Libertango will carry George Boughey’s hopes of a first Breeders’ Cup success when she lines up for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland on October 30.
The No Nay Never filly has been one of the juvenile stars of the European season, landing the Group 3 Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Group 2 Sky Bet Lowther Stakes at York before going down by just a length in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes.
Libertango drops back to 5½ furlongs and takes on the colts for the first time at Keeneland.
Boughey said: “She’s a filly who always showed a high level of ability, even before she started, and she just progressed all through the year. Was unlucky to bump into a very good filly in Sun Goddess on her last start in the Cheveley Park.
"I think she’ll probably go up to the mile so yeah, the door’s left open. But there are obviously other horses to take her on, and it looks like it’s going to be a good race."
On the filly’s wellbeing, he added: "I'd go so far as to say it’s the best she’s been all year. She looks amazing for this time of year, she’s eating more food than she’s ever eaten and training harder than ever. She worked beautifully at the weekend — couldn’t be much happier.”
Survie steps up for Breeders’ Cup Turf
Mr & Mrs Michael Tabor’s Survie lines up in the $5 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf on October 31 after a career-best display in the Christophe Clement Turf Stakes at Saratoga, where she beat the colts to secure her berth through the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In.
The five-year-old, who also landed the Grade 2 Glens Falls Stakes over a mile and a half at the same track, began her campaign in Saudi Arabia, and Boughey is convinced the Keeneland trip will bring out the best in her.
On Survie, Boughey said: “The plan even before that had always been to try and get her to the Breeders’ Cup — it was just determining what race we were going to programme her for. The mile and a half — she needs that trip, really, ideally. The fillies and mare’ race in there might have been over a bit more ground and we could have taken on her own sex, but she’ll go to the Turf.
"I just think the big galloping tracks in Europe can sometimes expose her. She’d been trained as a miler, really, through the summer, knowing that she gets further — and being able to harness that turn of foot was pretty explosive out in America."
Boughey, still seeking a first Breeders’ Cup winner, said: "I think it's the showpiece event at the end of the year. But on a more basic level, as a trainer — training these horses through the year, a lot of them don’t get there, and it’s the sort of acid test of the horse, the trainer and the staff to prepare them for it.
"We’ve had a few goes at it and haven’t quite hit. Cachet was unlucky as a two-year-old, just getting sort of collared late on. But I think we’re going there with certainly one or two live chances — and Libertango would be the outstanding one, you’d say, at the moment."
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