Having reached a century of Group One victories in partnership with Aidan O’Brien at the weekend, Ryan Moore will bid to make it 101 on board Broome in New York on Saturday night.
Broome is on course to line up for the $750,000 Sword Dancer Stakes at Saratoga, a race in which Moore endured a luckless passage last year when runner-up to Gufo on Japan.
O’Brien confirmed the plan on Monday and Broome will try to go one better than his only previous US start when runner-up to Yibir at last November’s Breeders’ Cup in Del Mar.
Broome, winner of the Group One Grand Prix De Saint-Cloud last year, was successful at Royal Ascot in June in the Hardwicke Stakes before running fourth behind Pyledriver in the King George last time.
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Gufo could be among Broome’s opposition this weekend in what is a ‘win and you’re in’ race for the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
The Sword Dancer has proved elusive to the Ballydoyle team in recent years including when Idaho could finish only sixth when a hot favourite in 2017.
Moore reached 100 Group/Grade One winners for O’Brien on Sunday after Blackbeard landed the Prix Morny at Deauville.
Those in charge of the upcoming Irish Champions Weekend are keeping everything crossed that the world’s top-rated racehorse Baaeed could yet line up in the €1 million Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes.
Others, however, are hoping the unbeaten superstar opts to skip Leopardstown – including those connections of Mishriff, who had the thankless task of chasing home Baaeed at York last week.
“He’s ran his heart out, he just came up against a freak. Baaeed is a very good horse and we would be reluctant to take him on again, put it that way,” reported Ted Voute, racing manager to Mishriff’s owner Prince Faisal, on Monday.
“John [Gosden]) did mention the Irish Champion but I think like everybody else we would have to wait and see who ends up actually firming up to go and I’m pretty sure we would be reluctant to take on Baaeed again.
“So, if he wasn’t running, we would possibly take a better look at it,” he added.
A big-race winner on both turf and dirt, the admirable Mishriff is set to wind up the season with Breeders’ Cup options to end his racing career later in the year before going to stud.
“I guess the two races under consideration would be the mile and a half at Keeneland worth $4 million or the Classic, the $6 million race. I think we’ll take a look at both of those and it never does any harm to finish on that note. It can only give an uplift if he was to run well,” Voute said.
“Personally, I would quite like to see what is in the Irish Champion and also what is in at Keeneland and try to finish there,” he added.
Jessica Harrington’s team for next month’s Champions Weekend may include her rapidly progressive filly Trevaunance who scored at Group Two level in Deauville on Sunday.
“She’s in the Blandford on Irish Champions Weekend and we could enter her this week in the Prix Vermeille. We could also wait until Arc weekend for the Prix de l’Opera,” Harrington said.
Harrington’s focus on Tuesday will be over jumps where she runs Guiri in a handicap hurdle at Bellewstown.
The JP McManus-owned gelding comes up against Gordon Elliott’s Lieutenant Highway who is chasing a fourth win in a row and doesn’t look badly treated off a mark of 119 for his first start in a handicap.
