High on a day of lows; IN THE SADDLE

IT was definitely a case of what might have been for the trainer Aidan O'Brien and jockey Michael Kinane at Arlington Park last night as their four big guns in the top Breeders' Cup races yielded a winner, a second and a third, High Chaparral's magnificent win in the Breeders' Cup Turf over a mile and a half cementing the form of his two Derby wins in Europe and further proving that, with an uninterrupted preparation, he might have won the Arc as well.

It was a superb win for High Chaparral and made up for O'Brien's juvenile Hold That Tiger's defeat in the nine furlong two-year-old race half an hour earlier and Hawk Wing's poor run in the Classic later, but on a night when the home side pulverised the Europeans into virtual submission, High Chaparral's win was a superbly executed piece of training and race-riding by O'Brien and Kinane.

However, when it came to crunch time for Europe's real super- horse, Rock Of Gibraltar, it wasn't to be. A missed break and a possibly over-confident jockey in Michael Kinane, all compounded by a back-pedalling stable-mate, fatally stricken with a broken leg. Rock Of Gibraltar's wonderful run in Group One races came to an end last night, but his status as one of the best milers the world has seen, surely remains undiminished.

Sir Alex Ferguson's horse might have only finished second to an improving French four-year-old which wouldn't have seen which way 'The Rock' went had the race been run anywhere away from this turning Chicago turf, but Rock Of Gibraltar's rise through the ranks of O'Brien's second string Classic colts to the very top of the pile has been one of the highlights of the racing year.

Missed break apart last night, when Kinane watches the tape back home in Kildare he'll surely rue the opportunity he had to move his mount closer to the pace midway through the race.

Admittedly, he couldn't have anticipated Landseer suffering such misfortune and impeding his progress but Kinane, who suffered such an embarrassment when losing control at a vital point on Giant's Causeway in the Breeders' Cup two years ago, should have been more switched on.

Up and coming rival Thierry Thulliez, who'd been so sickened by his leaving of Sulamani's run too late in the Arc earlier this month, was making no such errors of judgement and he knew he had a horse which had got to within a length and a half of Banks Hill (a fine second in the Filly and Mare Turf last night) on his penultimate start. Thulliez weaved his way through, oblivious to Kinane's plight, and stole a famous victory on Domedriver.

Diego Forlan's goal may have saved Ferguson's blushes at Old Trafford yesterday but the Old Trafford boss's luck had run out. That said, his multi-million pound investment in the Argentinian will be well down the list of Fergie's best buys for as long as people can remember Rock Of Gibraltar. That (pounds) 120,000 for a half-share should yield a stallion shed pension which Fergie's advisers could never have dreamed of as they negotiated with Martin Edwards last summer.

GODOLPHIN tasted defeat at Arlington last night when Imperial Gesture could only manage third in the Distaff and Kazzia failed in the Filly and Mare but yesterday morning, Sheikh Mohammed's team had begun this biggest of racing days with their current stable-star Grandera's gallant defeat in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley.

Frankie Dettori's mount was only beaten a length and what the Aussies call a long neck behind last week's Caulfield Cup winner, Northerly, but in doing so, he virtually wrapped up the World Series which concludes in Hong Kong in December.

With the Melbourne Cup itself only nine days away, the Godolphin horses look to have acclimatised well and while it won't be the boys from Ballydoyle who'll be snapping at their three runners at Flemington on Tuesday week, it's another Irish team, led by trainer Dermot Weld, who'll be looking to thwart the boys in blue with either Vinnie Roe or Media Puzzle, the last named winning for Weld in the Geelong Cup last Wednesday.

With Godolphin tasting early defeat down under, Breeders' Cup day couldn't have started any better for the Coolmore camp when O'Brien's four-horse raiding party at Doncaster yielded an opening race win for Miguel Cerventes, followed by a superb first, second and fourth in the Racing Post Trophy (first, second and fifth last season) with Bryan Boru, Powerscourt and The Great Gatsby.

The big-race success with their three Sadler's Wells colts emphasised, if any emphasis was required, that Coolmore clearly has a stranglehold on the best progeny of their superstar stallion, the now legendary injector of brilliance also being responsible for third- placed Illustrator, to complete an amazing Group One 1, 2, 3, 4 and further cement his position as the world's No 1 stallion.

Since the race was won last year by a backward-looking yak called High Chaparral, it would be churlish to rubbish the form in the immediate aftermath but I wonder if third-placed Illustrator might be the one to emerge from this heat as the best of the lot come next season. Anyone who has backed this horse on his last two runs must be cursing the respective merits of Richard Hughes and Pat Eddery, both of who have now contrived to deny the horse victory - Hughes having snatched defeat from the jaws of victory at Leicester on his previous run and Eddery, yesterday, somehow managing to run into every bit of trouble going when repeatedly finding his mount all dressed up with nowhere to run.

It might not have been as bad as Hughes' ride, which one commentator described as "the worst piece of horsemanship since Randolph Scott was ridden down by a posse in Badman Of The West", but it was right up there with Greville Starkey's riding of Dancing Brave in Sharahstani's Derby and almost as poorly judged as Kinane's later effort on Rock Of Gibraltar, this glaring fluff probably signalling the end of the ageing jockey's reputation as a super-sub for younger pups off gallivanting in the US and Oz.

Unlike the stout parentage of Brian Boru and company, Illustrator's pedigree is not packed with stamina, so Sir Michael Stoute will probably train him for the Guineas before pushing his luck at a mile and a quarter. He has proved himself at this level and must go down as one of the unluckiest losers of the season.

Maybe Rock Of Gibraltar was as well, but High Chaparral made up for that.

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