Ribchester eyeing Queen Elizabeth II Stakes-BC Mile double

“Bring on Ribchester!” might be the rallying cry from the camp of World Approval, who cemented his position as North America’s top turf miler with a dominant victory last Saturday in the Woodbine Mile. With Group 1 victories this year in the J.T. Lockinge, the Queen Anne, and most recently in the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp, Ribchester ranks as the best miler in Europe.

But whether Ribchester brings his considerable talent to the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 4 at Del Mar remains an open question.

Ribchester’s connections, Godolphin and trainer Richard Fahey, have long mentioned the BC Mile as a target, but Ribchester, Fahey confirmed Tuesday, definitely is running in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on the QIPCO British Champions program at Ascot.

That major day of racing falls this year on Oct. 21, just two weeks before the Breeders’ Cup. To run in the Breeders’ Cup, a horse that races at Ascot must one week later travel halfway round the world to California, acclimate while recovering from the race, and then go out and deliver another top performance.

“We’re hoping to do both,” Fahey said. “All being well, we would like to go to Del Mar. We’ll have to decide after the QE II. I can’t make a decision until after the race.”

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Ribchester made his first start of 2017 way back on March 25, finishing third in the Group 1, $6 million Dubai Turf. To make that race, Fahey had to start serious training in the middle of winter, but Fahey said he is not looking at a tired horse as summer turns to autumn.

“He’s a tough horse, a very tough horse, and he loves his work,” Fahey said. “He takes his racing really well. If any horse can do it, he can.”

Back on this side of the Atlantic, World Approval followed up on his crackling win in the Grade 1 Fourstardave at Saratoga with a similarly sharp victory in the Woodbine Mile.

Stuck down on the rail after breaking from post 1, World Approval contested the pace from the start, and while the race’s first quarter-mile was a fairly soft 23.77 seconds, the second quarter went in a quick 22.68. It is worth noting that the other two horses on the pace, Dragon Bay and second-choice Deauville, finished last and second to last, while World Approval burst clear in midstretch and got home 2 1/2 lengths best. Moreover, trainer Mark Casse believes World Approval runs better with a target he did not have at Woodbine.

World Approval won’t race again until the Breeders’ Cup Mile, Casse said. He’ll spend a short time at Saratoga, where Casse left some horses following the end of the meet there, and then do most of his training at Churchill. Casse sent his Breeders’ Cup starters late to Santa Anita from Kentucky last year and said he would follow a similar schedule this year, shipping in just four or five days out.

World Approval is a 5-year-old, but he appears just now to have found his niche in one-mile races. World Approval’s first 19 grass races came at distances between 1 1/16 and 1 1/2 miles, and only in his last two races did he run a mile. A good third-place finish in the 1 1/4-mile Manhattan and a win in the 1 3/8-mile United Nations last summer suggested World Approval was doing what he liked best, but the decision to cut the gelding back in distance this summer has brought him to a different level.

“He’s agile and athletic,” Casse said. “He loves sharp turns, and I believe the Del Mar turf course, he’s really going to like that.”

Besides the QEII, the other overseas race with Mile ramifications is the Prix de la Foret on Oct. 1 at Chantilly. The Shadwell Turf Mile on Oct. 7 at Keeneland is the last major Mile prep in North America and could include four horses in the top 10 list – Time Test, Ballagh Rocks, Heart to Heart, and the England-based Suedois.

◗ Long On Value, who finished a troubled third in the Woodbine Mile, is not nominated to the Breeders Cup and is not being aimed at the Mile, trainer Bill Mott said.