Ribchester Takes on Breeders' Cup Mile in Farewell Bow

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Ribchester Takes on Breeders' Cup Mile in Farewell Bow
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Photo: Mathea Kelley
Ribchester will take on World Approval and others in the Breeders' Cup Mile at Del Mar

Ribchester has one last trophy to chase on the world stage.

Just two weeks after running second in the Oct. 21 QIPCO Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (G1) on Champions Day at Royal Ascot, Godolphin's multiple group 1-winning son of Iffraaj (GB) looks to close out his career for trainer Richard Fahey with a final top-level victory: the $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) at Del Mar.

Ribchester will travel to his fourth country this season to run in the 11th group/grade 1 stakes of his career before he enters Kildangan Stud in 2018 as a Darley stallion. His victories this year include the May 20 Al Shaqab Lockinge Stakes (G1), a course record 1:36.60 in the June 20 Queen Anne Stakes (G1), and the Sept. 10 Qatar Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (G1). In 2017 he has finished no worse than the third. He began his season in the March 25 Dubai Turf Sponsored by DP World (G1), and he should relish the firm going in his U.S. debut. 

"He's a tough cookie, with a great constitution," Fahey told Racing Post. "I'd just love to give him another opportunity on good ground. His best performance was in the Queen Anne, and I'd love the opportunity to run him once more on ground like that.

"I always feel that when we have to run on soft ground, it slows the rhythm of the race down and blunts his speed a bit. He's just an enthusiastic racehorse. He goes from nought to 35 in four strides, and he's the same at home. I've never known a horse like him. He has to go in front, because he can't go slow. He's like a supercar, and when you touch the pedal, he's gone."

The 4-year-old will go up against leading North American hope World Approval, who gained automatic entry through the Breeders' Cup Challenge series with a win in the Sept. 16 Ricoh Woodbine Mile (G1T) after he took the Fourstardave Handicap (G1T) at Saratoga Race Course for breeder Charlotte Weber's Live Oak Plantation and trainer Mark Casse. The 5-year-old Northern Afleet  gelding will make his first Breeders' Cup appearance in pursuit of his fourth grade 1 score.

Michael Tabor, Susan Magnier, and Derrick Smith's Woodbine Mile runner-up Lancaster Bomber is another European representative who could factor into his return to the World Championships. The Aidan O'Brien trainee finished second last year to Oscar Performance in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) at Santa Anita Park, demonstrating an afinity for the firm turf found in California. He will need to rebound from a disappointing 14th in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, however, and also wheels back in two weeks.

O'Brien also sends out the lone filly in the race—Tabor, Magnier, and Smith's Roly Poly. The 3-year-old daughter of War Front  comes off a victory in the Oct. 7 Kingdom of Bahrain Sun Chariot Stakes (G1) at Newmarket, one of the three top-level wins she picked up this season (the others were the Prix Rothschild and the Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes, both group 1 events annexed in July). Roly Poly was ninth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) last year at Santa Anita.

Al Shaqab Racing's Zelzal, sixth in the Prix de la Foret (G1)—in which fellow Al Shaqab runner and Mile contender Karar came in third—is a group 1-winning son of Sea the Stars who should also appreciate the firm ground at Del Mar. In the Qatar Sussex Stakes (G1) earlier this summer, the Jean-Claude Rouget trainee finished fourth by just 2 1/2 lengths against a deep field that included runner-up Ribchester and Lancaster Bomber in sixth.

Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes (G1T) winner Suedois picked up his Breeders' Cup Mile berth with his Oct. 7 win at Keeneland for George Turner and Clipper Logistics, and trainer David O'Meara will look to take down the Mile after sending Mondialiste to a runner-up finish in 2015. Terry Hamilton's Heart to Heart, second in the Shadwell Turf Mile by half-length, also took the Keeneland route to Del Mar in pursuit of his long-awaited grade 1 victory, along with Donegal Racing's Ballagh Rocks, third in the Shadwell Turf Mile by a head.   

Phil D'Amato-trained grade 1 winner Midnight Storm , third in this race last year for Alex Venneri Racing and Little Red Feather Racing, Al and Saundra Kirkwood's Del Mar Mile Handicap (G2T) winner Blackjackcat for trainer Mark Glatt, and Sareen Family Trust's Dan Hendricks trainee Om lead the West Coast charge.


Entries: Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T)

Del Mar, Saturday, November 04, 2017, Race 9

  • Grade IT
  • 1m
  • Turf
  • $2,000,000
  • 3 yo's & up
  • 3:19 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Midnight Storm (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Tyler Baze 126 Philip D'Amato 15/1
2 2Heart to Heart (ON) Julien R. Leparoux 126 Brian A. Lynch 6/1
3 3Mr. Roary (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Tyler Conner 126 George Papaprodromou 30/1
4 4Lancaster Bomber (KY) Seamus Heffernan 123 Aidan P. O'Brien 20/1
5 5World Approval (FL) John R. Velazquez 126 Mark E. Casse 9/2
6 6Zelzal (FR) Gregory Benoist 126 Jean-Claude Rouget 20/1
7 7Om (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Drayden Van Dyke 126 Dan L. Hendricks 20/1
8 8Suedois (FR) Daniel Alexander Tudhope 126 David O'Meara 6/1
9 9Home of The Brave (IRE) Mike E. Smith 126 Hugo Palmer 20/1
10 10Ribchester (IRE) William T. Buick 126 Richard Fahey 7/2
11 11Ballagh Rocks (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Jose Lezcano 126 William I. Mott 12/1
12 12Roly Poly (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Ryan L. Moore 120 Aidan P. O'Brien 6/1
13 13Blackjackcat (KY) Kent J. Desormeaux 126 Mark Glatt 15/1
14 14Karar (GB) Lanfranco Dettori 126 Francis - Henri Graffard 15/1