Yorkshire trainer David O’Meara will be double-handed at the Breeders’ Cup meeting at Santa Anita in Los Angeles on Saturday November 5th as he has entered both Mondialiste and Suedois at the self-styled ‘World Championships’ in California.
Mondialiste is no stranger to this fixture having finished an excellent second behind the brilliant Tepin in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Mile. He again holds an entry in the $2 million Mile, but is also engaged in the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf having guaranteed himself a place in the field by landing the Grade 1 Arlington Million in Chicago in August – which is a ‘Win And You’re In’ event for the Turf.
Winner of last season’s Team British Racing Champion Award as the British-trained horse to win most prizemoney outside Europe in 2015, Mondialiste has been on his travels again this term and last time out stayed on strongly in the closing stages to take fourth in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland.
Suedois is also entered in the Breeders’ Cup Mile but is more likely to run in the $1 million Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint over six and a half furlongs. He has proved himself a top class sprinter over recent months, contesting five straight Group 1 races and never finishing out of the first five.
Two of his best performances have come behind Limato, another of the 11 British-trained Breeders’ Cup entries. He finished two lengths second to him in the Group 1 Darley July Cup in mid-summer, and third, beaten three and a half lengths, in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret at Chantilly on his latest start, three and a half weeks ago.
“I am really looking forward to the Breeders’ Cup and hopefully both Mondialiste and Suedois can be competitive.”
"Mondialiste likes the American style of racing with its fast ground and turning tracks. We’ve run him a couple of times over the straight mile at Ascot and he hasn’t really enjoyed it”
“He ran okay in Kentucky last time, when he was beaten less than two lengths despite them going really steady in the early stages, which didn’t suit the hold-up horses [like him].”
“When he won the Arlington Million back in August he clocked the third fastest time in the last ten years, so the ground was pretty quick and a similar surface at Santa Anita will hold no fears for him.”
“We are leaning towards stepping him up to a mile and a half for the Breeders’ Cup Turf rather than going again in the Mile. It’s a very fast mile and a half at Santa Anita, beginning in a chute which is part of the sprint course, so I think that will suit him fine.”
“Suedois has only been with us for just over a year and he’s had a fantastic season, with his second place in the July Cup being the highlight. He was also third in the Haydock Sprint Cup, when we made plenty of use of him, fourth in the Prix Maurice de Gheest and beaten less than a length at Royal Ascot so he has been running really well all year.”
“One can never be sure how they will deal with the travelling but he is a sensible horse with a good head on him so I would be hopeful on that score. It’s also impossible to be certain how he will handle the downhill sprint course but he is a very well-balanced individual who coped well with the undulations at Newmarket.”
