Blue Bolt to spearhead Juddmonte Breeders’ Cup squad Blue Bolt will bid to round off her flawless campaign with victory at the Breeders’ Cup next week – but which race she will line up in has yet to be decided. The Juddmonte-owned four-year-old is unbeaten in six starts this year for trainer Andrew Balding, a run encompassing a Royal Ascot success in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes and Group One wins in the Falmouth, the Prix Rothschild, the Matron Stakes and the Sun Chariot. Having now been given the green light to travel to Kentucky, connections must decide whether to stick to a familiar distance and take on the boys in the Breeders’ Cup Mile or step up for the Filly & Mare Turf over an extended nine furlongs. “She’s very much on track to go, that’s the plan,” said Juddmonte’s European racing manager Barry Mahon. “She’s in good form, Andrew was happy with her on Saturday, she breezed nicely and is ready to ship out at the end of the week. “She’s had a phenomenal season. When you get into this time of year you just don’t know if they’re in the same form or not but she appears to be at home, everyone is happy with her, so we’ll give it a go and see how we get on.” Mahon admitted the decision on whether to stick to a mile or test the water over a slightly longer trip is not straightforward. He added: “We’ve left her in both races and we’ll have a look and see in the next day or two and make up our minds. I think she’s pretty adaptable and we haven’t fully decided yet. “It’s a hard one as she’s so effective over a mile you’re afraid to change it, but the Filly & Mare is a mile and one and a half (furlongs) around a tight track, so it’s not your stereotypical mile and a quarter. “The dam’s side of her pedigree suggests the trip will be no problem, whereas Blue Point (sire) was obviously fast. We have to work that out with the owners in the next few days and make a plan.” Blue Bolt is set to spearhead a four-pronged European Juddmonte team heading for Keeneland, with Ralph Beckett’s recent Prix Daniel Wildenstein winner Qirat also in the mix for the Breeders’ Cup Mile and the Ger Lyons-trained Red Letter pencilled in for the Filly & Mare Turf. The quartet is completed by Francis-Henri Graffard’s Amusingly, who instead of taking on her own sex in the Prix Marcel Boussac at ParisLongchamp on Arc weekend beat the colts in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, with the French trainer of the opinion that she would be better suited to seven furlongs than a mile. She will be stepping up to the longer trip in America, but Mahon is not overly worried ahead of what could be a mouthwatering clash with Aidan O’Brien’s superstar juvenile filly Sun Goddess. “I think Amusingly will run in the Juvenile Fillies Turf. She came out of the Lagardere in good form and if Sun Goddess turns up it will be the two-year-old race of the season hopefully and something that we’d all look forward to seeing,” said Mahon. “It wasn’t just the mile of the Boussac that swayed us towards the Lagardere, it was also to do with the pace. The French pace can be a little sedate and she’s a filly that travels well, so we just decided to run over seven furlongs and a little bit of that was because we wanted some pace in the race to help her settle and relax, and she did all that beautifully. “I think that will stand to her and as you know in America there’s always a good pace.”
