Suit & Lilbourne set for Breeders' Cup

Richard Hannon could be double-handed at the Breeders' Cup meeting with Strong Suit and Lilbourne Lad after their sterling efforts at Newmarket yesterday.

Strong Suit is as short as 3-1 for the Breeders' Cup Mile after his facile win in the Challenge Stakes while Middle Park Stakes runner-up Lilbourne Lad has a choice of engagements.

"Strong Suit definitely heads to Churchill Downs, and there is a chance that Lilbourne Lad might be there too," the Marlborough trainer told www.richardhannonracing.tv.

"Strong Suit is proving a revelation after that wind operation that he had in the spring, and (Richard) Hughesie reckons that he is made for America.

"The ground at Newmarket was a bit loose on top, but in Kentucky it will probably be as hard as the local freeway and that will suit him perfectly.

"Strong Suit has always been such a lovely horse to deal with, and he has so much speed, which you need for America.

"He could win at five, six or seven furlongs, and we are confident that he'll get the mile there.

"He has always been inclined to lug slightly to his left when he comes off the steel, so the track out there will be right up his street.

"The faster the pace the better and while David Redvers, who bought him for Sheikh Fahad Al Thani's Qatar Bloodstock operation, will eventually stand him at his Tweenhills Stud in Gloucestershire, they are very sporting owners, who like to see their horses race.

"And I would certainly not mind having Strong Suit back racing as a five-year-old. He'll be even stronger then, and we could campaign him at all the top races over a mile.

"Lilbourne Lad is such a tough horse and Hughesie felt that things might have been different if Crusade, the eventual winner, had raced closer to him," Hannon went on.

"But our fellow has done us proud again. He has been on the go since April and has never missed a dance, but he won the Group Two Railway Stakes and showed again here that he is right up there with the best of them.

"The plan had been to take the Zebedee route and retire Lilbourne Lad, and Rathbarry Stud, who also stand his much-in-demand stallion Acclamation, are very keen to have him help out the other fellow with the covering of mares.

"However, there is now talk of Lilbourne Lad having one last tango in the States.

"He could have a shot at the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, or we might even have a look at the two-year-old race on the turf, but we'll sit down and make a decision in the next week or so."