Breeders´ Cup Saturday

the B.C. races on Saturday are much stronger than on Friday and there should be some really fascinating events. The evening starts with three new races, the Marathon over 1 1/2 miles at 19.10 CET, the Turf Sprint over 6 1/2 furlongs at 19.50 and the Dirt Mile at 20.30. Jeremy Noseda fields two strong candidates in the first two, Sixties Icon (Frankie Dettori), who must have a good chance in the Marathon, and Fleeting Spirit (Johnny Murtagh), famous because his stall door did not open last time in Paris, in the Sprint, where Saeed bin Suroor´s Diabolical (Dettori) and André Fabre´s Only Answer (Olivier Peslier) are two more European challengers. The only European runner in the Dirt Mile, run of course on Pro-Ride, is Charles O´Brien´s Lord Admiral in the colours of his father Vincent. Ex- English Well Armed (Eion Harty/ A. Gryder) looks a big danger. The Mile at 21.15 is the race in which Europans hae excelled over the years, and who can forget Miesque´s great double in this e vent, including at this track? She was ridden then by Freddie Head and he is now the trainer of Goldikova (Peslier), in our opinion the best chance of a European success at the meeting. Aidan O´Brien has US Ranger (Murtagh) entered here, but he has been rather disappointing this year. O´Brien also has Westphalia (Murtagh) in the Juvenile Turf over a mile at 22.35, in which John Gosden´s Donativum (Dettori) is another one to carry European hopes. No European runners in the Sprint at 23.15, in which Bob Baffert´s Midnight Lute (Garrett Gomez) will attempt to repeat last year´s victory, but there are 5 Europeans in the Breeders Cup Turf over 1 1/2 miles at midnight: Soldier of Fortune (O´Brien/ Murtagh) and his pacemaker Red Rocks Canyon (Colm O´Donoghue), St.Leger winner Conduit (Sir Michael Stoute/ Ryan Moore), Winchester (Dermot Weld/ Pat Smullen) and Eagle Mountain (Mike de Kock/ Kevin Shea), who has been based in England all summer but whose trainer is South African. Final ly a worthy climax to the meeting, the Breeders´ Cup Classic over 10 furlongs on Pro-Ride at 00.45 with an excellent field headed by the title-holder and the world´s highest-rated racehorse Curlin (Steve Asmussen/ Robbie Albarado). The European challenger is stronger than ever, with Aidan O´Brien saddling the "iron horse" Duke of Marmalade (Murtagh) as well as Henrythenavigator (JR Velasquez) and John Gosden Raven´s Pass (Dettori). The latter two are the best milers in Europe, but neither is certain to stay this trip, while Japanese contender Casino Drive (Kasuo Fujisawa/ Victor Espinoza) could well beat the lot of them.