2021 Breeders' Cup Mile: Overseas contingent remains in flux
The centers of power for the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Mile rest in California and Europe.
Mo Forza and Smooth Like Strait, part of the 2021 Mile’s initial Top 10 list, face Hit the Road in the City of Hope Mile on Saturday at Santa Anita.
Things grown murkier across the Atlantic. Palace Pier, the leading European miler, races Oct. 16 in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot, and his connections have hinted the colt will be sent to stud afterward. Baaeed, a rising star miler, also is aimed at the QE II, but so far there have been no indications he could come to America.
A third expected QE II runner, Poetic Flare, seems well suited to California turf racing and remains under consideration for a trip to Del Mar. Three-year-old Poetic Flare has raced on good or good-to-firm turf only four times in an 11-start career, those races yielding two wins, including a victory in the 2000 Guineas this past spring in England, a narrow defeat by Palace Pier in the Group 1 Jacques le Marois in August, and an excellent third behind two of Europe’s best horses, recently retired St Mark’s Basilica and Tarnawa, in the Sept. 11 Irish Champion Stakes.
Poetic Flare isn’t hapless on softer courses, and while he has run eight times already this season and would be coming back in the BC Mile just three weeks after the QE II, this colt has an iron constitution. In May 2021 alone, Poetic Flare won the 2000 Guineas, finished sixth on a soft course in the French 2000 Guineas, and was second, beaten a nose by stablemate Mac Swiney, racing over heavy ground in the Irish 2000 Guineas.
One possible snag: Trainer Jim Bolger, who bred Poetic Flare and whose wife owns the colt, rarely has shipped horses from his Irish training yard to the United States. Bolger has started only four runners in America and none since 2001.
Godolphin likely will have an overseas runner in the Mile, either Benbatl or Master of the Seas, possibly both. Benbatl, trained by Saeed bin Suroor, races in the QE II and passes the Mile provided the going at Ascot is firm enough to suit him, but that is far from assured. The Charlie Appleby-trained Master of the Seas finished a close second behind Poetic Flare in the 2000 Guineas and was third in the Joel Stakes, won by Benbatl, in his first race since.
Order of Australia, upset winner of the 2020 Mile, has maintained solid form this season and could wind up at Del Mar for a repeat bid. He could start this weekend in the Prix de la Foret at Longchamp, a race that will draw other BC Mile hopefuls, such as Duhail.
Mo Forza returned from a long absence to nip Smooth Like Strait in the Del Mar Mile; the rematch appears to be on Saturday at Santa Anita. The Oct. 9 Keeneland Turf Mile (formerly the Shadwell Turf Mile) will yield BC Mile runners, though the middle-distance turf division in the East and Midwest has been soft and fluid this season. One horse to watch for at Keeneland is Ivar, who won the 2020 Shadwell Turf Mile and has raced only once during 2021.