Beckett content to tackle Breeders’ Cup Mile with Kinross

Dual Group One scorer switches up in trip at Keeneland.

Kinross will bid to crown an excellent campaign by securing his third successive Group One victory in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland on Saturday week.

Following back-to-back Group Two wins at York and Doncaster, Ralph Beckett’s charge broke his top-level duck in the Prix de la Foret on Arc day at ParisLongchamp – and followed up just 13 days later in the Qipco British Champions Sprint at Ascot.

Kinross is heading Stateside for his latest assignment and Beckett is keeping his fingers crossed he can bring his A-game to the table once more.

“He’s been training well. We are treading quite a fine line as he has been so busy. I’m happy with him, he is moving well and looks well,” said the trainer.

Reflecting on his Ascot success, Beckett added: “I don’t think he will better that performance on Champions Day. That is as good as it gets – to drop back to six furlongs and win as he did, it takes a bit of doing. He will have to equal that performance in America if he is to win.

“The Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint would have been too sharp for him. He is very adaptable. He has won around Goodwood and York, it comes all alike to him in that sense, so I have no concerns around him handling the track at Keeneland.

“He is very effective on soft ground. I don’t think he is capable of winning over six furlongs on fast ground, but he won the City of York Stakes over seven on fast ground. The ground won’t matter to him.”

Beckett is bidding for his second Breeders’ Cup triumph, having previously saddled Muhannak to win the Marathon in 2008, an experience he describes as “surreal”.

Trainer Ralph Beckett at Newmarket
Trainer Ralph Beckett at Newmarket (Mike Egerton/PA)

He said: “We didn’t really expect it. The horse was enigmatic to say the least. He wouldn’t train in the mornings wherever he was.

“He took a bit of working out, but he was ideally suited to the Polytrack, or synthetic track as it was back then, at Santa Anita. It was a great day.

“The Breeders’ Cup Mile is a very special race. It would mean a great deal to win that.”

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