Irish Racing News and preview: Michael Kinane could lose out on the chance for revenge on Hold That Tiger in next Saturday's Breeders Cup Classic.
The Ballydoyle team are considering the top American rider Edgar Prado for Hold That Tiger who is as short as 8 to 1 with some firms for the $4 million Breeders Cup highlight.
Prado rode Hold That Tiger when the colt ran second to the now retired Mineshaft in the Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park last month and was a Grade One winner for Aidan O'Brien on Landseer at Keeneland last year. He also rode Landseer when that colt had his fatal fall in the Breeders Cup Mile.
O'Brien yesterday declined to comment on the jockey situation for next weekend's spectacular at Santa Anita. "Plans have not been finalised," he said.
Kinane received widespread criticism for his ride on Rock Of Gibraltar in the 2002 Breeders Cup Mile and has had a bittersweet relationship with the series over the past number of years.
Successful on High Chaparral in the Turf 12 months ago, he also won on the O'Brien trained Johannesburg in the 2001 Juvenile race. However he has had a frustrating run in the Classic.
The champion jockey dramatically lost out on Giants Causeway in 2000 after dropping the reins on the colt in the final strides of the race.
The high profile Ballydoyle colts Galileo and Hawk Wing have also failed to shine in the past two seasons.
Hold That Tiger ran third in last year's Juvenile race when ridden by Kieren Fallon after a slow start ruined his chance.
That helped fuel post-Breeders Cup comment in some quarters that European trainers would be better served by using local riders when travelling to the USA.
However it is understood that it is only the Hold That Tiger ride that is under review with Kinane set to ride High Chaparral in the Turf, Statue Of Liberty in the Mile and the pick of Grand Reward and Old Deuteronomy in the Juvenile.
Kinane and O'Brien will be at Newmarket today where they team up for Antonius Pius in the Dewhurst Stakes.
O'Brien also runs Troubador in the Group One two-year-old highlight, and Middlemarch in the Champion Stakes, but the most Ballydoyle focus is likely to be on Antonius Pius who hasn't run since June.
"He had a little shoulder problem which meant we had to back off but he has been coming along nicely and we have always thought a lot of him. I just hope I have him fit enough," said O'Brien.
The Ballydoyle trainer's Group One quest will take him to Italy tomorrow where Kinane will be on Black Sam Bellamy in his repeat bid for the Gran Premio del Jockey Club, and on Moscow Ballet who runs in the Gran Criterium.
