The Irish challenge at this year's Breeders Cup rests solely on the shoulders of Aidan O'Brien and the Ballydoyle team hold several live chances of increasing their haul at the meeting.
The centrepiece of O'Brien's raid on the meeting is undoubtedly Rip Van Winkle who takes on the great American filly, Zenyatta, in the Classic on Saturday.
Earlier this week it emerged that the Galileo colt has had to contend with a fresh foot complaint which comes at the end of season where he has had to deal with several setbacks. However, if his connections are happy for him to line up in the feature event of the meeting the hint is worth taking.
This will be the first time that Rip Van Winkle will be taking his chance on a synthetic surface but last year's European one-two in the Classic, provided by Raven's Pass and former stablemate Henrythenavigator, showed the Pro-Ride surface holds absolutely no fears for the raiders.
On the top class form that he has shown this season Rip Van Winkle must have a leading chance. Some fine efforts in defeat earlier in the year behind the all-time great Sea The Stars were then followed by superb wins in the Sussex Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.
The step up from a mile to ten furlongs won't at all inconvenience the Eclipse Stakes runner-up and it quite interesting that he has followed quite a similar path to this race as that taken by last year's first and second.
Of course he has several top drawer American runners to overcome headed by the amazing and unbeaten Zenyatta but if Rip Van Winkle turns up here at the peak of his powers he has to hold an excellent chance of giving O'Brien a first win in this race, in which Giant's Causeway went so agonisingly close against Tiznow earlier in the decade.
In the Dirt Mile Mastercraftsman will bid to end an excellent season on a high. A smooth winner of a strongly run Group 3 over an extended ten furlongs at Dundalk on his most recent start, the Danehill Dancer colt returns to a trip over which he was a runaway winner of the Irish 2000 Guineas and a gritty victor in the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
That recent success at Dundalk should stand him in good stead as he tries his hand on the Pro-Ride track and his connections have long maintained that a strongly run mile, which he should get here, will show him off to good effect. A high class, ultra consistent and extremely game colt, he must be given a major chance from his inside draw.
In the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf O'Brien's Viscount Nelson bids to go one better than Westphalia who came up just short in this event last year.
Viscount Nelson won the very same seven furlong Listed event at Tipperary in August that fell to Westphalia last year and he followed that with a creditable second to Poet's Voice in the Champagne Stakes - a race that Westphalia won prior to turning up at Santa Anita twelve months ago.
A relatively lightly raced sort who is still open to improvement, the Giant's Causeway colt will be right at home on the ground and the step up to a mile will also aid his cause. He has strong claims.
Elsewhere the trainer sends his Group 1-winning colts Alfred Nobel and Beethoven into battle in the Grey Goose Breeders Cup Juvenile.
A winner of the Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh in July, Alfred Nobel has been beaten on both his starts since then but in his defence he did find himself drawn on the wrong side in a very valuable sales race at Newmarket last time and he did win his 'race' on the stand's side in fine style. That performance showed that quick ground held no fears for him and jockey Johnny Murtagh has elected to stick with him in preference to Beethoven.
The latter finished off a busy European campaign in the best possible fashion by springing a major surprise in the Dewhurst Stakes where he wore a visor for the first time. That display earns him maximum respect and indicates that he is capable of a good deal better than some of his earlier form suggested. He is a tough and battle hardened campaigner and his experience should stand him in good stead for this contest. However, both he and Alfred Nobel face no easy task against some strong looking local opponents.
Recommendations
2pts win Rip Van Winkle (Classic)
1pt ew Viscount Nelson (Juvenile Turf)
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