Breeders' Cup Turf: Lord North's recent race a throw-out to Gosden
A last-place finish by Lord North in the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Ascot in England last Saturday should not count.
At least, that is the point of view of trainer John Gosden, who is confident Lord North can rebound in the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.
“He got stuck in the deep mud at Ascot,” Gosden said Wednesday in a brief phone interview.
A 4-year-old gelding, Lord North has won 6 of 11 starts in England, including his Group 1 debut in the $314,300 Princes of Wales’s Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Royal Ascot in June. Lord North was later third behind Ghaiyyath and Magical in the Group 1 Juddmonte International at York in August before the setback in the Champion Stakes on soft turf.
In the 1 1/4-mile Champion Stakes, Lord North raced in midpack in a field of 10 to the final three furlongs before fading from contention as the 11-2 third choice.
Gosden said Lord North’s status for the BC Turf hinges on training through the weekend. Pre-entries for all Breeders’ Cup races must be made by Monday.
Lord North, who races for Sheikh Zayed bin Mohammed, has never started at the BC Turf distance of 1 1/2 miles. The Juddmonte International at 1 5/16 miles is his longest race.
The European contingent for the BC Turf has changed remarkably in the last month with the retirements of Sottsass, winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Oct. 4; Ghaiyyath, a four-time Group 1 winner in England and Germany; and the Gosden-trained Enable, who won the 2018 BC Turf at Churchill Downs and was sixth in the Arc de Triomphe.
In addition, trainer Aidan O’Brien said earlier this month that the 3-year-old Love, unbeaten in three Group 1 races in England this year, will not start in the BC Turf.
O’Brien is expected to run Magical and Mogul, who will have leading chances.
Magical won the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes on Sept. 12 and was third in the Champion Stakes at Ascot last Saturday, beaten 2 3/4 lengths by Addeybb. Magical raced in traffic with a quarter-mile remaining and finished well, missing second by a half-length.
Mogul won the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris for 3-year-olds on Sept. 13 at Longchamp for his first win at the highest level, but was withdrawn from the Arc de Triomphe the day before the race because of concern over feed contamination.
Aside from Mogul, there will not be many 3-year-olds in the BC Turf. Gufo, winner of the Grade 1 Belmont Derby at 1 1/4 miles on turf on Oct. 3, remains under consideration for the BC Turf and the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby on Nov. 28 at Del Mar, trainer Christophe Clement said Wednesday.
Gufo has never raced against older horses and has not started at 1 1/2 miles, although he did close from sixth to finish well in the Belmont Derby, winning by a length.