Kameko a threat on firm turf

Classy England-based Kameko will skip the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Saturday at Ascot because of very soft turf and hope to find something firmer next month in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland.

His connections would do well not to look back at the 2015 Keeneland Breeders’ Cup, which featured a week of cold rain and a sodden grass course.

To be fair, Keeneland’s course is sand-based, dissimilar to overseas turf, and even when wet doesn’t become heavy and holding like many European courses.

Three-year-old Palace Pier, who already has a strong softturf win this year, is heavily favored to win the straightcourse, one-mile QE II, the last remaining relevant race before the BC Mile. As of Wednesday, the only other possible QE II runner (final entries were due Thursday) to return in the Mile was Circus Maximus, fourth in the 2019 BC Mile.

The last week saw the retirement of two horses, both owned by Godolphin, who had been mentioned as possible BC Mile runners – Pinatubo and Earthlight. Pinatubo, champion 2-year-old last year in Europe, had long been generally aimed toward the Breeders’ Cup but instead goes off to stud.

On the American front, trainer Chad Brown said it was unlikely he would even preenter Rushing Fall, with the Mile listed as second preference, with his focus instead on running her in the Filly and Mare Turf over 1 3/16 miles.

Brown still has four possible Mile runners in Uni – who won the race last year at Santa Anita – Raging Bull, Without Parole, and Digital Age.

Time might be running short for Halladay to make the Mile. Winner of the Grade 1 Fourstardave, Halladay suffered a relatively minor leg injury after being entered in the Shadwell Turf Mile, run Oct. 3. Trainer Todd Pletcher remained hopeful of making the Mile anyway, but Halladay, as of Wednesday, had yet to post a workout since late September.

Ivar, the eye-catching Shadwell winner, is preparing for the Mile with trainer Paulo Lobo at the Thoroughbred Training Center outside Lexington, Ky.

As for Kameko, he is a serious player in the Mile. Trained by Andrew Balding for Qatar Racing, the American-bred son of Kitten’s Joy was a Group 1 winner last year at 2 and landed the English 2000 Guineas over a straight mile earlier this year. Kameko’s string of three fourth-place finishes this year came with ready excuses. He raced farther than ideal in the 1 1/2-mile Derby and the 1 5/16-mile Juddmonte International, and in the one-mile Sussex Stakes he and jockey Oisin Murphy, who figures to ride in the BC Mile, were badly stymied in traffic. Kameko on Sept. 25 won a salty renewal of the Group 2 Joel Stakes and has the athleticism and intelligence to thrive in his first two-turn mile next month in Kentucky.