[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by Hwjb

With the honourable exception of Giant's Causeway (who was a well-beaten second at Ascot) when before has the QEII figured in the Breeders' Cup Classic shake down?

That's my point. Before, it was always the Mile that they would send their QE II winners over for. And with horrible results:

Shadeed, Milligram, Warning, Zilzal, Markofdistinction, Bigstone, Mark of Esteem, Desert Prince, and Air Express (?) all came over here and lost. There were three losers from that race that came over and won the Mile (Miesque, Ridgewood Pearl, and Barathea) while Excellent Art was a very close second. Why does this happen? Because those horses are true milers and they usually lack the stamina that it takes to win the QE II, even though that race is run at a mile. So look at what's been happening since 2000. First, Giant's Causeway comes over and very nearly wins the Classic. He was arguable better at longer distances than at a mile. Falbrav won the race and lost by less than a length in the BC Turf and he was arguably better at longer distances than a mile. Same with Ratki. Then you have these two this year.

My point is that even though they haven't historically used it that way, I've always felt that horses that do well in the QE II, especially winners, would have fared better if given a shot in the Classic because usually, they don't have the quickness required for an American run mile but they do have the stamina for American 10f races.

I guarantee you that if next year's QE II winner comes over for the BC, it will be for the Classic and not the Mile.