Report: Mendelssohn to train up to Breeders’ Cup Classic

Mendelssohn, runner-up in the Grade 1 Travers Saturday, will train up to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic, according to a tweet from The Irish Field.

The 2018 Breeders’ Cup runs at Churchill Downs Nov. 2-3, the same site where Mendelssohn put in a puzzling last-place performance in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby following his Group 2 UAE Derby romp.

Assistant T.J. Comerford reported Mendelssohn "pulled the arms on me and he was still whinnying" in the test barn after the Travers. The colt also ate well following the race and Sunday morning.

"You need the horses for [dirt racing] when you come here," Comerford said. "He is a horse who has the speed. You can't inject it into them. You either have it or you don't, and he seems to have it."

A son of Scat Daddy and a half-brother to champion mare Beholder and Grade 1-producing stallion Into Mischief, Coolmore purchased Mendelssohn for $3 million at the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The colt was runner-up in the Group 1 Dewhust before his impressive Breeders’ Cup victory. He returned at 3 to win the Patton Stake over a synthetic surface before switching to dirt in the UAE Derby.

Following the Kentucky Derby, he returned stateside to run third in Belmont Park's one-mile, Grade 3 Dwyer before stretching back out to 1 ¼ miles in the Travers, the same distance as the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

"That was [O'Brien's] plan, to come here and then go to the Breeders' Cup," Comerford said. "I suppose yesterday was a big improvement again from Belmont. It was a big step up for him, and he's done well. He's come out of his race very well. He's straight into his breakfast. There's not a bother on him."