Jayarebe© Photo Healy Racing
Jayarebe can cap an excellent campaign when he bids to give Brian Meehan a third win in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Saturday.
The Zoffany colt has not let his connections down throughout a fantastic season that has seen him win three of his five starts and score in both the Hampton Court Stakes and at ParisLongchamp in the Prix Dollar on Arc weekend.
The Royal Ascot hero – who will again be ridden by Sean Levey – now heads to California looking to follow in the footsteps of Red Rocks (2006) and Dangerous Midge (2010), who have both won this event for the Manton handler in the past.
Meehan said: “He’s an adaptable type of horse and Sean knows him so well. The trip’s good, and he will switch between 10 and 12 furlongs next year.
“This has been on Jayarebe’s radar since the spring and all his form is good, whether you look at the Dollar, the Hampton Court or the Feilden.
“The Breeders’ Cup is my favourite meeting and it’s wonderful to be back. To win a championship race on another continent is very special.”
Also with history in the Turf are John Gosden and Frankie Dettori, who teamed up to win this race with the great Enable in 2018 and are reunited Stateside with Emily Upjohn.
The evergreen Italian, who relocated to America at the end of the 2023 British Flat season, has ridden the daughter of Sea The Stars to both her previous Group One victories and is a fitting pilot for what could be her career swansong.
Aidan O’Brien won this event with Auguste Rodin 12 months ago and will saddle both Luxembourg and British Champions Fillies &; Mares Stakes runner-up Wingspan.
Meanwhile, Charlie Appleby’s globetrotting star Rebel’s Romance looks to recapture the title he won in 2022, having regained the winning thread at Cologne in the Preis Von Europa.
“Everybody knows about Rebel’s Romance, who always runs with his heart on his sleeve, and I was delighted with his run in Germany,” said the Moulton Paddocks handler.
“He left there with credit, as they went hard, while the winner and second came from off the pace. He was just getting a bit tired in the last hundred yards, and William (Buick, jockey) said he will improve a ton.
“This horse has built up his own fan club, and it would be fantastic if he were to win it again.”
The Godolphin trainer also has a strong hand in the Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly &; Mare Turf with Cinderella’s Dream and Beautiful Love.
Both fillies have built up plenty of experience in America as part of Appleby’s satellite team and could give the handler his second victory in the race here at Del Mar, having saddled Wuheida to strike in 2017.
“Cinderella’s Dream won a race which was strange to watch and then had a long ship to Woodbine, where she had a touch of colic and couldn’t run,” said Appleby.
“I toyed with running her in the Queen Elizabeth but decided against it and now she looks great, and ready to go.
“Beautiful Love won a Grade Three in the Big A and was unlucky on her second start. She deserves to be there.”
Other British interest is provided by George Boughey’s Royal Ascot heroine Soprano, who has remained in the States since picking up a silver medal in Keeneland’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup last month and now tries a mile and three furlongs for the first time in her career.
“She looks great and she has stayed out here since Keeneland when she was second in the QEII,” said Harry Herbert, managing director of owners Highclere Thoroughbred Racing.
“I think she will get the trip round here and Billy Loughnane is convinced she needs that trip now to be seen at her best effect, so let’s hope he is right. You never know until you try.”
