Racing: Rodrigo will take the pay-dirt trail

Robert Sangster's willingness to embrace an attacking policy with Rodrigo De Triano has given Europe its best opportunity yet to win the world's richest race, the dollars 3m Breeders' Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park on 31 October. Ladbrokes make him a 3-1 chance, writes Paul Hayward.

For a week leading up to the Champion Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday, Sangster and the horse's trainer, Peter Chapple- Hyam, had been debating which race Rodrigo De Triano should contest at racing's premier meeting.

Chapple-Hyam and Lester Piggott, Rodrigo's jockey, favour the dollars 1m Mile, but their preferences have been overriden by Sangster, who reasons that his best runner has proved his ability to stay a mile and a quarter, ought to function on the dirt surface, and generally has an unmissable chance to be confirmed the best three-year- old colt on either continent.

'I suspect that the Mile on grass is going to be a hell of a messy race,' Sangster said. 'I'd go for the dirt race. Let's have a go at the Yanks.'

Rodrigo De Triano, who joins the Dermot Weld-trained Brief Truce in the field for the Classic, is expected to be given a full workout on dirt in the tradition of other European challenges for America's biggest races.

BREEDERS' CUP CLASSIC: Ladbrokes: 3-1 Rodrigo De Triano, 7-2 A P Indy, 4-1 Pleasant Tap, 5-1 Sultry Song, 8-1 Sea Cadet, 10-1 St Jovite, 12-1 Brief Truce, 16-1 others.