Craft connections consider classic bid
Starcraft could go for the Breeders’ Cup Classic following his success in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.
Connections of the Australian ace are considering the 10-furlong race on dirt at Belmont Park on October 29 after he defeated Dubawi in the Group One feature at Newmarket yesterday.
“The Classic is a challenge I would relish,” trainer Luca Cumani told At The Races.
“It’s a jump into the unknown running on dirt but the owner (Paul Makin) is quite sporting and he’s quite keen on new challenges. I wouldn’t be averse to it.
“He’s very athletic and he’s used to running on tight tracks in Australia so that wouldn’t be a problem. The problem is whether he goes on dirt or not.”
Starcraft, who won over distances from seven furlongs to a mile and a half in Australia, has been given a 12-1 quote for the Classic by Coral.
Cumani felt the controversy surrounding Frankie Dettori’s decision to join Rakti and Mullins Bay in the centre of the track rather than go along with Dubawi’s pacemaker Blatant on the stands’ side had overshadowed Starcraft’s performance.
“Dubawi came across and got within a neck or a head of Starcraft and then in the last 50 to 75 yards Starcraft was going away and was almost a length clear,” he added.
Dubawi is also set to go America with a crack at the Breeders’ Cup Mile firmly on the agenda.
Trainer Saeed bin Suroor was disappointed by the colt’s three-quarter length defeat but he is now focusing on the Belmont meeting.
He told BBC Sport: “We were disappointed with the result but the horse has come back very well and sound, healthy and happy.
“Now we will look towards the Breeders’ Cup Mile.”
Rakti, who was only fourth in his bid to win back-to-back QEIIs, may give the Breeders’ Cup a miss.
His trainer Michael Jarvis is mindful of the strong possibility of cut in the ground at Belmont next month.
He is perplexed at the way the QEII panned out and without casting blame for Rakti’s defeat on any single factor, he feels the horse raced on the worst of the ground.
Jarvis said: “He seems OK but it was a strange race especially when you consider horses as good as him were unable to beat the Godolphin pacemaker. I really can’t comprehend that.
“He was as fit as a flea and wouldn’t have blown a candle out afterwards. It’s a difficult one to gauge but I definitely feel he travelled on the slowest ground.”
Looking ahead to the races in America and Hong Kong owner Gary Tanaka had mapped out for Rakti before he retires, Jarvis added: “Nothing has ever been set in stone and the point about the Breeders’ Cup is the ground at Belmont at the end of October can be very soft so we will have to keep a close eye on the weather.
“Added to that, we have said all along his programme will be mile races only and so it could be that he will end his career in Hong Kong where you nearly always get quick conditions.
“It’s a matter of looking for opportunities, and apart from these two contests, there aren’t any.”
