U S Navy Flag to Try Dirt, Mendelssohn Sticks With Turf

With his Midas touch helping his stable to a record-breaking season, trainer Aidan O'Brien will veer from initial expectations with juvenile colts Mendelssohn and U S Navy Flag in this year's Breeders' Cup World Championships Nov. 3-4 at Del Mar.

U S Navy Flag and Mendelssohn, the last-out top two finishers in the Darley Dewhurst Stakes (G1) going seven furlongs at Newmarket, were pre-entered in both the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T). In those pre-entries, two-time group 1 winner U S Navy Flag was listed as first preference for the Juvenile Turf while group 1-placed Mendelssohn was listed as first-preference for the Juvenile.

As a half brother to four-time champion Beholder—a three-time Breeders' Cup winner on dirt, Mendelssohn seemed to be a good fit for the dirt, while U S Navy Flag would make sense to aim for a third straight top-level win on turf. But O'Brien ultimately flipped the races for the two starters campaigned by owners associated with Coolmore.

O'Brien noted that Mendelssohn has just started to put things together in his turf racing and they didn't want to add the challenge of a new surface, while U S Navy Flag has a running style that may allow him to compete on the dirt in the Juvenile. It's the type of call that O'Brien has consistently been nailing this year. He secured his 26th top-level win last weekend—a single season, worldwide record for a trainer.

O'Brien noted that Mendelssohn has been up and down this season. He raced greenly in his debut at the Curragh before he won a maiden race in his second start there in August. Given a try in the Howcroft Industrial Supplies Champagne Stakes (G2) in September at Doncaster, the Kentucky-bred son of Scat Daddy—Leslie's Lady (Tricky Creek) faded to seventh. 

After that setback O'Brien added blinkers and Mendelssohn responded with his runner-up Darley Dewhurst finish. With Mendelssohn moving in the right direction, O'Brien didn't want to add the challenge of a new surface at Breeders' Cup.

"We put blinkers on him at home and it really stepped him up, pulled him together, (and) taught him a lot in a short time. We ran him in the Dewhurst and we weren't sure we were going to see the same improvement on the track we'd seen in the mornings, but we did," O'Brien said. "We were very happy with him."

O'Brien opted to keep him in his comfort zone in terms of surface and hopes he continues to move forward in the Juvenile Turf.

"We didn't think it was fair to him to ask him to go on the dirt, when he's beginning to gather himself together on the grass," O'Brien said. "That's why we stuck with him on the grass."

While Mendelssohn will stay on the turf this weekend, O'Brien said he has the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) in the back of his mind for the colt, who was bred by Clarkland Farm and sold for $3 million at the 2016 Keeneland September yearling sale. 

"He's dirt top and bottom—classic American dirt pedigree," O'Brien said. "We thought that we would come here and give him a chance on the grass and then maybe switch him after that and look at training him for the Kentucky Derby trials."

U S Navy Flag enters his first try on dirt off three straight group stakes wins, including the Dewhurst Oct. 14 at Newmarket and the six-furlong Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes (G1) Sept. 30 there. Already a 10-time starter, U S Navy Flag has been in about as many battles as John Paul Jones. That experience may help the son of War Front —Misty For Me, by Galileo (IRE) adjust to a new surface.

"With U S Navy Flag, he's an unbelievable horse—handled everything we've thrown at him," O'Brien said. "And it seems like the more difficult the assignment, the more he has come through."

The 1 1/16-mile Juvenile also will be the longest of his career to date. And the trainer said he's shown enough tactical speed to suggest he may be able to compete on dirt.

"We felt that by running him on the dirt—we don't really know what's going to happen—but we thought we would find out for next year whether he's going to get the mile or not," O'Brien said. "I felt that looking at him in Newmarket the last time, I felt like he could get the mile as a juvenile. It's exciting and a good challenge for him. He's done amazing things this year."

As for those 10 starts in his first 5 1/2 months of racing, O'Brien said the horse pointed the way for each of those efforts.

"I didn't realize actually that he'd run 10 times until somebody said it to me recently," O'Brien said. "We don't really look at how many runs they've had, so much as one race at a time and the individual horse that they are.

"A lot of horses who race less may work a lot harder. He's just gone from race to race and that's the way it's fallen. We're very happy with where he is at the moment."