MONDAY, 17 OCTOBER, 2016 VIVLOS TOO STRONG IN SHUKA SHO BREEDERS= CUP OPTION The improving filly Vivlos (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) showed further smart progression to win the G1 Shuka Sho at Kyoto on FOR STAR FILLIES Sunday. It was the filly=s first stakes victory and her first run in a top-level event, however there appeared to be no fluke about the result, as she showed a smart turn of foot to overhaul Pearl Code (Jpn) (Victoire Pisa {Jpn}) and Kaiserball (Jpn) (Empire Maker) to claim the spoils by a half-length over the former, with the same margin back to Kaiserball. Vivlos warmed up for this contest, the third leg of the Japanese fillies Triple Tiara, with a promising second to Biche (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the G3 Shion S. at Nakayama Sept. 10. The winner that day was disappointing on this occasion, finishing 10th, and it was left to Sheikh Fahad Al Thani=s Pearl Code to keep the winner honest. Jockey Yuichi Fukunaga was content to bide his time early on Vivlos, settling at the rear of mid-division before making steady progress to position just off the leaders as the field tightened up approaching the straight. Cont. p13 Found | Racing Post IN TDN AMERICA TODAY Aidan O=Brien and the team at Coolmore and Ballydoyle will ERUPT LANDS PATTISON CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL decide over the coming week which horses will form part of Flaxman Holdings Ltd.’s Erupt (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) won the GI their Breeders= Cup team. A few of the potential challengers Pattison Canadian International S. at Woodbine Sunday. Click or such as Found (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Seventh Heaven (Ire) tap here to go straight to TDN America. (Galileo {Ire}) were in action at Ascot on Saturday. "They are all fine and all seemed to come out of Ascot good,@ O=Brien reported. ADon't rule any of them in or out of America, even Found, and we'll decide in seven or 10 days' time.@ He added, ASeventh Heaven=s race was a bit messy. She might go to America for the [GI Breeders= Cup] Filly & Mare Turf." Found again showed remarkable durability in finishing second to Almanzor (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) in the G1 QIPCO Champion S. on what was her ninth run of the season. In all of those efforts she has never finished worse than third and during her 20- Aidan O=Brien pictured at Naas on Sunday | Racing Post race career to date, she has only finished out of the top three once when unplaced in last year=s G1 Qatar Prix de l=Arc de Triomphe after a troubled passage. TDN EUROPE/INTERNATIONAL • PAGE 2 OF 15 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • 17 OCTOBER, 2016 Put up the money and the horses will come, everyone knows that. And they will come, above all, when the British climate proves so indulgent of a provocation as reckless as staging your most valuable raceday in the middle of October. QIPCO Champions' Day was favoured by clement weather and remarkably neutral going for the time of year. Perhaps even more importantly, however, this time the whole jamboree was rendered less contentious by an interval of three weeks, rather than two, to the Breeders' Cup. Needless to say, these twin boons find me only marginally less grumpy. At root Champions' Day remains a bribe by marketing men to professional horsemen, to discourage them from advertising horses' genetic wares to an international marketplace with a change of both opposition and racing environment. Thanks to cheerleading scripted by the Ministry of Truth, and of course a fabulous sponsorship windfall, the big horses all rolled up in obedient support of a more insular agenda. Almanzor | Racing Post Sure enough, the season's putative climax simply reiterated the fact--established in a deeper field at Leopardstown a month previously--that Almanzor (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) has too much of a kick over 10f for >TDN Rising Star= Found (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). To that extent, in this division, we learned as little as we did from watching Solow (GB) (Singspiel {Ire) or Muhaarar (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) in theirs the same day last year. The fact is that if you insist on keeping the local herd together, the pecking order will generally be altered by one of only three things: a seasonal change to extreme going; particular individuals running low on fuel, at the end of a long season; and latecomers to the party, following illness or injury, like Shalaa (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Jack Hobbs (GB) (Halling). Even without its international raiders, remember, the Breeders' Cup already has a marketing cogency as a unifying bout for horses hitherto operating on different coasts of a continent. And Ascot, equally, already hosts precisely the kind of cosmopolitan showpiece sought for Champions' Day--in June. After that, the proper time to shake out the European herd, as a prelude to possible new frontiers, is the end of the summer. Cont. p3 TDN EUROPE/INTERNATIONAL • PAGE 3 OF 15 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • 17 OCTOBER, 2016 Weekly Wrap Cont. We saw as much in the same Leopardstown race where Almanzor and Found were followed home by Minding (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). That filly did at least establish something new on Saturday, when reverting to a mile in open company for the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. Of course, such an opportunity was no less a virtue of the race when it had its proper place in the calendar, a month previously. By the same token, very possibly Almanzor might always have been one of those horses targeted at the G1 Champion S., in its Newmarket incarnation. Having said all which, it would be churlish to pretend that you would ever have assembled the same field of sprinters for the old Diadem S., as a Group 2; or to deny that the stayers and middle-distance fillies have profited from their new autumn options. This was a day of sustained and authentic Group 1 sport--too successful now, you fear, for anyone to have the courage to separate those elements that work well; those that can work better; and those that insidiously undermine the fulfilment of Europe's best Thoroughbreds. Newmarket=s Golden Autumn... But to horse! To horse! It is the animals, after all, that captivate us all, wherever we stand on the broader context. And the performances of Almanzor and Minding trademarked a season dominated by two outposts apparently immured against the health issues undermining several major training centres. Newmarket has finished the season well, however, here as on Arc day. James Fanshawe's three runners at both meetings, all at Group 1 level, returned figures of 112. Once again, we are left to wonder whether this is sufficient for some of the biggest spenders at the yearling sales to repent of their myopia. Fashion, mind you, cuts both ways. If the wrong people are in fashion, then at least that improves the chances of someone like James beating the more expensive horses housed elsewhere. The Tin Man | Racing Post Sure enough, those giant operations that drew a blank on Saturday could only gaze enviously at the syndicate members who own The Tin Man (GB) (Equiano {Fr}). Nor has the man who wore their silks exactly been in vogue, Tom Queally in fact professing more satisfaction in this success than any in his career. No need for anyone to mention the F word (he partnered Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) to two wins at this fixture), but this seemed a pointed and poignant register of his struggles since. Cont. p4 TDN EUROPE/INTERNATIONAL • PAGE 4 OF 15 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • 17 OCTOBER, 2016 Weekly Wrap Cont. professional as the season wore on. (Though it must be said that If any rider seems eligible to profit from the undoubted room the latter was presented in glistening condition on Saturday, no at the top--as measured so worthily by the new champion, Jim less than before the G1 2000 Guineas.) Crowley--it is Martin Harley, but old Sheikhzayedroad (GB) Given the relative number of baskets available for their Group (Dubawi {Ire}) has arguably contributed disproportionately to his 1 eggs, still more credit season's returns. Their latest success together reiterated goes to Richard Fahey Harley's tactical alertness, while enabling another Newmarket for the promptness yard to match both Pegasus and Clarehaven Stables with a win and warmth of his and podium on the day. congratulations to David Simcock is entitled to wonder whether Lightning Spear Aidan O'Brien after the (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) might have fared even better than third in race. Instead of the QEII had he not been marooned away from the main action Galileo, he must make for most of the race. It has taken this horse a while to build on do with Iffraaj (GB) his debut for the yard, at the royal meeting, but everything (Zafonic)--sire not only Minding | Racing Post seems to be clicking now. With his relish for fast ground, he of Ribchester, but also should surely be looking to Santa Anita and Hong Kong. of Wootton Bassett, the ,46,000 Doncaster yearling whose earlier success for the stable gave him the opportunity to go off Fahey And Iffraaj Do Each Other Proud... and sire Almanzor. Moreover Fahey had very nearly pulled a rabbit out of his hat Defeat by a seven-times Group 1 winner made little dent in by fitting cheekpieces on Growl (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), 50-1 the credentials of Ribchester (GB) (Iffraaj {GB}) as one of the runner-up to The Tin Man.