Duke of Marmalade to lead Cup Classic charge

Posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 12:08 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.

Jockey Johnny Murtagh, partner of several of Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien’s group one winners this season, has backed Duke of Marmalade as the foreign entry most capable of wresting the Breeders Cup Classic title from American champion, Curlin.

Murtagh was given the freedom to choose between Henrythenavigator and Duke of Marmalade for the Classic, and elected to ride the five-times group one winner Duke of Marmalade in the Breeders Cup feature race.

“If he hooks up with Curlin at the top of the stretch, I think it will be a battle royal. If he gets upsides at the top of the straight, he won’t lack for courage,” Murtagh explained.

Both Murtagh and O’Brien have expressed uncertainty over 2,000 Guineas winner Henrythenavigator’s ability to stay over the 1¼ mile distance run in the Breeders Cup Classic.

“When you go past a mile he has never been there before. You can’t be sure he’ll get it,” O’Brien said yesterday.

O’Brien needs only 4 more group one wins to equal Bobby Frankel’s record of 25 group one wins in a season. The Irish trainer’s other group one entries this weekend include Halfway to Heaven in the Breeders Cup Filly & Mare Turf, and Solider of Fortune in the Breeders Cup Turf.