Old Horse, Old Jockey Team Up in Attempt to Win Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint

[Wandering Eyes]

Khaadem (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) is nine, but clearly hasn't lost a step. The same can be said for his 54-year-old jockey Frankie Dettori. He, too, is still getting it done. But can the geriatric duo pull off a win in the GI Prevagen Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint? As well as Khaadem has been running this year, it's entirely possible.

“That's two old boys together,” trainer Charlie Hills said of the horse-jockey combination.

Dettori will be the second oldest jockey in this year's Breeders' Cup behind only 60-year-old Mike Smith

There also may be some history involved. A win by Khaadem would tie him with 2012 GII Breeders' Cup Marathon winner Calidoscopio (Arg) (Luhuk) as the oldest horse to win a Breeders' Cup race.

“It would be amazing to tie that record,” Hills said.

Khaadem has made 42 career starts and won 10 races. His biggest wins have come in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee S in 2023, when he was seven, and in 2024, when he was eight.

None of his first 37 starts was in the U.S. But Hills knew his horse prefers fast ground and thought that would be easier to find in the U.S. at this time of year. He first ran in the U.S. in the 2024 GII Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs, where he finished second. He returned this year for the same race and finished third for Dettori, who had ridden him in a Group 2 race in Dubai in 2022. After a 10th-place finish back home in the G2 King George Qatar S., he returned to the U.S. and won the GII Woodford Stakes on the grass at Keeneland. All three of his starts in the U.S. have been contested over firm turf courses.

“Coming to America is something different,” Hills said. “He seems to really enjoy it over there. He needs fast ground…to be at his best he needs fast ground. Now that it's the autumn months in England, we thought we have a better chance of getting the type of ground we need in the U.S. and at Del Mar.”

He wasn't always this good.

Khaadem debuted way back in 2018, when he was a distant third in a Novice Stakes at but won his two other starts. As a 3-year-old, he won two of his first four starts on the year, including the valuable Stewards Cup. But he was nowhere to be found in his next two starts, both at Group 1 level. Hills discovered that the problem was with Khaadem's feet.

“When he was a younger horse he had issues with his feet, which held us back a little bit when he was a youngster,” the trainer said. “We have fixed the problem with the feet. I think the feet were the main reason he wasn't that good as a 3-year-old. But when he was three he did win the Stewards Cup, which is a big handicap race in England.”

He only raced twice as a 4-year-old, but finished a respectable fourth in two Group 1 races. They were a part of a 10-race losing streak that did not end until he won the Listed Scarborough S. in September 2021 and his first win in a group race came in the G3 Palace House Stakes in the spring of 2022. He followed that up with a win in the Qatar S.

But he couldn't keep it up, losing his next six starts, but snapped that streak in the QE II Jubilee S., returning 80-1.

“You've got to let the horse be in charge,” Hills said. “He takes care of himself pretty well. He's the horse of a lifetime for us. He's won nearly £2million for us. He's been a special horse. He has not always been the most consistent horse. He does what he wants to do.”

He's earned that right.

Because he has a lot of poor efforts mixed in with his good races, it's hard to say what his best year was. It might even be this year. The Woodford was clearly one of the best races of his life. He broke sluggishly and trailed the field down the backstretch. He was still last at the top of the stretch, but once Dettori was able to get him to the outside, he came with an eye-catching late run to get the win.

“He's an old character and we love him,” Dettori said after the Woodford. “I just hope he keeps his good form for Del Mar.”

“He's been an amazing horse, real pleasure to train,” Hills said. “He's at his best at five furlongs or six furlongs. But he's a 9-year-old, which we all know. Nothing lasts forever.”

Hills was told by Breeders' Cup officials that 10-year-olds are not permitted to run in the Breeders' Cup, so this will be his last chance to add the Turf Sprint to his resume. Hills said there are no such restrictions in Europe and will contemplate running Khaadem next year.

“Next year, if he is sound and well and looks like he wants to keep performing, surely we will run him next year,” Hills said. “Obviously, you need to respect the horse. I do based on what I see from him. ”

Hills has won four races in North America, including the Woodford. The other wins have come in the 2023 Mint Millions at Kentucky Downs, the 2014 GI E.P. Taylor at Woodbine and the 2013 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with Chriselliam (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}. He clearly has figured U.S. racing out. As for Dettori, he's won 15 Breeders' Cup races, the first one in 1994 aboard Barathea (Ire) (Sadlers Wells) in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile.

On paper, the horse to beat in the Turf Sprint is the 5-year-old mare Ag Bullet (Twirling Candy) or another Group 1 winner out of Europe, Arizona Blaze (GB) (Sergei Prokofiev). But don't throw the old boy Khaadem out. There's something left in his tank.

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