Zacinto headed to the BC Mile
DiscreetCat
Moderator
from Racing Post:
At the request of Sir Michael Stoute, owner Khalid Abdullah has agreed to reroute ante-post favourite Zacinto from Saturday's Champion Stakes to the Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita next month.
Zacinto was generally a 5-2 shot for the Emirates Airline-sponsored Group 1 at Newmarket following his fine performance at Ascot where, sent off the 18-1 outsider of the quartet of runners, he finished runner-up to Rip Van Winkle in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.
The Dansili colt is as short as 5-1 with Coral for the Breeders' Cup Mile, and Stoute's desire to make that his objective was no doubt influenced by last weekend's shock defeat of Goldikova at Longchamp. However, despite that reverse, Goldikova remains odds-on.
Abdullah's racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe told racingpost.com on Sunday: "Sir Michael was keen to have a shot at the Breeders' Cup with Zacinto, and that does look a good race for him. He's a handy horse and the course should suit."
Even with the Zacinto's defection, Prince Khalid will be doubly represented in the Champion Stakes by Stoute's Doctor Fremantle and Henry Cecil's Twice Over.
Newmarket's clerk of the course, Michael Prosser, said on Sunday that after 19.5 mm of rain last week the ground was officially good. However, with no rain forecast before Saturday, he has not ruled out watering.
At the request of Sir Michael Stoute, owner Khalid Abdullah has agreed to reroute ante-post favourite Zacinto from Saturday's Champion Stakes to the Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita next month.
Zacinto was generally a 5-2 shot for the Emirates Airline-sponsored Group 1 at Newmarket following his fine performance at Ascot where, sent off the 18-1 outsider of the quartet of runners, he finished runner-up to Rip Van Winkle in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.
The Dansili colt is as short as 5-1 with Coral for the Breeders' Cup Mile, and Stoute's desire to make that his objective was no doubt influenced by last weekend's shock defeat of Goldikova at Longchamp. However, despite that reverse, Goldikova remains odds-on.
Abdullah's racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe told racingpost.com on Sunday: "Sir Michael was keen to have a shot at the Breeders' Cup with Zacinto, and that does look a good race for him. He's a handy horse and the course should suit."
Even with the Zacinto's defection, Prince Khalid will be doubly represented in the Champion Stakes by Stoute's Doctor Fremantle and Henry Cecil's Twice Over.
Newmarket's clerk of the course, Michael Prosser, said on Sunday that after 19.5 mm of rain last week the ground was officially good. However, with no rain forecast before Saturday, he has not ruled out watering.
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SIR MICHAEL STOUTE'S Breeders' Cup Mile hope, Zacinto, is back on track following a work-out in Newmarket on Tuesday morning.
The three-year-old was not asked to do anything too strenuous, and is likely to work again later this week before travelling to America at the weekend.
Zacinto, who has never been out of the first two in five starts and finished runner-up behind Rip Van Winkle in last month's Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot, had recently suffered a slight setback when found to be wrong behind, and missed two days cantering.
Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to the colt's owner-breeder, Khalid Abdullah, said: "Zacinto got on fine this morning, but he did nothing very serious, and the intention is still to probably work him again before he goes to the Breeders' Cup."
Zacinto is a general 5-1 chance for Breeders' Cup Mile glory, behind odds-on favourite Goldikova.