Despite the continued and rapid expansion of young Newmarket neighbours such as Roger Varian and Hugo Palmer, it seems as though those commentators who have in recent years been writing off Sir Michael Stoute may have done so far too prematurely. The 10-times champion trainer of Britain arrived at Santa Anita Park on Wednesday hoping to seal one of the most prolific seasons of his career with a seventh success at the Breeders' Cup. He has sent out 109 domestic winners already, more than doubling the nadir of 53 in 2011–and so hitting three figures for the first time since 2007.
Not that he is getting carried away, having always valued quality above quantity and been correspondingly frustrated by the problems he encountered with the one-time Derby favourite, Midterm (GB) (Galileo {Ire}). “Yes, we've had a good strike-rate this year and they've been running consistently well,” he shrugged. “But we haven't a lot left to run now and it's the prizemoney table I tend to look at first anyway.” That shows a haul of £2.5-million, exceeded in Newmarket only by John Gosden. Nonetheless there is no question that success for either of his Breeders' Cup candidates would crown a resurgent campaign. And with Gosden a rare absentee this time, it is very much Stoute who is being welcomed here as the leader of the British raiding party.
Of Europe's 19 GI Breeders' Cup Turf winners, after all, Stoute (four) and Aidan O'Brien (five) account for nine between them. And the two men square up in the race again, Stoute fielding Ulysses (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) against Found (Ire) and Highland Reel (Ire) for Ballydoyle. His other runner is Queen's Trust (GB) (Dansili {GB}) in the GI Filly & Mare Turf. Both have a similar profile as 3-year-olds with every right to raise their game again, albeit the filly has been more persuasively tested at the elite level–with three Group 1 starts, against a single disappointment in the Derby for the colt.
Both ventured out for a light spin on the turf circuit on Wednesday but had first passed a more significant test when examined by their trainer. “Both have traveled well,” he declared. “That's major, coming here. And they've both taken the journey great, and their bloods are good. The competition is hot, but I'm looking forward to it. Because I love the Breeders' Cup in general, and this place in particular.”
Stoute candidly acknowledged that Ulysses lacks the seasoning brought to the Turf by Pilsudski (Ire) (Polish Precedent), Kalanisi (Ire) (Doyoun {GB}) and dual winner Conduit (Ire) (Dalakhani {Ire}). A son of the 2007 Oaks winner Light Shift (Kingmambo), Ulysses was fast-tracked to Epsom after storming home in a maiden by eight lengths on his third start. Well down the field in the Classic, he got back on track in the G3 Gordon S. at Goodwood only to suffer a surprise reverse in a similar grade at Windsor when preparing for this assignment, just failing to reel in an all-the-way winner.
As such, he seems to have his work cut out against the Ballydoyle pair, respective winners of Europe's two premier all-aged championships at 12 furlongs. “People will think I'm getting reckless in my old age, a punter,” laughed Stoute. “And I've certainly taken a gamble bringing him to this race. I was hoping we might lose Found [to the Classic] but even without her it would have been a tough race. And it was disappointing that he couldn't win at Windsor, as we expected him to. So it's very fair to say he needs to improve even to get into the frame. But I'm hopeful that he can. We've always had this race in mind for him. He'll love the ground, he's a beautifully balanced horse and he'll love the track.”
Ulysses had been quite stirred up the previous day but proved much cooler on Wednesday. “He's a baby still, and you'll see each morning he'll get more and more chilled,” Stoute explained. “Certainly the whole trip will do him an awful lot of good, mentally, for the future. He's a beautifully bred horse and while we're taking a punt with him, he's got a reasonable level of form already–he's a 116 horse, after all–and I hope he'll be competitive. He's relatively fresh, too. But while you might say it's a very expensive way of getting some experience, whatever he does here I do think you'll see a better horse next year.”
That would place Ulysses in a familiar Freemason Lodge template. And conceivably Queen's Trust might herself only reach full bloom if kept in training, albeit in her case largely as a result of misfortune. Hampered before finishing fast in no fewer than three of her five starts this year, she has otherwise finished second to the outstanding Minding (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G1 Nassau S. at Goodwood and third in a very deep field for the G1 Yorkshire Oaks. In that race she traveled extremely well in the straight and it may well be that the return to this intermediate distance will suit her ideally as she bids to emulate Stoute's two previous winners of this race, both staged here: Dank (GB) (Dansili {GB}) three years ago and Islington (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) back in 2003.
“She's been unlucky all year, really,” Stoute reflected of the Cheveley Park homebred. “We're hoping she'll get the rub of the green this time because it went against her again in the Filly & Mare race at Ascot on Champions' Day. She was interfered with soon after the start there, much as she had been messed about in the Ribblesdale. And she should have won at Newbury first time up in the spring, when she got trapped on the fence from a low draw. Things just haven't gone her way, but I think she's entitled to be here.”
Meanwhile, though the Ballydoyle horses remain in quarantine overnight, there was plenty of activity on the international roster. Much like Ulysses, Intricately (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) proved a good deal less agitated than on the previous morning as she was simply walked a circuit of the track. “The filly was a lot calmer today and I'm very happy with her,” pronounced her trainer, Joseph O'Brien. “It was all just a bit new for her yesterday, but she's a lot more settled now.”
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