, is that she simply won’t be quick enough.

Euro Stars: 🌟🌟🌟 Her runner-up finish in the Sun Chariot last time was a career-best run and one of her Group One wins as a juvenile came in the autumn of last year. She could well be coming to a peak, but she does look vulnerable to a speedier horse with a potent turn of foot.

I Can Fly - Breeders' Cup Mile

Trainer: Aidan O’Brien

Sky Bet odds: 10/1

Of the Aidan O’Brien trio, I prefer I Can Fly. A 1000 Guineas gamble back in May, that punt went astray after she finished 11th but she’s gradually worked her way to her best subsequently. O’Brien lowered her sights in August and she responded with an emphatic Listed win, before scoring at Group Two level at Leopardstown in the Boomerang Stakes. Only fourth in the Sun Chariot, it could be that she just doesn’t get on with Newmarket and she got within a neck of Roaring Lion in the QEII, a performance that suggested she’s now the sort of miler The Lads thought she was prior to the Guineas.

Euro Stars: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 That QEII effort gives her a fine shout and she won’t mind the thunderstorms. Whether she has the class and the toe to beat a Maurice de Gheest winner like Polydream is open to debate but I can see her running her close.

Gustav Klimt - Breeders' Cup Mile

Trainer: Aidan O’Brien

Sky Bet odds: 15/2

There’s no getting away from it, Gustav Klimt has been disappointing this season. Sent off 4/1 for the 2000 Guineas, he was sixth there and hasn’t won in seven attempts since. Plenty of his BC Mile rivals have beaten him before, including One Master last time, and his draw in 13 is less than ideal as well. It’s surprising Ryan Moore is on him, but that’s definitely factored into his price at around 10/1 as he hasn’t got an awful lot else going for him.

Euro Stars 🌟🌟 He was a bit short of room in the Foret and ran well enough the time before in the Haydock Sprint Cup, but the excuses are wearing thin for Gustav Klimt. His losing run has extended to eight now and, while he won’t mind easing of the ground, he doesn’t even look the most likely winner from his yard.

Princess Yaiza - Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf

Trainer: Gavin Cromwell

Sky Bet odds: 14/1

It’s great to see Gavin Cromwell at the Breeders’ Cup, a trainer best known for winning the Welsh Grand National with the teenage Raz De Maree back in January. That will surely change if Princess Yaiza wins the Filly & Mare Turf and she goes there on the back of a game victory in the Prix de Royallieu at Longchamp last time, just getting the better of Palombe after a fierce battle inside the final furlong.

Euro Stars 🌟🌟 She’s gutsy and on the up and she stays well, but another big leap forward is required here if she’s to trouble the market principals.

Athena - Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf

Trainer: Aidan O’Brien

Sky Bet odds: 20/1

The big thing in Athena’s favour is that we know she travels to America well. A winner of the Belmont Invitational by over two lengths in July, she couldn’t back that up in the Beverly D Stakes at Arlington next time where she was a bit keen in the early stages. That tendency to race a little freely is a concern over 1m3f and that’s before we get onto the opposition. Well beaten by Magic Wand at Royal Ascot, she’ll also have to reverse Prix de l’Opera form with Wild Illusion and it looks unlikely.

Euro Stars 🌟🌟 That Belmont win is a big feather in her cap but this race looks much hotter and it’s just hard to make a case for her beating the likes of Wild Illusion and Magic Wand over this track and trip.

Magic Wand - Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf

Trainer: Aidan O’Brien

Sky Bet odds: 11/2

When she burst onto the scene in the Cheshire Oaks it looked as though she might take the season by storm but it hasn’t quite worked out like that. A defeat in the Oaks (behind Wild Illusion) was blamed on the ground and she certainly looked right at home on fast turf at Royal Ascot when landing the Ribblesdale by four lengths (Wild Illusion in second). She saw the backside of Sea Of Class on her next two starts and has been second twice in France recently, firstly in the Prix Vermaille and secondly in the Prix de l’Opera (behind Wild Illusion, again).

Euro Stars 🌟🌟🌟 It’s Magic Wand v Wild Illusion IV and the Ballydoyle filly needs a win to even things up. It’s hard to see her reversing Opera form in all honesty, but the extra furlong is probably more in her favour and if the emphasis is on stamina she’d have a good chance. The forecast deluge of rain is a concern, however.

Eziyra - Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf

Trainer: Dermot Weld

Sky Bet odds: 13/2

Trained by a master of the international racing scene, I still find it staggering that Dermot Weld is yet to taste success at the Breeders’ Cup. He’s won the Melbourne Cup twice, has had winners in France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy and six times in the United States, but never at this meeting. Eziyra will bid to change all that in the Filly & Mare Turf but she has been handed a horror draw in 14. Apart from that she has a fine chance, as she has been slowly brought to a peak, winning four of her last five, her only defeat in that sequence coming at the hooves of Sea Of Class.

Euro Stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟 She stays well, Frankie Dettori is booked and a career-best effort looks highly likely from Eziyra in her toughest test yet. The one problem, apart from Wild Illusion, is the draw, which looks a real sickener.

Wild Illusion - Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf

Trainer: Charlie Appleby

Sky Bet odds: 2/1

Charlie Appleby won this race last year with Wuheida and he has a fine chance of retaining the trophy with Wild Illusion. She travels well judging by her Gallic exploits and although a trip to America is a different kettle of fish, she has plenty in her favour. She’s the recent form pick following her Prix de l’Opera win, she’s drawn very nicely in three and she won’t be inconvenienced by any softening of the ground.

Euro Stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Twice a Group One winner over 10 furlongs on her last two starts, the extra furlong around these turns should prove no problem for Wild Illusion and she’s a worthy favourite to win another Filly & Mare Turf for Appleby.

Lost Treasure - Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint

Trainer: Aidan O’Brien

Sky Bet odds: 11/1

A son of War Front that has largely been kept away from soft ground since he disappointed on such a surface on debut, it will be galling for connections that it’s looking like he won’t get it rattling quick at the Breeders’ Cup. He’s been a bit of a slow burner and was beaten in a handicap off 88 at Navan in September, but a win at Dundalk was followed by a fifth-place finish at 100/1 in the Prix de l’Abbaye and it was pretty remarkable how he sluiced through the field that day. Two solid efforts since show it was no fluke and he will be suited by a quick gallop and the extra half furlong.

Euro Stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟 He’s a bit quirky, admittedly, but he might just be suited by the demands of this race and it wouldn’t be too much a surprise if Ryan Moore produced him right on the line.

Havana Grey - Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint

Trainer: Karl Burke

Sky Bet odds: 8/1

On his form at the Curragh he’s got a good chance. His wins there in the Sapphire Stakes and Flying Five mark him out as a top sprinter, even if he was somewhat fortunate to pick up a weak Group One in the latter race. However, the way he faded in the Prix de l’Abbaye last time is a major concern with this race in mind and it looks unlikely that the extra half furlong will play to his strengths.

Euro Stars 🌟🌟 Talented on his day, but has plenty to prove after Longchamp and this test doesn’t look certain to show him in his best light.

*Odds correct at 1630 GMT on 31/10/2018

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