Azamour On Target For Turf Connections of Azamour report the multiple Group One winner to be on course for a crack at the Breeders? Cup Turf at Belmont Park on Saturday week. Bago, Motivator, Shirocco and Alkaased are all confirmed runners, but it is the John Oxx-trained four-year-old who heads the betting at a best price of 3-1 with Coral, Ladbrokes and Totesport. Found to have pulled a muscle when fifth in the Irish Champion Stakes on his latest start, a foot abscess then ruled the Aga Khan?s colt out of a trip to Paris for the Prix de l?Arc de Triomphe, but Oxx is hoping that could turn out to be 'a blessing'. 'When he ran in the Irish Champion, it was his first and only bad run - although some would say that to be beaten two lengths isn?t really a bad run at all,' he said. 'It was a relief when the pulled muscle came to light afterwards and he seems fine again now, although he is still having daily treatment as a precaution. 'An abscess prevented him running in the Arc. It took two weeks for it to be resolved, just when we would have wanted to have been getting him ready. 'But in the event that was a blessing because we would have taken him out on the day because of the ground, so it saved all that hassle. 'He did have a little break but he was able to walk every day and didn?t put any weight on, so when he started work again he was fairly fit and it wasn?t hard to get him back to where he was - he was very clean-winded in his work. He seems very well now.' Oxx said he was hoping for a pacemaker to come to the fore in the Turf, to prevent the runners from bunching. 'A clear run is always going to be important and a reasonable pace will help to stretch them out,' he said. 'But that said you don?t get that often in the Turf so that is a bit of a worry. 'We?ll have to see where he is drawn and where the likely pace is going to come from when the draw is made but that?s racing. There are always little ifs and buts. 'I suspect he won?t be as far off the pace turning for home as he was at Newbury (when winning the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes). I?ll be walking off the stands if he is anyway.' Oxx has not had a runner at the Breeders? Cup since winning the Mile at Belmont in 1995 with Ridgewood Pearl.(C) PA Sport
