05 November 2023 , 18:24
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Adam West is already plotting a return to the Breeders’ Cup with Live In The Dream after his stable star’s brave fourth at Santa Anita on Saturday night.
But the Epsom trainer slammed the veterinary procedures that saw a number high-profile scratchings from the two-day fixture - including Aidan O’Brien’s River Tiber and Bolshoi Ballet and the Jessica Harrington-trained Givemethebeatboys - as “not fit for purpose”.
Nunthorpe hero Live In The Dream and Sean Kirrane cut out the running in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint before fading into fourth behind Nobals and West said: “I’m incredibly proud.
“He’s going on a holiday and we are going to work backwards from Del Mar, starting in the King’s Stand and that will bring him on for the Nunthorpe.
“Del Mar is a speed track and that should help him."
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West revealed fear of falling foul of the stringent veterinary checks forced him into “doing a lot less” with Live In The Dream in the run-up to Saturday’s race..
“We were on tenterhooks but it’s impossible to see how a horse is trotting on uneven ground and the facilities weren’t fit for purpose,” he added.
“Two days before, I would normally do a good 70-80 percent to open him up, but we were so dictated to by passing the protocols and that played into his freshness.”
Meanwhile, Vauban will bid to give Willie Mullins a first victory in the Melbourne Cup when Ryan Moore’s mount takes on 23 rivals for the ‘race that stops a nation’ at 4am UK time at Flemington on Tuesday.