It's looking more and more like Duke of Marmalade to the Classic
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Duke Of Marmalade could be a shock competitor at Great Leighs' trials meeting for the Breeders' Cup on September 27, trainer Aidan O'Brien has revealed.
The master of Ballydoyle is keen to get another run into his star performer before Santa Anita in October and while not taking him out of the equation for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, he is putting a journey to the new Essex venue under consideration.
Duke Of Marmalade has now won five Group Ones in a row but missed out on a sixth when he was not risked on heavy ground in last weekend's Irish Champion Stakes.
O'Brien has identified what has been named the Thoroughbred Open Classic, a £40,000 race for all ages where Duke Of Marmalade would carry a small penalty for his victories.
Experience on the all-weather would put the colt into contention for the Breeders' Cup Classic on a new synthetic surface in California and O'Brien also mentioned Frozen Fire being under consideration for Duke Of Marmalade's other option, the Breeders' Cup Turf.
"I am not ruling him out of the Arc, but we want to run him at the Breeders' Cup with possibly another run in between," said O'Brien.
"There is a possibility he might run at Great Leighs on the evening of the QEII Stakes at Ascot.
"They have a nine-and-a-half-furlong race there on Polytrack. But that is only a possibility at the moment."
Of Frozen Fire, only seventh when favourite for Saturday's Ladbrokes St Leger, O'Brien continued: "Frozen Fire was keen at Doncaster and the ground was wrong for him. We might look at the Breeders' Cup Turf with him over a mile and a half on good ground."
The master of Ballydoyle is keen to get another run into his star performer before Santa Anita in October and while not taking him out of the equation for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, he is putting a journey to the new Essex venue under consideration.
Duke Of Marmalade has now won five Group Ones in a row but missed out on a sixth when he was not risked on heavy ground in last weekend's Irish Champion Stakes.
O'Brien has identified what has been named the Thoroughbred Open Classic, a £40,000 race for all ages where Duke Of Marmalade would carry a small penalty for his victories.
Experience on the all-weather would put the colt into contention for the Breeders' Cup Classic on a new synthetic surface in California and O'Brien also mentioned Frozen Fire being under consideration for Duke Of Marmalade's other option, the Breeders' Cup Turf.
"I am not ruling him out of the Arc, but we want to run him at the Breeders' Cup with possibly another run in between," said O'Brien.
"There is a possibility he might run at Great Leighs on the evening of the QEII Stakes at Ascot.
"They have a nine-and-a-half-furlong race there on Polytrack. But that is only a possibility at the moment."
Of Frozen Fire, only seventh when favourite for Saturday's Ladbrokes St Leger, O'Brien continued: "Frozen Fire was keen at Doncaster and the ground was wrong for him. We might look at the Breeders' Cup Turf with him over a mile and a half on good ground."
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In a move which could deny the Essex venue Duke Of Marmalade's presence for the Thoroughbred Open Classic on Friday, Dundalk and Horse Racing Ireland announced that Ireland's only Polytrack course will stage the Dundalk Breeders' Cup Trial Stakes, over 1m2f 110 yards, at its meeting on Friday October 3.
Reacting to the development Aidan O'Brien said: It's a great initiative by Dundalk to put on this new race and Duke Of Marmalade could run in it instead of going to Great Leighs next Friday.
However, it's still possible that he could run in the Arc and miss out on both of the all-weather races. We'll see what the forecast for the week leading up to the Arc is going to be. If it is a bad forecast with the likelihood of soft ground at Longchamp, then Great Leighs would still be a possibility for the Duke.
If the forecast is good then the Arc would remain an option, with the Dundalk race there for him should it look like being soft in Paris in the days leading up to the Arc. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.
The Dundalk race will be a 30,000 event and track manager Jim Martin said: It is another significant milestone for Dundalk and the factthat Aidan has indicated Duke Of Marmalade could run in the race if the ground at Longchamp is unsuitable is an exciting prospect for Dundalk stadium.
Duke Of Marmalade has not run since scoring his fifth consecutive Group 1 win in the Juddmonte International Stakes at Newmarket last month. He was due to run in the Tattersalls Millions Irish Champion Stakes early this month but missed out following heavy rain at Leopardstown in the few days before the race.
Tim Jones, racing manager at Great Leighs, was philosophical on hearing the news. He said: Aidan O'Brien's office very kindly rang me to tell me the news but it's not out of the question that they won't be making some entries anyway.
To be able to put on a meeting which captured his imagination so much so that he was going to support it was a real shot in the arm. I suspect if the weather stays as it is, Duke Of Marmalade might be heading to France anyway.
He can still come over for the Breeders Cup, but that wouldn't be announced until sometime after the race. Likely the middle of next week, i would think.
An absolute downpour in Paris apart, Duke Of Marmalade seems likely to take his chance in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on Sunday.
Aidan O'Brien has voiced his concerns about the Longchamp turf turning very soft, but it remains the intention to run the five-times Group One winner together with stablemate Soldier Of Fortune.
Johnny Murtagh has been booked for Duke Of Marmalade, with Seamie Heffernan on Soldier Of Fortune.
O'Brien told At The Races: "We are hoping the ground will be OK. The forecast looks for some showers, but that would not be too bad, so we are hoping we do not have to make any decision. He'll be fine on good ground or the slow side of good, but we are hoping it is not extreme.
"He is a very good horse, very tough and very consistent in all his races. The lads do a great job with him. He's just a very, very good horse really."
He went on: "Soldier was a very good horse last year, he was very impressive in the Irish Derby and won his Arc trial. We felt that just maybe the Arc came a little bit quick after his trial as he tries very hard in his races.
"The plan was always to start early, give him a summer break and come back for an autumn campaign.
"It is very hard (to split them). We think they are two top horses and we have been happy with both since their last runs. Duke's wins have mostly been on fast ground, while Soldier is a very good moving horse, so handles ease in ground.
"Johnny has ridden Duke in his five Group Ones this year and has never been beaten on him. It was not too difficult a decision if the ground was right for him. He can't ride both of them and at declaration time it looked like the ground would be good, and it still could be."
Aidan O'Brien's superstar lost for the first time this season at Longchamp on Sunday when seventh behind the brilliant Zarkava.
But despite having his run of five Group One victories halted, the son of Danehill still appears likely to run at Santa Anita on October 25.
O'Brien told The Racing Post: "He seems fine and we have the choice of running him in either the Turf or the Classic at Santa Anita.
"We haven't sat down yet and discussed final plans for the Breeders' Cup meeting but we will be doing that before long. We also have to decide whether Henrythenavigator will be going for the Mile or Classic.
"It is very possible Soldier Of Fortune will go for the Breeders' Cup Turf."
Duke Of Marmalade is currently a 7-1 shot for the Classic with Sky Bet, and a 13-2 chance in the Turf.
Aidan O'Brien is planning to let both Duke Of Marmalade and Henrythenavigator tackle the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Saturday week.
The Ballydoyle handler has already booked top American jockey John Velasquez to ride whichever colt stable jockey Johnny Murtagh rejects in the 10-furlong feature.
Both five-time Group One winner Duke Of Marmalade and dual 2000 Guineas hero Henrythenavigator will be having their first starts on a synthetic surface, while the latter will also be tackling a trip in excess of a mile for the first time.
"Both horses have had long seasons," O'Brien told the Independent. "But we feel they're still in good form, and obviously we think they'll be OK on the surface, though you never know until you try it in race conditions.
"We have booked Johnny Velasquez to ride one of them, but we don't have to decide which until nearer the time."
The pair will have to face last year's Classic victor Curlin in California after connections confirmed him as an intended starter on Tuesday.