Breeders' Cup Mile: Ascot's QE II could serve as prep this year

The preliminaries are all but over for the Breeders’ Cup Mile, and in a typical year of the current era, the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, part of British Champions Day at Ascot, would only possess marginal meaning vis-à-vis the BC Mile.

Apparently, this is not a typical year.

The QE II, over a straight mile, will be run Saturday, and perhaps seven horses that start in it might have Breeders’ Cup designs. Those animals are Recoletos, Roaring Lion, Lord Glitters, Lightning Spear, Expert Eye, Laurens, and Gustav Klimt.

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Recoletos runs in the QE II (for which final entries were to be taken Thursday) and has long been aimed toward the BC Mile. Roaring Lion, one of Europe’s top horses in any division this year, only runs in the QE II if the going at Ascot is heavy or soft-to-heavy; otherwise, he starts in the Champion Stakes over 1 1/4 miles. Roaring Lion has been mentioned as a possible runner in the BC Turf as well as the BC Classic.

Lord Glitters would have to be supplemented into the BC Mile for $200,000, but trainer David O’Meara wouldn’t totally rule that out pending the QE II result. Lightning Spear runs Saturday and, all being well, likely is bound for the BC Mile, as is the case with Expert Eye. Gustav Klimt, trainer Aidan O’Brien said Tuesday, might skip the QE II and go straight to Churchill, or run in both races.

Laurens, a supplement into the QE II, has both the BC Mile and BC Filly and Mare Turf as potential targets.

Any way you slice it, that’s a large portion of Breeders’ Cup intrigue bubbling out of a race just two weeks before the Breeders’ Cup itself.

The QE II used to come a month before the Breeders’ Cup, making it a perfectly viable Mile lead-in, but all that changed when British Champions Day was formed in 2011 and swept up the QE II. That year, the race came three weeks from the Breeders’ Cup, but the big day in England, starting in 2012, was pushed back a week to get further away from the Arc meeting the first Sunday in October, and now the turnaround to the BC Mile is but two weeks.

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Since 2011, only five QE II runners also have run in the BC Mile.

◗ In 2012, Excelebration won the QE II over soft ground, then finished fourth at odds of 2-1 over firm turf in the BC Mile at Santa Anita.

◗ In 2013, Olympic Glory won the QE II over soft ground, then finished ninth at 9-2 over firm turf at Santa Anita.

◗ In 2016, Hit It a Bomb was ninth over good ground in the QE II and ninth at 64-1 over firm turf at Santa Anita.

◗ In 2017, Ribchester was second over soft ground in the QE II and fifth at 7-2 over firm turf at Del Mar. Lancaster Bomber finished 14th in the QE II but was second at 13-1 in the BC Mile.

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There is no race-day Lasix used in England, which helps horses come back to themselves quicker after a race. Still, about one week after racing at Ascot – where the going at best will be good-to-soft on Saturday – a horse must board a flight to America, settle in, and race again a few days after clearing quarantine.

It’s a big ask – yet it may be asked of several horses this year.