Richard Hannon considers Breeders’ Cup Mile for Paco Boy
The trip to Paris may have been a waste of time but Richard Hannon may have an even more ambitious plan for Paco Boy.
The run of high-profile reverses that have punctuated Hannon’s yard has been frustrating for the trainer. First there was Strong Suit, who did not perform to expectations in the Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh, which was followed by a similarly below-par run from Memory in the Moyglare Stud Stakes on the same track. And now Hannon has to come to terms with the latest setback after Richard Hughes found himself up a blind alley when Paco Boy finished fourth to Fuisse in the Group Prix du Moulin at Longchamp.
Blaming jockeys is the default mechanism for many of those who only ride races from the grandstand and Hughes was really between a rock and a hard place this time – or between Siyouni and the running rail. Having taken a pitch just behind the leader, Hughes could not switch wide to make a move around Siyouni and Rio de la Plata when Fuisse came upsides and the rails’ run come to nothing as well.
Hannon is now back to the drawing board as he plots the conclusion to Paco Boy’s racing career before he is retired at the end of the season to take up stud duties at the Highclere Stud next year.
The five-year-old, already triple Group One winner, could be sent to America in November for a run in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs but Hannon is also considering targets closer to home. Hannon has made no secret of his ambivalence to the idea taking horses to America, after star sprinter Mr Brooks was killed in a fall in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Gulfstream Park in 1992.
Speaking on his website Hannon said: “It was a non-event for Paco Boy - he was a bit handier than usual as they went a stop-start pace and he got no run whatsoever and hasn't had a race. The seven furlongs of the Challenge Stakes at Newmarket on October 16th would suit him ideally, and it would be a great way to finish his career on home soil at least.
“The problem is it is Group Two and he would get a heavy penalty, so we'll have to think again."
The thoughts about Dar Re Mi have already turned to the breeding sheds. The mare has been retired from racing and will join the broodmares at owner Lord Lloyd-Webber’s Watership Down Stud.
The mare - the winner of six of her 17 starts and win and place prize money earnings of £2,847,029 – won the biggest race of her career for trainer John Gosden when she beat Buena Vista by three-quarters of a length in the Group One Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan in March.
Dar Re Mi ran only once more when she failed to sparkle in the Eclipse Stakes, at Sandown Park in July, finishing fourth of five. Plans for a run at the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot later that month with the discovery of a foot abscess and an attempt to defend her title in the Yorkshire Oaks last month was also scrapped.
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