French BC invaders get feel for track
ARCADIA, Calif. – The five French horses who stepped onto the Santa Anita main track at about 10 a.m. Monday might as well have been walking over the surface of the moon. In France, there is training on turf and training on all-weather surfaces, but very few horses – and certainly not Grade 1-caliber animals like this quintet – will ever train on dirt.
The Monday exercise, however, barely could be classified as training: The horses, going together, never got out of a jog and didn’t even make an entire loop of the Santa Anita oval.
And still they seemed formidable, if only because of the names printed on saddle towels. Flintshire, second Oct. 5 in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and one of the favorites for the Turf. Anodin, Freddy Head’s latest hope for the BC Mile, and two more Mile starters: Karakontie, the French 2000 Guineas winner for the Niarchos family, and Veda, the 3-year-old filly who nearly won the French 1000 Guineas. Finally, L’Amour de Ma Vie, a stout gray filly who can’t be ruled out of Filly and Mare Turf contention.
French horses have won more than 10 percent of their Breeders’ Cup starts, going 7 for 61 in the event’s history, a higher strike rate than the 15-for-180 mark compiled by English horses. And this year’s French raiders look stronger, top to bottom, than any in recent years.
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Veda, fine-boned and delicate, was the coolest of the bunch, literally and figuratively. On a warm, sunny morning, she was the only one who didn’t sweat at all. Karakontie came out of the quarantine area hot but settled down decently, while Flintshire quickly worked his way into a lather before even getting into a jog.
Anodin did fine, but then U.S. travel is in his blood. The 4-year-old is the younger brother of the great Goldikova, who won the Mile three times, adding to the two Miles that her trainer, Head, won as the jockey of Miesque. Head said it has been a mild spring in France, making the temperature change easier for these horses to handle. Anodin, for his part, will not do any serious training this week, Head said. He worked a mile last Wednesday, but even that wasn’t a stout drill.
“He’s fit now. If you still are trying to get a horse fit one week before, it’s too late,” said Head.
The French horses and the English horse Caspar Netcher (Turf Sprint) got here earlier Saturday than the main group of English horses, which didn’t clear quarantine in time to train Monday. Later Monday, Aidan O’Brien’s BC runners from Ireland were scheduled to arrive, and they were likely to make their first appearance on the track Thursday.