ARCADIA, Calif. – For months, Saturday’s $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita has been an autumn goal for the brilliant European 3-year-old Auguste Rodin. More often than not, Auguste Rodin has been the center of attention in Europe, winning the English and Irish derbies and the Irish Champion Stakes since early June. Those wins make him the favorite for the BC Turf at 1 1/2 miles, the richest grass race in the United States. The problem for Auguste Rodin is that some of his neighbors made the same journey. The British Group 1 winners King of Steel and Mostahdaf and the French Group 1 winner Onesto all have outstanding credentials and are capable of winning the BC Turf. Those four are the leading foreign runners in a 12-horse field that includes domestic hopes such as the brilliant mare War Like Goddess, who was third in the 2022 BC Turf, and Up to the Mark, winner of three Grade 1 races this year who has yet to start at 1 1/2 miles. Auguste Rodin and King of Steel are the lone 3-year-olds in the field. Both won important races in their last starts. Auguste Rodin won the Irish Champion Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on Sept. 9 at Leopardstown, a reversal of a last-place finish as the favorite in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in July on good-to-soft ground. The Irish Champion Stakes was run on good turf. Conditions will be firm on Saturday at Santa Anita. :: BREEDERS’ CUP 2023: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more for each division “We were delighted with him” in the Irish Champion, trainer Aidan O’Brien said last week. “We thought and hoped that would set him up for the Breeders’ Cup. It’s a race we’ve had our eye on all year.” O’Brien has won the BC Turf a record six times, but not since 2016. “We try every year,” O’Brien said Wednesday. Ryan Moore rides Auguste Rodin and is likely to have the colt in a stalking position. “Ryan keeps it very simple,” O’Brien said. “I imagine he’ll ride him handy enough. He’ll like the ground.” King of Steel was only confirmed for the BC Turf on Oct. 26 after earning an automatic berth with a win in the Group 1 Champion Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on soft turf at Ascot Racecourse outside of London on Oct. 21. Earlier this year, King of Steel was second to Auguste Rodin at 66-1 in the English Derby and fourth to him in the Irish Champion Stakes. Frankie Dettori rode King of Steel in the Champion Stakes for trainer Roger Varian and has the mount in the BC Turf. “He’s done nothing wrong, really,” Dettori said last weekend. “He’s ultra-consistent. You have to hope that race didn’t take too much out of him. It wasn’t a walk in the park. He had to fight for it. “I thought he didn’t really like the soft ground,” Dettori continued. “At home, his best distance was a mile and a quarter. To do a mile and a quarter on heavy ground is like going a mile and a half.” Mostahdaf was scratched from the Champion Stakes because of the wet conditions. Dettori rode Mostahdaf to a highly regarded win in the Group 1 International Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at York Racecourse in northern England in August, his most recent start. Jockey Jim Crowley is booked to ride Mostahdaf, having missed the mount at York because of a suspension for a riding infraction. Mostahdaf, trained by John Gosden, is winless in four starts on turf at 1 1/2 miles, but did win at the distance in a minor stakes on an all-weather track in Britain in 2022. Gosden was encouraged by Mostahdaf’s win by four lengths in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at the Royal Ascot meeting in June. The course for races at 1 1/2 miles at Santa Anita has a downhill run for the first three furlongs before joining the main turf course. “He’s stepping up in trip, but it’s quick ground,” Gosden said earlier this week. “You’re downhill the first part of the race with tight turns on the oval. I found when I trained here that when horses can go a distance in Europe, they can go farther here.” The same hopes are present with owner Mike Repole and trainer Todd Pletcher, who start Up to the Mark. A 4-year-old colt, Up to the Mark has won three consecutive Grade 1 races at distances ranging from a mile to 1 1/4 miles in the Manhattan Stakes at Belmont Park in June. “You could argue the Manhattan was his most impressive race,” Pletcher said. “To do what he did, and win three Grade 1 races at three different distances, it’s exceptional. He’s been a remarkable horse.” Up to the Mark is a closer who will be following expected pacesetter Balladeer, an outsider who won the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at 1 1/4 miles at Santa Anita last month. The race lost some pace with the withdrawal on Tuesday of the multiple stakes winner Get Smokin. Onesto, third in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris on Oct. 1, will benefit from a fast pace. He closed well to finish 1 3/4 lengths behind Ace Impact in the Arc. “He’s got a wonderful turn of foot,” trainer Fabrice Chappet said. “He can go fast as we saw in the Arc last time. He was faster than the winner in the last 200 yards.” War Like Goddess, the lone filly or mare in the field, drew the outside post, which will not be an issue considering her closing style. She has won the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at the Belmont at Aqueduct meetings the last two years and was brilliant in this year’s race on Oct. 7, busting clear in the stretch to prevail by 4 1/2 lengths. :: Breeders' Cup Shop: DRF Past Performances available now War Like Goddess chased a slow pace that day and has consistently been a factor in the stretch even when she has encountered traffic issues that resulted in losses. “When you lead her over there, she gives you a good effort,” trainer Bill Mott said. “She’s got good acceleration.” Last year, War Like Goddess showed her late rally to finish three lengths behind race winner Rebel’s Romance in the BC Turf. She had the best finish of an American-trained runner as the 3-1 second choice. This year, War Like Goddess is rated as a longshot on the morning line in a race the European-based team has an excellent chance to win. – additional reporting by Nicole Russo :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? 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