Arlington Million custom made for Tryster

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – If you don’t follow the Dubai World Cup Carnival or the English winter all-weather circuit, Tryster could be the best horse you’ve barely heard of. The Ireland-bred, England-based horse made his first trip to North America last week. He should be right at home here and could even be the favorite Saturday in the Arlington Million.

The 5-year-old Tryster is trained by Charlie Appleby, who has a perfect record in North America, having won with his lone starter, Outstrip, in the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. Tryster is owned by Godolphin, which has won but one Arlington Million, and that via disqualification, when Storming Home was taken down and Sulamani put up in the race’s 2003 edition.

Tryster was last seen finishing fifth, beaten less than five lengths, in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes on June 15 at Royal Ascot, and for Tryster, that was not a bad race at all. The Prince of Wales’s was run over soft ground and on a fairly typically undulating European-style course, and neither of those characteristics particularly suits Tryster.

“Going left-handed on flat tracks – that’s his game, you know?” said Chris Cornett, Appleby’s traveling assistant, who arrived here with Tryster last Thursday. “He didn’t run too badly at Ascot. The ground was probably on the softer side than he’d like, and he still ran a nice race.”

Tryster was decent in three English turf starts in 2014, but he became a minor winter-racing celebrity in England a few months later when he dominated the all-weather circuit. Tryster went 6 for 6 at four different tracks and won the Group 3 Winter Derby with a miraculous late rally. He was far less effective back on English turf last summer, making but one start. He was given a race in September at Chelmsford City and then went on to winter this past season in Dubai.

The main track at Meydan is dirt, but the turf course there is American style, flat and left-handed, and Tryster again excelled, impressively winning the Group 3 Dubai Millennium and the Group 1 Jebel Hatta before closing for third in the $6 million Dubai Turf. That race was run over nine furlongs, and the 10-furlong Million might better suit Tryster.

Tryster was the first of 11 European horses to arrive at Arlington and has been exercising over the track since Saturday.

“So far, so good,” said Cornett. “He loves his feed, and he’s not missed an oat. We’re very happy with him.”

Tryster was one of 15 horses pre-entered Friday in the Million, though the Chad Brown-trained Big Blue Kitten reportedly has a foot abscess and is not expected to be among the final entries, which were to be taken Tuesday night. Another Brown-trained horse, Takeover Target, will run only if the course is wet, so Brown’s lone Million representative could be Wake Forest. Other key pre-entrants are World Approval, Mondialiste, Decorated Knight, and the race’s defending champion, The Pizza Man.