Ascot roundup: 4 Champions day horses may run in Breeders’ Cup
Modern Games, who won the 2021 Juvenile Turf, will return to the Breeders’ Cup next month at Keeneland and race in the Mile after finishing second Saturday in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot.
"He's run a very creditable race, and he'll go to the Breeders’ Cup now," Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby said after William Buick rode the 3-year-old Dubawi colt to finish 1 1/4 lengths behind 33-1 winner Bayside Boy. "Will just said he as tough as teak but couldn't get his feet out of the (good to soft) ground, unfortunately. ... He's handled the conditions. It's just not there to suit him. As we know, in Keeneland, he might get the same.”
Previously unbeaten Baaeed is upset in final race of his career.
Bayside Boy stormed home to cause the upset, providing his trainer Roger Varian with a first success in the mile showpiece.
Galvanized by blinkers, on for the second time after a confidence-boosting success in a Sandown listed contest last time, Bayside Boy looked out of his ground in a steadily run affair but kicked in the turbos from the two-furlong pole.
Modern Games, a Grade 1 winner in Canada last time out, coped with the slower conditions to finish a creditable second with third place going to the front-running Jadoomi, who also might go to the Breeders’ Cup.
“I think Keeneland will be the obvious place to go," Jadoomi's co-trainer Ed Crisford said. "Coming around a bend might just play to his strengths and be the next step. He wants cut in the ground. That's the key. He has won two Group 2 races and had to find five or six pounds to be competitive with the top two in the betting, and he has definitely improved again. He's a lightly raced 4-year-old, and there's no reason why he shouldn't improve again.”
The red-hot, 11-10 favorite Inspiral never could land a blow after fluffing the start and wound up sixth.
"I went into the stalls second last," Inspiral’s jockey Frankie Dettori said. "I was barely in there 10 seconds. The gates opened, and she didn’t want to come out. ... The whole field went, and I found myself last on a filly who needs cover. They went slow. I tried to creep into the race, but the race was done at the start. I don’t know why she didn't want to come out. It's the first time she has done it. I’m playing catch-up then."
2nd in Champion, Adayar may head for Keeneland
After finishing second to Bay Bridge in the Champion Stakes (G1), 4-year-old Adayar was put into consideration for the Breeders' Cup.
“Obviously we’ll have discussions about where we go next," Appleby told England-based Racing TV. "We might look at taking him to America for the Breeders’ Cup Turf. He’s getting better with his gate work. He came out well today.
“That would be the only question mark about going there. He’s got no miles on the clock, but he’s had a race today, so I don’t want to fall into the trap today of backing him up quickly like I did last year after a layoff."
Adayar came off an 11-month layoff to win against only two other starters in a minor stakes race Sept. 8 at Doncaster. The Frankel colt bred and owned by Godolphin was a two-time Group 1 winner last year.
Kinross wins Champions Sprint, BC Mile is next
Kinross was ticketed for the Breeders' Cup Mile by trainer Ralph Beckett after powering to a 2 3/4-length victory in the Champions Sprint (G1) under Dettori.
The well-backed 3/1 favorite had never previously won over six furlongs, but the drop back from seven furlongs proved no issue for the 5-year-old Kingman horse who has won four races in a row, including the Prix de la Foret (G1) and now this.
“I've always had a little bit of a hankering for him to do it at this trip," Beckett said, "even with a Breeders' Cup Mile on the horizon. He'll go there as well, with any luck."
“Ralph has been training fantastically this year," Dettori said. "Two Group 1 wins in the space of two weeks for Kinross, and we will take him to America now."