Michael Stoute targets Breeders’ Cup Turf with late developer Ulysses

It is almost a decade since Sir Michael Stoute won the last of his 10 trainers’ titles and seven years since his last success in a British Classic, but when it comes to coaxing the best from a late-maturing horse, Stoute is still the best in the business. Ulysses, a four-year-old who finished 23 lengths behind the winner in last year’s Derby, glided over rain-softened ground to win the Group One International Stakes here on Wednesday, and when Stoute said afterwards that this was the “best performance” of the colt’s career, he was quick to add “to date”.

Churchill and Barney Roy, both Group One-winning three-year-olds, headed the market for the feature race on Wednesday at 5-2 and 11-4 respectively, but Ulysses, a 4-1 chance, swept past the pair of them at the furlong pole on the way to a comfortable two-length defeat of Churchill.

Barney Roy, a flared nostril behind Ulysses in the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown last month, raced close to the pace from an early stage and was joined by Churchill, who was racing beyond a mile for the first time, with more than two furlongs to run. They were racing hard from a long way out, which allowed Jim Crowley, on the strong‑travelling Ulysses, to pick his moment to pounce, but Stoute’s colt was well worth the two-and-a-quarter lengths he added to his advantage over Barney Roy.

This was Stoute’s sixth success in the International Stakes, a record, and he feels Ulysses is a match, at least, for his earlier winners, including Singspiel, Ezzoud and Shardari. “Today’s performance would put him up there, if not in front of them,” the trainer said. “It all just went so smoothly. There was never a blip. I think it was his best performance to date, he’s become a very professional athlete now.

“I think he is as good at 12 furlongs [as 10], don’t forget the King George [last month, when he was four-and-a-half lengths second to Enable] was run in a swamp. It wasn’t ideal for him.”

Ulysses finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita last season and Stoute will now return to California for this year’s Breeders’ Cup meeting, at Del Mar in early November. “I think it’s time to give him a break and work backwards from the Breeders’ Cup Turf,” Stoute said. “The owners [the Niarchos family] are keen to go for that.”

Ulysses is top-priced at 3-1 for the Turf, just ahead of Aidan O’Brien’s Highland Reel, who made all the running to win last year’s race, at 7-2. He is also on offer at around 10-1 for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Chantilly on 1 October, a race that falls just under five weeks before the Breeders’ Cup meeting and could also be a target for Cracksman, winner of the Great Voltigeur Stakes on Wednesday.

A six-length success in the Voltigeur for a colt with placed form in two Derbys would normally make him a short-priced favourite for next month’s St Leger at Doncaster. Cracksman, though, is not entered for the final Classic and could conceivably have run his last race as a three-year-old.

Cracksman’s victory here was a significant improvement on his close second behind Capri in the Irish Derby in early July, as he moved easily into the lead for Frankie Dettori and then accelerated clear of his five opponents. With a supplementary entry for the Leger firmly ruled out by John Gosden, his trainer, the son of Frankel now has just two possible engagements to choose from this year: the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on 1 October or the Champion Stakes at Ascot, 20 days later.

“Whether he runs again, we’ll discuss with the owner [Anthony Oppenheimer],” Gosden said. “Maybe he could go and win a Leger but it wasn’t going to be part of this horse’s programme. His main programme is next year, races like the King George, that sort of thing. He may well run in the autumn, he’s a bigger horse now who can quicken, when he was only a shell of a horse earlier on when he ran in the Derby [at Epsom].”

Gosden’s potential hand for the Arc now includes the first two horses in the ante-post betting, as Cracksman is top-priced at 10-1 to win at Chantilly behind his stable companion Enable, the Oaks and King George winner, who is a 5-4 chance ahead of her run as the hot favourite in the Yorkshire Oaks on Thursday.

Thursday’s tips, by Greg Wood

Chepstow

2.05 Time For Wine 2.35 Whiteley 3.10 Here’s Two 3.40 Pitch High 4.10 Ludaumf 4.40 Oxford Blu 5.15 Star Of The East 5.45 Tallulah’s Quest

Fontwell Park

4.45 Prince Khurram 5.20 Mercian King 5.50 Jackblack 6.20 Novis Adventus 6.50 Midnight Gypsy 7.20 Royal Battalion 7.50 King Vince

Hamilton Park

5.10 Bigbadboy 5.40 Queen Penn 6.10 Dark Forest 6.40 Whatsthemessage 7.10 White Rosa 7.40 Star Cracker 8.10 Highway Robber

Stratford-on-Avon

1.40 Wade Harper 2.15 Mister Universum 2.45 Cut The Corner 3.20 Mr Mafia 3.55 Nachi Falls 4.25 Going For Broke 4.55 Kublai

York

1.55 Great Prospector 2.25 Madeline (nb) 3.00 Flaming Spear 3.35 Enable 4.15 Curlew River 4.50 Whispered Kiss (nap)