Breeders' Cup Mile: Getting to know a boy named Suedois

Sue-who? That’s what a lot of American horseplayers and racing fans were wondering before last Saturday. Suedois is who, and after a convincing win in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland, he will come into the Breeders’ Cup Mile with a legitimate shot to win.

The Shadwell was a BC Challenge Win and You’re In race offering an automatic berth plus travel expenses to the Mile, and England-based trainer David O’Meara said Tuesday that Suedois’s connections plan on running.

“Hopefully, we’ll be coming back for the Breeders’ Cup,” said O’Meara.

Suedois’s return trip from Kentucky to England required a stopover in Alabama before a flight back home Wednesday. The horse appeared to have come out of his Shadwell win in good order. Suedois, well ridden by Daniel Tudhope, settled into seventh in the Shadwell, rallied into Heart to Heart’s moderate early and middle pace, caught the pacesetter in deep stretch, and pushed out to win by a half-length. Suedois was timed in 1:35.94 and got a 105 Beyer Speed Figure.

O’Meara also sent out fourth-place finisher Mondialiste, but Mondialiste is not coming for the BC Mile and might actually be retired. Mondialiste won the 2016 Arlington Million and finished second to Tepin in the 2015 BC Mile at Keeneland.

Suedois, as obscure as he was a week ago to North Americans, might be just as good. The 6-year-old gelding by Le Havre was acquired by George Turner and Clipper Logistics at a French auction in October 2015, and though he lost his first 12 starts for O’Meara and the new owners, Suedois finished second or third in three Group 1 sprints during 2016.

Suedois hadn’t raced as far as a mile since his career debut four years ago when O’Meara stretched him out to that distance Sept. 9 in the Solonoway Boomerang Stakes at Leopardstown. Suedois won that day, and after the Shadwell is 2 for 2 in his recent one-mile tries. But O’Meara resists the notion that more distance has taken Suedois to a new level.

“I wouldn’t be sure that I’ve unlocked more,” O’Meara said. “He was second in the [Group 1] July Cup over six furlongs, but he’s a sprinter that stays a mile. He picked up well in the straight the other day. Quick ground at Del Mar wouldn’t bother him.”

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Now that we have become familiar with Suedois, O’Meara has another horse little known on these shores to introduce to American racing: So Beloved. The 7-year-old gelding has made 46 starts and doesn’t have a group stakes win of any sort, but his second-place finish in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret two weekends ago was a career best, and So Beloved also is being considered for the Mile.

“If the owners are keen, we could be there,” said O’Meara.

Heart to Heart, trainer Brian Lynch said, will start in the Mile if all goes well. The Mile is possible for Shadwell third-place finisher Ballagh Rocks, said trainer Bill Mott, as it is for the Mott-trained 3-year-old Yoshida, who won the Hill Prince last Saturday at Belmont.

There is one more Mile-relevant race overseas, the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Oct. 21 at Ascot. Ribchester, the Mile favorite, runs there, and while his connections would like to wheel back in the Breeders’ Cup, plans won’t be set until after the QE II.

Meanwhile, North America’s leading turf miler World Approval worked an easy half-mile last Friday on Churchill’s main track. World Approval has sharp Grade 1 wins in the Fourstardave and the Woodbine Mile since being cut back in distance to one-mile races.

“He’s doing fantastic,” trainer Mark Casse said. “He’ll get a little more serious in his next work. He’s an extremely happy horse right now, and we’re just hoping to have the same horse as we did in the last two.”

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