Trainer Jeremy Noseda, responsible for 2004 Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I) winner Wilko, will have two, maybe three, runners at this year’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Monmouth Park.
Based in Newmarket, England, Noseda plans to send Strike the Deal for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and Simply Perfect for the Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (gr. IT). His other possible runner is Rahiyah in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
On Oct. 17, he said: "We worked the horses yesterday. The Breeders’ Cup is a fabulous meeting -- in my opinion the biggest international championship by far. I am excited and thrilled to be heading out there again.
"All three will have a little blow-out on Saturday morning, and we will go from there. I have been to Monmouth Park once, many, many years ago, and I look forward to seeing what it looks like this time around."
Strike the Deal comes into the Breeders' Cup off a second-place finish in the Oct. 5 Shadwell Middle Park Stakes (Eng-I).
"Strike the Deal was beaten by the better horse on the day in the Mill Reef (Eng-II, lost by a neck to Dark Angel) at Newbury, but in the Middle Park, he stumbled coming out of the gate and got a little bit too far back, and he might have been a shade unlucky.
"He is in very good order. He is a tough horse with lots of experience, which is a big advantage. As long as he gets the trip well, which has to be a little question mark, his form stacks up really and he goes there with a big, big chance. I am personally confident that on a flat American oval he will stay the mile."
On Simply Perfect, Noseda commented: "She is a very honest filly, the winner of two group Is and a group II. I felt in the Sun Chariot last time (Eng-I , fourth over a mile) that she could have been a little bit ring rusty. I am sure she has moved on from that run and improved. We look forward to giving it a go.
"The question mark is the trip. I feel that she will definitely get a mile and two furlongs, and she should stretch to a mile and three furlongs in America. She keeps her form well, and she managed to have a little break after running in Deauville at the end of July. She returned in the Sun Chariot, and it was always the aim either to go for the Breeders’ Cup or the E.P. Taylor (Can-IT) at Woodbine."
Noseda thinks Rahiyah will be suited to switching to dirt.
"I have felt for a while that America is made for her," he said. "Sprinting won’t bother her, either. La Traviata more than likely goes to the TVG Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I), which would leave this race fairly open. She is a tough filly. We need to talk to Darley and see if they want to give it a go."
The horses are scheduled to leave Oct. 21 from Stansted Airport at 2 p.m. and are expected to arrive at Monmouth Park at 8-9 p.m. (EST), a 14-hour trip.
