The Arc heroine Found could attempt what no Aidan O'Brien-trained star has managed to do and win the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic in Los Angeles on Saturday week.
Some of the greatest Ballydoyle names over the last two decades – including Found’s sire, Galileo – have failed to successfully make the transition to dirt in America’s most valuable race but O’Brien is considering another crack at the Classic with a filly he has described as the most genuine horse he’s trained.
Found won the mile and a half Turf at last year’s Breeders’ Cup in Keeneland and is an 11-2 shot in some lists to defend that crown at Santa Anita. But she is set to be also put into the 10-furlong Classic in Monday’s first pre-entry stage. “She will be entered in the morning and we’ll wait a bit longer before deciding,” said O’Brien on Sunday.
Intriguing element
The champion trainer has already said Arc runner-up Highland Reel is a likely runner in the Turf and if Found was to take on top American dirt horses such as
California
Chrome and Arrogate, it would add an intriguing element to what’s shaping up into a major Breeders’ Cup raid.
O'Brien has saddled 10 Breeders' Cup winners over the years, putting him only behind the top US trainers Wayne Lukas (20) and Bob Baffert who is on 12. However, the Classic has remained stubbornly resistant to the Irishman's attempts to win it.
Giants Causeway was narrowly beaten by Tiznow in 2000 while Declaration Of War was third in 2013. Henrythenavigator was also runner-up to Raven’s Pass in 2008 when the LA track briefly changed to a synthetic surface. However, Galileo could finish only sixth to Tiznow in 2001 while other Ballydoyle superstars that failed to cope with the move from turf to dirt include Hawk Wing and Gleneagles last year.
Other O’Brien contenders to line up in the 33rd Breeders’ Cup include Alice Springs in the Mile and Seventh Heaven in the Filly & Mare.
O’Brien hit a bump in his bid to beat Bobby Frankel’s Group One record when Yucatan finished runner-up to Relic in Saturday’s Racing Post Trophy and the Cup could prove vital for his chances of increasing his top-flight haul for 2016 on the flat.
