Golden Horn aims for Breeders’ Cup
DECISION: CONDITION OF HORSE OVER NEXT FEW DAYS WILL DECIDE THE NEXT MOVE Golden Horn will retire to Darley's Dalham Stud.
Owner-breeder Anthony Oppenheimer remains "fairly keen" to give his stunning Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe hero Golden Horn one last hurrah in the Breeders' Cup Turf.
John Gosden's Epsom Derby, Coral-Eclipse and Irish Champion Stakes winner benefited from a brilliantly-judged ride from Frankie Dettori to claim a momentous victory in the Longchamp showpiece and while he will not be kept in training as a four-year-old, a trip to Kentucky at the end of the month remains a distinct possibility.
Oppenheimer, who celebrated Golden Horn's latest triumph with connections of the placed horses in Paris on Sunday evening, will wait to see how his pride and joy recovers from his exertions before committing to a trip across the Atlantic, but revealed the early signs were positive on Sunday afternoon.
Oppenheimer said: "We had a very nice dinner with Prince Khalid's (Abdullah) representatives - they obviously had the second and third (Flintshire and New Bay) - and it was a wonderful evening.
"I'm so pleased for John, winning his first Arc. He has put so much effort into this horse. He is the most extraordinary horse. He has such adrenalin during his races but I went to see him afterwards and he was munching away on his feed without a care in the world.
"The lads who look after him said you would honestly think he was just about to race, rather than having won the Arc already.
“The draw was a bit of a worry, of course, but I forgot how brilliant our jockey is. It was such a clever idea to take him out wide on his own. I was a bit surprised by what he did, actually. He didn't tell me he was going to do that, but it obviously worked beautifully."
Oppenheimer also revealed Dettori's decision to initially chart a particularly wide course came as a surprise to him stood in the stands.
Looking to the future, the owner said: "We'll just have to see how he is as you don't really know how much the race has taken out of him for two or three days. I think we're fairly keen to go to the Breeders' Cup, but the horse has had such a good year, I don't want to push him too much.
"I actually saw a Breeders' Cup representative at Longchamp and we will certainly think about it, but we will let the horse tell us.
"He definitely won't be back next year. I know some horses come back as four-year-olds if they have something to prove, but I honestly don't think we have anything to gain.
"He's won his Group Ones over a mile and a quarter (2000m) and a mile and a half (2400m). The only race you'd want to really target (next year) would be the King George, but he could end up getting a cough or the ground could come up very soft again as it did this year.
"After a fantastic year, I'm very happy as a breeder to send him to stud and looking forward to seeing his foals the following year."
Golden Horn will retire to Darley's Dalham Stud, with Oppenheimer retaining a half-share.
He said: "If he goes to the Breeders' Cup, he will obviously race in my colours and then when he gets back we'll take him along to the stud so he can get to know the staff a little bit and they can get to know him.
"If he doesn't go to America, we'll probably take him a little bit earlier."