Breeders' Cup Mile: Strong Euro contingent looks to end drought

Only one European horse, Karakontie in 2014, has won the Breeders’ Cup Mile since 2010. Last year, six Euros ran in the Mile and were no match for the American star World Approval.

Are overseas interests deterred by this trend? They are not.

Nine Europeans were among 21 pre-entrants into the Mile, and as many as seven stand a good chance of lining up in the starting gate Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs.

The list of pre-entrants includes a dozen North American-based horses, headed by Woodbine Mile winner Oscar Performance. The other domestically based pre-entries are Almanaar, Analyze It, A Raving Beauty, Catapult, Divisidero, Great Wide Open, Hembree, Hunt, Next Shares, Qurbaan, and Sharp Samurai.

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A Raving Beauty (Filly and Mare Turf) and Hembree (Turf Sprint) were entered with the Mile as second preference. Hembree has virtually no chance of getting into the Mile in any case.

The nine Europeans entered are Clemmie, Expert Eye, Gustav Klimt, Happily, I Can Fly, Lightning Spear, Mustashry, One Master, and Polydream.

Notable absentees are France-based Recoletos, who had been near the top of British bookmaking markets, and Fly to Mars, second by a nose in the Oct. 6 City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita.

None of the 14 runners in the 2017 BC Mile were among the pre-entered horses this year.

Fourteen can start in the race, run around two turns on Churchill’s seven-furlong turf oval, the same circumference as the Del Mar course over which the BC Mile was contested in 2017.

Horses with guaranteed spots through the Breeders’ Cup Challenge series are Next Shares (Shadwell Turf Mile), Oscar Performance (Woodbine Mile), Hunt (Shoemaker Mile), and Lightning Spear (Sussex Stakes).

Also assured of a place in the field are Catapult and Sharp Samurai, the top earners in North American graded stakes races that aren’t Challenge race winners.

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The other eight Mile starting slots as determined by the Breeder’s Cup Racing Secretaries and Directors Panel went to A Raving Beauty, Analyze It, Expert Eye, Gustav Klimt, Happily, I Can Fly, One Master, and Polydream.

Not selected into the field’s main body, in ranked order, were Mustashry, Almanaar, Divisidero, Clemmie, Qurbaan, Great Wide Open, and Hembree. If A Raving Beauty goes into the Filly and Mare Turf, her connections’ first preference, Mustashry gets into the Mile with Almanaar and Divisidero the two also-eligibles.

Polydream, who has the same connections – trainer Freddie Head and owners Alain and Gerard Wertheimer – as three-time BC Mile winner Goldikova, has been the most heavily bet of the Europeans in overseas antepost wagering. Polydream’s major-race win this season came in the Prix Maurice de Gheest over a straight-course 6 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 5 at Deauville.

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“I think she’s going to take some beating,” Head said, reached by phone Monday in France.

Expert Eye and Gustav Klimt were among early entries for the Oct. 20 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot, but both were redirected instead to aim directly at the BC Mile. One Master was an upset winner of the Group 1 Prix de la Foret on Oct. 7 at Longchamp, a race in which Polydream had compromising trouble while finishing seventh.

Oscar Performance, on his best, appears to be America’s leading turf miler, but his season has unfolded jaggedly, and he got an easy lead in the Woodbine Mile. Recent struggles aside, Euros won the BC Mile 12 times in the race’s first 27 years. One of them might well be set to strike again.