When pressed for details, he said: "We put him on a couch and talk to him."Richard EdmondsonNap: Lutin Du Moulin(Haydock 3.35)NB: Cheviot Heights(Brighton 2.20). "But he's a mature, strong, streetwise five-year-old, and if you don't have a crack with a horse like him, you don't do it with any."Starcraft's physical attributes are not in question, only what goes on in his head. The massive ex-Australian galloper, currently in the care of Luca Cumani, is bound for the hardest test of all, the 10-furlong Classic on dirt. Only one European, Arcangues in 1993, has scored in the $4m finale, though Swain, Giant's Causeway and Sakhee have hit the bar.Starcraft is to duck the Mile, on grass, and a clash with the top Americans, title-holder Singletary and nine-timer seeker Leroidesanimaux, and had a practice run on Southwell's all-weather surface this week "It was a bit of a culture shock for him," Cumani said. He seems absolutely fine, but we won't really know until he races again."If Azamour is emerging from hospital to lead the troops, one of his back-ups, Starcraft, is fresh from the psychiatric unit.
When a horse is galloping with his left foreleg leading, each stride is initiated by the opposite hind leg."It's always a worry when they pull a muscle," he said, "and the right side of his quarters is where he'll be pushing more from to make the left-hand turns. Although he has fully recovered from the hoof abscess that kept him away from Paris, he is still receiving daily treatment on a muscle tweaked when he finished fifth in the Irish Champion Stakes, two lengths behind Oratorio.Azamour was given a clean bill of health yesterday by the trainer John Oxx, but he admitted to concern due to the location of the injury, on the colt's right hind-quarters. Familiarity breeds contentment.Azamour, the 3-1 favourite, won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes but missed his engagement in the Arc and is only just out of his sickbed. Two of our number are favourites for their races; the defending Filly & Mare Turf champion, Ouija Board, and Azamour in the day's second most valuable contest, the Turf.Saturday week's $2m 12-furlong contest has the greatest challenge from these parts, with six from 14 runners (Ace, Akaased, Bago, Motivator and Shirocco are the others), and is the one which has yielded the best strike-rate, with 11 winners, including five of the past six. Europe has never achieved four wins; Coral go 14-1 about it happening this time. That bumper haul came the last time the fixture was at Belmont; the left-handed course, with turns that are wide and sweeping by American standards and a cool, temperate climate, is regarded as European-friendly. The largest European challenge came at Churchill Downs in 1994 when 26 horses brought home two first prizes, Barathea in the Mile and Tikkanen in the Turf.
But size is not everything, for the most successful year for the visitors was 2001, when 18 runners mustered three wins - Fantastic Light in the Turf, Banks Hill in the Filly & Mare Turf and Johannesburg in the Juvenile, plus two seconds and two thirds from the eight races. The glittering, spinning lure of $14m (£8.4m) prize-money at next week's 22nd Breeders' Cup meeting has prompted the assembly of a European raiding party of a size exceeded only once. Twenty-two horses are to carry the yellow star-spangled banner across the pond to meet battle with the erstwhile colonials at Belmont Park, New York, in the annual Stateside dollarfest that is self-styled the world Thoroughbred Championships. Just 10 are from Britain, the others from France and Ireland, but of course, Ryder Cup-style, they become us. The rider, who broke his jaw in a fall at Ayr in August, was arrested in February. * Pat Eddery, the 11-times champion Flat jockey, was yesterday granted a training licence.
