Reports: Champion Stakes winner King of Steel heads for BC Turf

King of Steel, winner of the Group 1 Champion Stakes last weekend at Britain's Ascot Racecourse, will run back in the $4 million Breeders' Cup Turf off two weeks rest, multiple racing publications reported Friday. 

Daily Racing Form quoted trainer Roger Varian as saying that the 3-year-old son of Wootton Bassett rebounded quickly from his three-quarter length victory in Saturday's Champion Stakes, contested at 1 1/4 miles on a turf course graded as soft.

“He jogged on Monday and has cantered since Tuesday,” DRF quoted Varian as saying. “He looks full of energy and his movement is very good. He looks like a horse that can take another start.

“We sat on the decision as long as we could. The horse has given us all the right signs. We’re happy with him.”

Varian said King of Steel would ship to California on Friday.

Frankie Dettori, who rode King of Steel to victory in the Champion Stakes, a win-and-you're in race for the Turf, is booked to ride him back at Santa Anita in one of the final races of his retirement tour.

King of Steel has faced top European competition at 1 1/2 miles, the distance of the Turf, including a win in the King Edward VII Stakes (G2) for 3-year-olds at the Royal Ascot meeting in June and a second to expected Breeders' Cup Turf rival Auguste Rodin in the English Derby (G1) at Epsom Racecourse.

At 6-1, King of Steel was the third betting choice in international futures Friday afternoon for the Breeders’ Cup Turf. Mostahdaf and Auguste Rodin were 5-2.