Auguste Rodin Among Top International BC Turf Runners

The North American-based horses lining up for the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T), talented as they are, face a daunting challenge from a star-studded global cast descending on Santa Anita Park.

Those raiders are a formidable bunch, indeed, no surprise in a race that's been won by visitors from overseas in 19 of the past 25 years.

Dual Derby winner Auguste Rodin  leads a trio entered by Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien. Topping the English side are Epsom Derby (G1) runner-up and British Champion Stakes (G1) winner King of Steel , and Mostahdaf , victor in the Prince of Wales's Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot and the Juddmonte International Stakes (G1) at York.

From France comes Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) third-place runner Onesto . Japan contributes Shahryar , who won the 2021 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, G1) and finished third, then second, in the past two editions of the Japan Cup (G1).

One could wish for little more in terms of top quality—perhaps the world's top-rated Equinox , who stayed home for a local engagement in Tokyo, and Arc winner Ace Impact , who is retired to stud in France for an opening 2024 fee of €40,000.

We can't have everything. But we've got plenty.

With six wins in the Breeders' Cup Turf already on his résumé and a dual Derby winner set to try for a seventh, O'Brien sits pretty atop the impressive list of foreign entries. And he's happy with his star's preparations since his previous race, the Irish Champion Stakes (G1) Sept. 9, his fourth group 1 win.

"Everything has gone well," O'Brien said of Auguste Rodin on a media call Oct. 25. "He's had a nice, long, clean run into this race ... It's a race that we always thought that he would really suit. We were delighted (the form) he was in the last day in the Champion Stakes and, obviously, was down at the left-handed fast track and the ground was nice on the day.

"So we were delighted with him and we just thought and hoped that would set him up lovely for the Breeders' Cup. So it's a race we have had our eye on all year. So, hopefully, everything goes well in the next few days."

Auguste Rodin, a son of Japanese superstar Deep Impact out of the Galileo mare Rhododendron , is the undisputed star of the O'Brien crew. But it's worth remembering that the Irish maestro's 1-2-3 sweep of the 2020 Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) at Keeneland was accomplished with three double-digit longshots.

This time around, he also saddles Bolshoi Ballet , a 5-year-old son of Galileo who finished a fading sixth in the 2021 Turf but comes off a dominating win in the Sword Dancer Stakes (G1T) Aug. 26 at Saratoga Race Course, and Broome , a 7-year-old by Australia , who was second in the 2021 Turf at Del Mar and sixth in 2022 at Keeneland and is more experienced at distances well beyond this 1 1/2 miles.

King of Steel, a Kentucky-bred colt by Wootton Bassett , finished second to Auguste Rodin in the Derby at Epsom Downs. He comes to Santa Anita fresh from a victory in the Champion Stakes at Ascot Oct. 21—a run that gave jockey Frankie Dettori an emotional farewell to English racing as he prepares to move to California.

Onesto's resume is less flashy with only three wins from 12 starts but scary after a late run brought the 4-year-old Frankel   colt to within 1 3/4 lengths of victory in the Arc. 

Facing that formidable cast is a local crew imposing in its own right but short on experience against international competition.

War Like Goddess  has won 11 of 17 starts for trainer Bill Mott and owner George Krikorian. But the 6-year-old English Channel  mare finished third in last year's Turf—behind two Europeans. She entered that race off a victory in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes (G1T) at the Belmont at the Big A meeting and repeated that score Oct. 7, overcoming yielding turf for a late-running, 4 1/2-length victory.

Phil D'Amato has spent virtually the entire year juggling a talented stable of turf runners on the Southern California circuit and has the advantage of leading over Gold Phoenix  and Masteroffoxhounds  from his own Santa Anita barn. Neither has won at 1 1/2 miles but Gold Phoenix did land the Del Mar Handicap (G2T) at 1 3/8 miles Sept. 2 and jockey Juan Hernandez said after that effort, "He is getting better every race.

"Last time he was a little closer and he was able to keep up that pace and able to win that race. I just have to wait and he loved the distance."

The apparent speed in the race comes from the George Papaprodromou-trained Balladeer  and Mark Casse's Get Smokin , both of whom were seen posting impressive wins at the rich Kentucky Downs meeting. Balladeer makes his grade 1 debut following a win last out in the John Henry Turf Championship Stakes (G2T). Get Smokin is more experienced at the elite level but his upset victory in the $1.7 million Kentucky Turf Cup Stakes (G2T) was just his second since finishing 16th in the Al Quoz Sprint (G1) in Dubai in March 2022.