Donnacha O'Brien could prove a thorn in his father’s quest for a record-breaking 29 Group One winners when Havana Anna rematches her Cheveley Park Stakes conqueror True Love in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on Friday.
Aidan O’Brien stands three short of equalling his own record for top-level winners in a calendar year and has the chance to start the two-day meeting with a real bang when his exceptional daughter of No Nay Never drops back to her Royal Ascot-winning distance in Del Mar.
However, his son will play his ace card in the Del Mar feature, as he attempts to break his duck at the Breeders’ Cup.
"I think dropping back to the five (furlongs) will suit her, we’re drawn a little bit wider than ideal but I think she will like the track and the trip so we’re hopeful of a big run," said Donnacha.
"We’ll just have to see how the race plays out and I don’t think it’s a track where you can take back, so wherever she jumps is where she will end up. It will just be a case of keeping it simple and leaving it up to Gavin (Ryan, jockey).
"She’s got loads of speed in comparison to the other European runners. Obviously the Americans are a bit faster than us in general, but she should have enough pace to travel in behind the leaders and we’ll see what happens after that.
"I think on form she’s got the best chance of the three I send over."
Joining True Love in the race from Ballydoyle is Middle Park and Cornwallis runner-up Brussels, as well as recent British Champions Day hero Mission Central, while British interest is provided by Charlie Appleby’s Military Code and James Owen’s first ever Breeders’ Cup runner Aspect Island, who will be one of Frankie Dettori's final rides in America.
The pace looks sure to be provided by chief US hope Schwarzenegger, who bids to give Wesley Ward his fourth victory in a race he has made his own since its inception, while he could also possess the chief threat to Gstaad in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf when unleashing the exciting Outfielder, who is owned by Amo Racing and former Major League Baseball star Jayson Werth.
So impressive in the Coventry Stakes, Gstaad – who has hit the crossbar in three consecutive Group Ones since – will attempt to give O’Brien his fourth straight success in the one-mile contest, but Outfielder’s rider David Egan is backing his charge to bridge the near three-length deficit from when they clashed in the Prix Morny now locking horns again over an extra two furlongs.
Egan said: "He’s an exciting horse to get on stretching out to a mile. He was only beaten three lengths in the Morny and Gstaad and the Middle Park winner Wise Approach were only narrowly in front of him and have done great things since.
"He’s a horse Wesley has a lot of confidence in and he knows the Breeders’ Cup as well as anyone.
"He’s posted a great barrier (stall) in three and he has obviously got plenty of speed, but at the same time I think stepping out to a mile can only be a plus.
"He’s by Speightstown and a long-striding horse as you saw in Deauville and he wasn’t stopping over a well-run six furlongs there, so I think a two-turn mile won’t be a problem for him."
Also preparing to take a shot at Dewhurst runner-up Gstaad is Hugo Palmer’s Ardisia having narrowly failed to reel in one of Gstaad’s stablemates at Ascot recently.
Arguably the best Coolmore representative on the opening night in California is facile Fillies’ Mile scorer Precise who searches for her third top-table success when rounding off her phenomenal campaign in the John Deere Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.
It is the home team who send out the pick of the opposition, but O’Brien senior – who describes Precise as looking like "something we never had before" – will have to be wary of his offspring once again, with eldest son Joseph O’Brien saddling Group Three winner Queen Of Hawaii and Donnacha’s second runner of the night being Balantina.
The latter has been butting heads with some of the best two-year-old fillies around all season and her handler feels she is capable of outrunning her forecast price.
"If you take out her last run on ground that was probably too slow for her, her form is really strong," said O’Brien.
"I think the trip on this ground will suit her really well and I’m hoping she’s a filly that will run really well and certainly outrun her odds."
Also in the mix is Andrew Balding’s May Hill Stakes runner-up Pacific Mission who could prove aptly named ahead of her run where the surf meets the turf.
"Pacific Mission has pleased me and I thought her run in the May Hill was very good, but the main reason in coming here after being invited was how well she was working," said Balding.
"Unfortunately she’s drawn wide and it’s her first time round a bend. Precise is drawn wide as well, but I just hope it’s actually a true-run race and that stamina comes into play."
Meanwhile, Christophe Soumillon is relishing going toe-to-toe with Dettori one final time after hailing the Italian "the best jockey I have ever seen in my life".
Dettori will wave goodbye to America at the conclusion of the Breeders' Cup, but it will be the Belgian rider who will be hoping to make the headlines, as he looks forward to a stellar book of mounts in his privileged position as temporary Ballydoyle replacement for the sidelined Ryan Moore.
And win, lose or draw in Del Mar, Soumillon will "savour" the last chance to ride alongside his long-time weighing-room colleague and friend.
"Frankie is the best jockey I have ever seen in my life," said Soumillon. "He been up with the best in Italy, France, Dubai, Hong Kong and America as well as in the UK.
"It was very sad when he first said he was heading for the United States to ride, which I was pleased to see worked out really well for him. I’m so proud to have competed with him and against him and managed to do a lot of wins.
"This weekend will be the final time we ride together, it will be something to savour and I wish him well."
Dettori will exit the stage with at least the 15 Breeders’ Cup victories he has already tallied to his name, but for Soumillon the end-of-season feature has been something of a cruel mistress, with Shirocco’s 2005 Breeders’ Cup Turf success his only triumph to date.
However, he will have no finer opportunity to enhance that record having answered Aidan O’Brien’s SOS to fill his injured number one’s sizeable boots.
Multiple Oaks winner and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe runner-up Minnie Hauk is the jewel in a standout book of rides which also includes star juveniles Precise and Gstaad on Friday night, with Soumillon grateful for the recent opportunity afforded to him by the master of Ballydoyle.
"(Plenty of success at) the Breeders’ Cup has eluded me, but then I’ve yet to win a British Classic which leaves two empty cages to fill," added Soumillon.
"I’m so lucky that Aidan called me when Ryan Moore got injured and would be out for the season.
"It’s one lifetime chance in which I have everything on my side. We all know how high the competition is and I don’t want to make any mistakes in the races, but I’ve rode plenty of times for Aidan before."
Soumillon (44) will have to boil down to 8st 7lb to partner Minnie Hauk in her all-star clash with Rebel’s Romance in the Breeders’ Cup Turf and, explaining how he has been managing his weight cut, he said: "I weigh 53.5 kilos, have been walking a lot and eating veggies and fish and drinking a lot of espresso coffee.
"I’ve run a lot and had hot baths, and will give it a final push on Saturday morning.
"We are all made differently and I’m in a period of my life where I know exactly what’s good for me."
