European Entrants You Should Know for Breeders’ Cup

Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Golden Horn is among the European horses running in the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland. (Photo by Eclipse Sportswire)
Looking at any competitive race can be a difficult task, but even more so when horses ship in from other countries. This year, the Breeders’ Cup will have some of the biggest stars in Europe coming over with recent Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Arc) winner Golden Horn pre-entering the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf and classic winners Gleneagles and Legatissimo also competing at the event. 
I’ve gone through the seven races that have European entries and highlighted some of the 32 European invaders I think will stand out in this year’s event, so let’s get to know some of the horses flying over here for the Breeders’ Cup, including some horses you’ll recognize from last year.
Races are listed in the order they will run.
$1-million Juvenile Turf
Trained by Richard Fahey Birchwood has won three of his six career starts, including the Group 2 Superlative Stakes, in Europe. Birchwood hasn’t visited the winner’s enclosure since that early July victory but was fifth by only two lengths in a Group 2 in July and third behind top European 2-year-old Air Force Blue in his prep race for the Breeders’ Cup. This will be the first Breeders’ Cup runner for Richard Fahey but owner Godolphin won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf with Outstrip in 2013. Birchwood has won races on good turf in Europe so he should be fine if Keeneland gets a little rain but he has never gone past seven furlongs so the extra furlong may be worrying for him.
Cymric is coming into the Breeders’ Cup off a second in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere by a short head to fellow Goldolphin horse Ultra. Other than his debut, Cymric hasn’t finished worse than third in his five career starts and the mile distance of the Juvenile Turf should be perfect for him. By U.S. champion turf horse Kitten’s Joy, Cymric was bred in the United States and returns home for this run. His family has had major success at the Breeders’ Cup as his third dam is 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Personal Ensign, whose daughter and granddaughter both won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Cymric’s half-brother Interactif is a Keeneland graded stakes winner, winning the Bourbon Stakes. Trainer John Gosden also has plenty of experience training Breeders’ Cup winners with four on his record, including two Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf races.
2015 PRIX JEAN-LUC LARDERE

Video courtesy of Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club
Hit It a Bomb is taking a major step up in class in this race after making his debut at the end of September. The War Front son broke his maiden by a neck before running on the all-weather at Dundalk in Ireland and winning impressively by 4 ½ lengths, having some wondering if he’d enter the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. But the colt is only pre-entered in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and looks like he may be one of two colts in the race for trainer Aidan O’Brien, who has won the Juvenile Turf twice (2011 with Wrote and 2012 with George Vancouver).
$1-million Las Vegas Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile
War Envoy’s first preference is in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, but he isn’t in the main field of that race while he is in the main field of the Dirt Mile. War Envoy has never run on dirt before and his record is a little spotty on turf with his only other win coming in his debut but the colt has finished second or third five times in his 14 races. Normally, I’d be hesitant about using a horse like this but I watched the horse train over the Keeneland dirt when he was here at the beginning of the month for the Shadwell Turf Mile (a race he scratched from due to rain) and he looked really good on the dirt track, which was something Aidan O’Brien’s assistant T.J. Comerford noted when talking about the horse while watching him train morning.
$1-million Juvenile Fillies Turf
By Galileo, Alice Springs is looking to give trainer Aidan O’Brien his first Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf win. Alice Springs won her debut in June by 2 ½ lengths and is Grade 1-placed with one other group placing to her name. Alice Springs is coming into the Breeders’ Cup off of a four-length victory on Oct. 3 and has only finished off the board in two starts. Her sire Galileo has had two previous runners in the race with no winners.
A winner of the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot, Illuminate has a strong record coming into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. The 2-year-old filly by Zoffany won her first three starts, including two group stakes races before finishing a close second to Lumiere in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes on Sept. 26. Illuminate is the second Breeders’ Cup runner for Richard Hannon, who took over his father’s training operation last year. Illuminate has never raced farther than six furlongs so she’ll be going a quarter mile longer than she’s ever gone before, and her sire was best at shorter distances so there is a question mark about her ability to get the mile distance.
$2-million Filly and Mare Turf
Impassable is coming into the Filly and Mare Turf on a three-race win streak, including a half-length victory over fellow Breeders’ Cup entrant and European classic winner Miss France. Impassable will be making her first start in grade or group 1 company in the Breeders’ Cup, when making her eighth career start. From the famed Wertheimer et Frere barn, Impassable is looking to give them their fifth Breeders’ Cup victory and first in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
Legatissimo is coming into the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf off a victory in the Sept.12 Matron Stakes where she won a berth to this race. While not as dominant as some of the other Europeans shipping to Kentucky, Legatissimo is acknowledged as one of the best fillies running in Europe this year. She won the Quipco 1,000 Guineas Stakes (a British classic race) in May and was second by a nose in two races after that. Legatissimo is coming into the Breeders’ Cup on a two-race win streak and has won races at up to 1 ¼ miles so the 1 3/16 miles of the Breeders’ Cup shouldn’t be a problem for her. To learn more about Legatissimo, click here.
2015 MATRON STAKES

Video courtesy of At the Races
Secret Gesture will be looking for revenge in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf after being disqualified from the win in the Beverly D. on Arlington Million day in August. While she didn’t get the win, we did learn that Secret Gesture is able to hold her own against the same Americans she’ll be running into in the Breeders’ Cup. Secret Gesture is coming into the Breeders’ Cup fresh with no starts since that Beverly D. victory (the same move Dank made when pulling off the Beverly D./Breeders’ Cup double in 2013) and only three starts this year with one of those being a Group 2 victory. Of her 15 starts, Secret Gesture has finished in the top three 12 times with wins coming at distances from one mile to 11 1/2 furlongs, including the same distance as the Filly and Mare Turf.
$2-million Mile
Looking to add to the record of female wins in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, Esoterique has won two straight Group 1 victories in two different countries coming into the Breeders’ Cup. Her latest win came against fillies and mares in the one-mile Sun Chariot Stakes in early October but two starts ago beat males in the Prix du Haras de Fresnay-Le-Buffard – Jacques le Marois, proving that she is just as good against open company as she is against her own class. Esoterique has won or hit the board in 10 of her 16 races with five of those on-the-board finishes coming in Group 1 company, including a second-place finish to the brilliant miler Solow at Royal Ascot in June. Esoterique’s trainer Andre Fabre has won four Breeders’ Cup races but his last came in 2005 with Shirocco in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Karakontie is one of five 2014 Breeders’ Cup race winners returning in 2015. The Japan-bred, French trained 4-year-old Bernstein colt went off at 30-to-1 odds in 2014 but will be much lower in 2015’s edition of the race even though he doesn’t seem to be in the same form this year. Making his first start of the year in August, Karakontie finished sixth behind Esoterique but ran better in September when he finished third by two lengths in another Group 1 race. However, the colt has excuses for both starts, as the first one came off a nine month layoff and both were run on tracks designated as “very soft” in France, something he hadn’t faced since his debut in 2013.
Make Believe’s 1 ¼-length victory in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret was a good bounce back from a last-place finish at Royal Ascot in June. That Royal Ascot race should probably have a line drawn through it, as the colt has won four races and finished second once in six starts with all of those wins coming by over a length and that second coming by just a head in his season debut. Also trained by Fabre, Make Believe looks to be coming into the Breeders’ Cup in top form and will be the first starter for owner Prince A.A. Faisal in the Breeders’ Cup.
2015 PRIX DE LA FORET

Video courtesy of FranceGalop 
$3-million Longines Turf
Found is entering this race off solid second place finish in the QIPCO Champion Stakes on Oct. 17 where she rebounded from a ninth place finish in the Arc. The filly ran into a lot of problems during the Arc and quickened admirably on ground that was a little weird that day. A better indicator of Found’s talent is by the two races that sandwich that race, the Irish Champion Stakes where she finished second to probable Breeders’ Cup Turf favorite Golden Horn and the aforementioned QIPCO Champion Stakes. The 3-year-old filly is coming into the Breeders’ Cup with just one win this year, in a Group 3, but other than the Arc hasn’t finished worse than second in seven 2015 starts, with four of those seconds coming in Group 1 races. Found is a Group 1 winner and has been facing some of the best of the best so she definitely has the class needed to do well in this race.
Perhaps the most exciting European entrant in this year’s Breeders’ Cup is Golden Horn. Winning his first five career starts, the colt’s resume includes the Epsom Derby in June and the Coral-Eclipse in his start after that. Upset by the filly Arabian Queen in the Group 1 Juddmonte International, the loss didn’t seem to faze him this fall. He won a controversial Irish Champion Stakes by a length over Found in September in his final prep for the Arc. It looked like the Arc would be a showdown between Golden Horn and two-time Arc winner Treve but the mare finished fourth while Golden Horn won the Arc by an easy two lengths over the consistent Flintshire (who is skipping this year’s Breeders’ Cup to go race in Japan). His connections then pointed Golden Horn for the Turf with it planned that the colt will arrive in Kentucky this weekend for next Saturday’s race.
2015 PRIX DE L’ARC DE TRIOMPHE

Video courtesy of TVG Network 
$5-million Classic
Gleneagles is following the path of his dam’s [mother] full brother Giant’s Causeway by taking on the Breeders’ Cup Classic after a stellar 3-year-old season in Europe. Before his recent sixth-place finish, Gleneagles was on a three-race win streak (the colt had crossed the line first in eight consecutive races but was disqualified to second in France last October) comprised of all Group 1 races. While Gleneagles brings in an impressive record to the Breeders’ Cup, he’s only had one start since June 16 when he won the St. James’s Palace Stakes. That layoff has been because of ground conditions instead of injury but it is still concerning coming into the Classic. Trainer Aidan O’Brien had had success in the Classic with the 2000 Classic runner-up Giant’s Causeway and 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic third place finisher Declaration of War. Much like both those horses, Gleneagles has the pedigree to be successful on dirt even if he hasn’t raced on it but his lack of racing past a mile is something that concerns me.