Ratings Update: Enable creates history at Breeders' Cup

Flat Racing

This weekend’s Flat action was headlined by the Breeders’ Cup, which was held at Churchill Downs for the first time since 2011.

Plenty of European runners featured over the course of the two days, including Line of Duty (up 5 lb to 112p), who built on his win in the Group 3 Prix de Condé at Chantilly last month when winning the Grade 1 Juvenile Turf on Friday. He proved well suited by a relative test of stamina on the day and will be well worth his place in a Derby trial in the spring – his form is now about the same standard as his Derby-winning stable-companion Masar had achieved this time last year.

On Saturday, Prix de l’Opera winner Wild Illusion (up 1 lb to 120) just failed in her bid to follow that up in the Grade 1 Filly & Mare Turf, but she ran right up to her best, just missing out on a top-level hat-trick when caught in the final strides by the Chad Brown-trained Sistercharlie (remains on 119). The fortunes of the European challenge quickly improved, however, with Expert Eye (remains on 124) picking up his first top level win in the Mile, swooping late under an expert ride from Frankie Dettori to deny Catapult on the line. Dettori went on to create history less than two hours later, when taking the Breeders’ Cup Turf with Enable (remains on 134), the first Arc winner to win at the Breeders’ Cup in the same year. She has enjoyed a remarkable if slightly unorthodox 2018, and hopefully she remains in training next year to try and win an unprecedented third Arc.

She’s done it – Enable wins the $4m @LonginesEq @BreedersCup Turf #BC18 pic.twitter.com/vYSG4Wpi1a

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) November 3, 2018

The feature, the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic, featured a British challenger in the form of Roaring Lion (remains on 130), who has had a stellar year, but this experiment failed, palpably failing to take to dirt. He will now take up stallion duties, and he’s likely to be joined by Mendelssohn (remains on 123), who once again wasn’t seen to best effect despite running right up to his rating, doing too much too early on and once again leaving the impression that there is a big dirt race to be won with him. The winner Accelerate (remains on 131) is a much improved model from the horse beaten in each of the last two editions of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, and he is likely to head to the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream in January before going to stud.

Closer to home, Newmarket’s Saturday card featured three pattern races, and also saw an impressive debut from Feliciana De Vega (94p), who looked potentially useful at the very least when scoring by six lengths, and with better to come in 2019, connections are entitled to be thinking of classic trials. The most impressive performance of the day, however, came from the Irish raider True Self (up 9 lb to 115p), who has been reinvented as a Flat performer of late, and was a deeply impressive winner of the listed James Seymour Stakes for the Willie Mullins team. This win represented a quickfire double in listed company, having won at Bath last month, and the way in which she dispatched of Air Pilot (up 1 lb to 118), a smart performer himself, suggests that Group races will be on her agenda next season.

Earlier in the week, the Kingman colt Headman (96P) made a rather taking debut at Newcastle on Thursday evening, producing a performance which marks him out as a pattern-class performer in the making as a three-year-old, brushing aside a rival in Repaupo (remains on 90, loses p) who is already not far off useful himself, and a banker for a similar event.

National Hunt Racing

Wetherby’s Grade 2 Charlie Hall Chase is a signal that the National Hunt season is beginning to take over from the Flat, and several big names have used it as a starting point in recent years, before heading on to the Betfair Chase at Haydock later on this month.

This year’s renewal had promised plenty at the five-day stage, featuring the likes of Thistlecrack and Bristol De Mai, though ultimately it disappointed slightly, with just four taking their chance – the smallest field since 2000. It wasn’t without its drama, however, with Double Shuffle (remains on 162?) departing in the early stages, before Bryony Frost performed miracles to keep her partnership with Black Corton (up 3 lb to 157, loses p) intact after a bad mistake at the third. He kept on well, but was out-battled by Definitly Red (remains on 164), who stayed on strongly and reportedly will now head to the Many Clouds Chase at Aintree, a race he won last year, whilst Black Corton could potentially be well treated if taking his chance in the Ladbrokes Trophy off his current BHA mark of 153 at the beginning of December.

A game performance by Definitly Red to keep the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase @WetherbyRaces in Yorkshire

Results 👉👉 https://t.co/7iJOPsdIyZ pic.twitter.com/D4E3PIfWxA

— Racing UK (@racing_uk) November 3, 2018

Elsewhere on the card, Lady Buttons (remains on h136) went one better than last year to take the listed Mares’ Hurdle and, whilst there’s likely more opportunities for her this term, the proximity of the exposed handicapper Mystic Sky holds the form down slightly. Like the Charlie Hall, the Grade 2 West Yorkshire Hurdle was a weaker renewal than usual, won by Nautical Nitwit (up 6 lb to 144), who has been a revelation so far this season, and found a touch more improvement to win again. It's not easy to know where he'll go from here, the likelihood being that this was a career high point, but his connections are unlikely to care.

At Ascot, it was Traffic Fluide (up 5 lb to 153) who won their feature, the Grade 3 Sodexo Gold Cup Handicap Chase, having pulled a race which had seemed lost from out of the fire; he was headed at the last by Art Mauresque (remains on 151) before rallying to lead again in the final 50 yards, with the favourite Go Conquer (drops 2 lb to 146) five lengths back in third. The result looked a fair one, and the front three should continue to give a good account. Earlier on the card, Wenyerreadyfreddie (up 4 lb to 142p) took advantage of a favourable mark to run out a comfortable winner of the novices’ handicap chase, a performance which suggests he could be a player in Graded novice races.

Over in Ireland, Down Royal hosted its two day November meeting, and it began with a surprise, with hot favourite Samcro (remains on 163p) turned over in the Grade 2 WKD Hurdle – his first defeat when completing. It is a defeat which dents his Champion Hurdle aspirations, but the race was a muddling one and he remains a top prospect, entitled to need the outing against a race-fit pair. His inability to put away the other two raises doubts about whether he will be equipped to cope with the speed test in the Champion Hurdle, meaning a bid at the Stayers’ Hurdle could become a possibility, but in the long term, everything about his physique suggests that chasing remains the avenue that will allow him to fulfil his exceptional potential. The winner Bedrock (up 12 lb to 158) raised his game further to take two more notable scalps on his second successful raid to Ireland in as many months, and he is proving to be a fine advert for his dual-purpose trainer Iain Jardine.

On Saturday, Gigginstown won the feature, the Grade 1 JNwine.com Champion Chase, for a sixth year in a row, with Road To Respect (up 2 lb to 169) posting the best winning performance in the race since Kauto Star's in 2010. It was an emphatic display, giving the race-fit Woodland Opera (up 3 lb to 156) a drubbing, and one that suggested improving upon his fourth place in the Cheltenham Gold Cup is well within range. Thirty-five minutes later, Snow Falcon (remains on 157) followed up on his win in the Kerry National by taking the Grade 2 mycarneedsa.com Chase, a performance which should put him spot on for a tilt at the Ladbrokes Trophy next month. The penalised pair of Shattered Love (drops 1 lb to 154) and Monalee (remains on 157p) made respectable reappearances, and are two others to take out of what should be an informative race.