Breeders’ Cup Turf: All systems go for Golden Horn

Golden Horn worked seven furlongs on Wednesday at Newmarket in England and remains on course to start in the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Oct. 31 at Keeneland, trainer John Gosden said Thursday.

Golden Horn will be the first horse to have won the English Derby and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in the same year and to start in the Breeders’ Cup, and his credentials are so strong that overseas betting has him as an odds-on favorite for the BC Turf.

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Owner and breeder Anthony Oppenheimer somewhat surprisingly said shortly after the Oct. 4 Arc that he’d like to see Golden Horn start in the BC Turf provided the horse came out of the Arc in good order and trained with decent energy, and Golden Horn apparently has jumped through every hoop.

Gosden said Golden Horn “had just a nice, easy week or 10 days” after returning home from France before doing one faster piece of work on his own. On Wednesday, working on the Limekilns peat moss gallop at Newmarket, Golden Horn went seven furlongs in company and worked well again.

“You have to be careful not to do too much this late in the year,” Gosden said. “He’s pleased me in his work since the Arc.”

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Golden Horn had a comfortable canter Thursday morning. He is scheduled to fly from London to Louisville, Ky., on Saturday, and if all goes according to plan, he’ll be out of quarantine in time to train Tuesday at Keeneland. Gosden travels to Kentucky on Wednesday.

Golden Horn prefers firm turf, but Gosden said that unless “it pours and pours on the day,” Golden Horn was unlikely to be scratched from the BC Turf because of course concerns.

With American Pharoah scheduled to race in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, this will be the first time since 2002, when High Chaparral won the BC Turf and War Emblem ran eighth in the BC Classic, that horses who won the Kentucky Derby and the English Derby raced in the Breeders’ Cup that same season.