Richard Fahey confirms Ribchester will run at the Breeders' Cup, along with juvenile Sands Of Mali, and guides us through his team for this Saturday.
I can gladly confirm that Ribchester travels to America for the Breeders' Cup Mile a week on Saturday.
He's an exceptional horse and he's made the decision a really easy one to be honest. He's come out of Ascot bouncing and he's not showing any signs of stiffness at all.
As a trainer you're almost looking for an excuse not to run a horse like him but there are no reasons why we wouldn't go.
I've not got much experience of the Breeders' Cup, but our only previous runner at the meeting, Birchwood, was third in the Juvenile Turf a couple of years ago, beaten just a length.
I do have a bit of experience of Del Mar, though, as I rode out there for around three weeks. It's going back about 26 years now but I remember it's a really beautiful track. It's not a bad place to do your work, I can tell you that!
The track is a pretty fair one, a fairly typical American track in many ways.
You always have one or two fears when you're travelling so far with horses but he gives me so much confidence and he's handled trips to France and Dubai already this year.
The lad who rides him out every day is also giving me every confidence that he'll take it all in his stride. He's such a wonderful racehorse.
I'm confident the faster ground won't be an issue for him, in my mind I honestly feel he'll be better for it, and we'll just have to see when it comes to running around a bend.
What I can say is that he runs around a left-handed bend every morning in his work and is fine with that.
It was Persuasive who stormed home to win The Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (sponsored by QIPCO) pic.twitter.com/FVSlN3kEoc
— Ascot Racecourse (@Ascot) October 21, 2017
He's going to be flying out to the States on Saturday and I'll join him a little later next week, while we're also running Sands Of Mali in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf on the Friday night.
We were obviously disappointed with what happened in the Middle Park Stakes but he's a very good horse this lad and could be interesting as he's by an American sire and might just enjoy it out there.
Winding back to this weekend and we've got a few runners at Doncaster, starting with Zap in the Scott Dobson Memorial Nursery Handicap.
Top weight in a nursery is never a bad thing I don't think and he's been running okay in defeat. He's a little hard to get to grips with in terms of his best trip but he's looked like the step up to seven might suit. Some of his form is very solid in this company.
Boundsy and Paddy Power both run in the Sun Bets Responsible Betting Handicap and they're both likely to be among the favourites.
Paddy Power is on a bit of a roll now with two straight wins and both of these horses know how to win, to be fair. They won't mind the ground and I'm happy with both on the ground, it's just whether or not they're going to be good enough on the day.
We're double handed in the Alan Wood Plumbing & Heating Apprentice Jockeys' Training Series Final Handicap and I'd love to see Clef win. She's such a trier and a very genuine filly, she's just missed out on her last couple of runs.
Scofflaw is quite a nice horse and I was disappointed with him at Newmarket last time after he'd won well at Epsom. He could bounce back and I've no concerns over seven furlongs for either of them.
My two at Wolverhampton on Saturday evening are both in the sales next week so it'd be nice to win with them.
Island Flame has been very disappointing this season and we're hoping a pair of cheekpieces will perk her up in the Betway Casino Handicap, while it looks like we've been getting Lord Commander wrong all season and dropping back in trip helped him last time when he won his maiden.
He's down to the extended seven furlongs there in the sunbets.co.uk Handicap (Div II) and he might go close.
Related horse racing links
Sky Bet's Breeders’ Cup odds (NRNB)
