Keeneland gripped by Flightline show as US superstar tackles Breeders’ Cup Classic

Aidan and Joseph O’Brien have half a dozen Breeders’ Cup runners between them in Keeneland on Saturday but, like everyone else, are set to find themselves extras in the Flightline show.

The Breeders’ Cup has always been a US presentation, designed to push a positive image of an often beleaguered industry to a general public that is often, at best, indifferent to racing.

European representatives have brought a touch of international glamour and competition to the event since its inception in 1984 but the primary aim has always been selling the sport to Americans.

It’s a pitch that will rarely be easier than this time in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, due off at 9.40pm Irish time and live on ITV4 and Sky Sports.

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Unbeaten and seemingly unbeatable, Flightline has won his five starts by a total of 63 lengths and in the last of them put up a performance to provoke comparisons to the legendary champion of almost half a century ago, Secretariat.

The strapping son of Tapit beat Dubai World Cup winner Country Grammar by almost 20 lengths in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar and did it eased down in the closing stages.

It was a performance that earned him an official international classification of 139 — just 1lb behind Frankel — while containing also the promise of maybe even better to come.

If a European audience can point out how dirt is able to throw up freakish winning distances sometimes, turf racing for many locals in Kentucky remains a relative sideshow.

In Flightline there is a horse that’s easy to understand for any audience: he has run faster for longer than anyone else, overwhelming all opposition put before him in what has been a brief but spectacular career.

Evoking iconic names of the 1970′s such as Secretariat and Seattle Slew, who captured the public imagination in the US to an extent almost unimaginable now, also frames this horse as something special.

So, this 39th Breeders’ Cup, with 14 Grade One races worth $31 million (€31.4 million) in all, is building to a crescendo on Saturday night.

Just six opponents take on Flightline, all of them Grade One winners in their own right, some of which would ordinarily be in line for Horse of the Year honours.

Among them is the shock Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike while the free-running Life Is Good is likely to eyeball the favourite for the lead right from the start.

In contrast, the Travers winner Epicenter’s best chance could be to stalk and try to pounce late.

It will be Flightline’s biggest test to date, but the intriguing thought remains that this apparently freakish talent might be comparatively taking on giants of the past, as well Saturday night’s field, for ultimate superiority.

In the circumstances, Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle team could be grateful for not having a Classic contender this time.

They have tried to bridge the turf-dirt gap 14 times in the Classic and still got no closer than the first attempt with Giants Causeway 22 years ago.

It’s a different meeting now in some ways. For the second year in a row race-day medication is banned. There are also whip rules in place, to the extent that any jockey using 10 or more strikes could see prize money withheld from all connections.

Aidan O’Brien hopefuls

What remains the same, however, is the unpredictable nature of European form at the end of a long season on the other side of the Atlantic.

Where O’Brien has overcome that to most effect at the Breeders’ Cup is in the mile-and-a-half Turf due off at 8.40pm. Half a dozen times he has won it in the past, including twice with High Chaparral (2002-03).

Broome is an admirable sort who finished runner-up to Yibir a year ago while Stone Age appears the stable number-one hope despite failing to live up to early career expectations.

Order Of Australia is back at Keeneland to try and repeat his 73-1 shock victory in the 2020 Mile which took place behind closed doors.

It will be a much noisier environment this time as well as perhaps a tougher contest with Modern Games and Kinross in opposition.

What doesn’t change is European expectations of emerging on top when it comes to the grass.

It will be the same in the Filly & Mare race off at 5.50 although some layers give local runner In Italian a major chance.

Ryan Moore is on the Oaks winner Tuesday for this although her stable companion Toy is a lively outsider.

Moore is familiar with Joseph O’Brien’s runner Above The Curve having won the Alary on her last May. Keeneland’s tight bends may not be ideal for such a big filly though whereas the credentials of Hollie Doyle’s mount Nashwa are hard to knock.